Discussion of the day

[amberdreams]

I'm sure I've had this discussion before but, dear flisties, what is your view on fanfic authors who don't reply to the people who comment on their stories?

Personally, I think it is very impolite, and if I find a fic with a bunch of comments and no replies from the author, I usually don't leave a comment of my own, even if I really like the story and want to give the author some feedback/love.

This was sparked by my just finishing a Destiel fic (yes, indeed, shock horror!) that I really enjoyed, but when I came back onto my computer to call up the fic on AO3 and leave some feedback, I found 56 comments and the only response from the writer was to answer someone who said they didn't understand the postscript. Which in a way, made their lack of responses to people's squee even worse, in my view. Clearly this person sees the feedback but can't be arsed to say thank you.

I dunno. What do y'all think?

Comments

[yohkobennington.livejournal.com]

I feel the same. If I see a fic with old comments not answered I don’t even bother to leave one. What for? Obviously the author gives no shit about them 🤷🏽 So why would I waste my time. One thing is to take some time to answer and another to not answer at all.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

That is generally how I feel too - though weirdly, I don't leave a comment EXPECTING a reply. It's not that. It's the feelingthat lots of people have bothered to a)read the story and b) say they've read it and enjoyed it, and I feel offended on their behalf that the author has apparently not appreciated their support.

[yohkobennington.livejournal.com]

If we're gonna rag on people for not leaving comments on fics, we should equally be allowed to rag on those writers who never bloody reply to feedback *nods*


Yes! Thank you. I see this happening all the time, it yet it’s somehow okay for creators to not acknowledge feedback? Like they do realize people don’t need to leave a comment right? But they took their time to do it, so the least we can do is say “thank you”

[lennelle.livejournal.com]

I don't have much problem with authors not answering comments. People can be busy in their real lives and might not have the time or it slips their mind. I usually try to answer comments if they're particularly long or have questions, but sometimes if there's a comment which just says 'more please' then I don't really bother.
Honestly, I don't think fanfic writers owe their readers anything, they've already shared their work for free. Even if a thank you would be nice, I'm happy to give authors comments without expecting anything in return.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

While accepting that all that is true - if I see an author who never or very rarely bothers to acknowledge that people are reading and making the effort to let the author know they appreciate the work, to me that smacks of entitlement and rudeness, and maybe even arrogance.

Sure, we are all writing and arting and sharing for free, but that doesn't mean we as creators shouldn't be grateful anyone who takes the trouble to appreciate what we have done. On the contrary, I think we SHOULD. But as I've said above to yoko, I don't leave comments EXPECTING a thank you, though I'm always happy when it happens.

[wetsammy.livejournal.com]

I really enjoy when authors reply and engage with their readers - these are some of my favorite people in the world - but it doesn’t stop me from leaving a comment.

Could be a number of reason they don’t reply - the number of comments are overwhelming if they are popular, the writer isn’t in the right frame of mind or too introverted, or maybe they haven’t learned to reply (similar to how some readers haven’t figured out how to comment). In the case you mentioned, the author responded to a question so most of these don’t apply. They are making a choice to not engage.

(I made a comment about loving authors who reply on tumblr about a year ago and had a BNF writer rip into me and block me because I was an “entitled” reader. Didn’t ask writers to respond, just said I liked the ones who did. Who knew it was such a controversial opinion.)

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Who was THIS?? (Even though I don't always get time to respond, I do try to. And I even though I don't think the creator OWES it to their audience to respond in kind, I *do* enjoy it when a conversation spins off of a comment.)

[kalliel]

I agree with you!

I have strong negative feelings against not responding to comments on your fic. STRONG STRONG STRONG. To the point that in addition to sometimes not commenting on the fic (and I comment on everything I read), it would be a lie to say that there haven't been authors over the years where I straight-up didn't read or engage with their works, period, because they never respond to comments. >.>;; My investment in the relationality of fandom has always been stronger than my interest in reading any given fic.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who feel like they don't have to comment--non-fanfic authors aren't under that "obligation" so why would fanfic authors be?--but guess what, it's fanfic, it's part of a fandom, and that responsibility to being in relation to others (your readers and fellow fans) comes with the package. And if you don't want to be in relation to others in that way, you can always lock the comments. Then you don't have to respond to anything if you don't want to.

Obviously you don't have to respond of the comment is wanky, but no one's talking about those (rare!) circumstances.

Also, I'll also freely admit that the people who tend most often to not reply to comments are people who are very popular, which just makes it more annoying. XD For some reason it's always the people frustrated that their newest fic only got 156 kudos and not 200 kudos who don't reply to any of their 10 comments. /O\

[kalliel]

To add, for context:

I don't think fanfic is anyone's beautiful gift to the world that you're graciously posting for free. If anyone is being generous to anyone else, it's commenters being generous to fic writers, rather than the other way around. Ergo, I think authors should say thank you! BUT THAT'S JUST MY TAKE.

I also think that if you had time to write and post a fic, then you have time to reply to comments. You don't have to be verbose; you can copy/paste "thank you!" if you want to. But if you don't have time to reply to comments, but you DO have time to write another fic, post another fic, and expect replies to another fic, then what's that about? >.>

[fanspired]

I'm super thrilled to get comments on my fics, so I always reply, because I want them to keep commenting! I wouldn't want them to feel discouraged because it looked like I didn't see the comments, or didn't care.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Exactly!

[alyndra]

Authors who don’t reply to comments make me less likely to comment, but I don’t get mad about it, replies are a gift just like commenting is a gift just like writing and sharing for free is a gift. I’ll still comment if I really wanna say something.

Personally, I try to reply to all my comments but I’m not timely about it! This past New Year’s I went through AO3 looking for any I’d missed and found more than I thought, so I made a list and went through it. I think it’s fun getting replies to comments I don’t even remember leaving, because then you’re like oh THAT story! :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I don't care about the creator responding to me - when I comment (which I always try to do), often by the time the creator replies (if they do), I'll have forgotten about it, so it's a nice surprise to get that thank you or whatever the reply might be. Sometimes, like you, I actually like to get a late response because it prompts a re-read. But to see someone never or very rarely responding to other people makes me cross.

[heavenli24.livejournal.com]

I always try to reply to comments on my fics and I think it's common courtesy for other authors to do the same. It frustrates me when someone comments as a guest or when they aren't logged in (i.e. on FF.net), which means I can't reply to them. I enjoy the interaction and conversation you can strike up when authors reply to comments :).

I even had a reader tell me that due to the thoughtful reply I gave to one of her comments, she went back and read through all the comments I'd replied to in each chapter of the story in order to get some insight into my thought process :).

In regards to leaving comments on stories where the author doesn't ever reply to them, that does put me off, but I guess it also depends on how good I found the story and whether or not I feel compelled to leave a comment regardless.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yes exactly - I think these creators are actually missing out on some rich interactions by ignoring their readers too.

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

Personally? I try to respond to comments but it honestly depends upon how busy I am at the moment. Sometimes, there's just no TIME! And I may or may not get back around to reply if my time opens up. I will always reply if someone has a question or takes the time to write more than "Love it, thanks for sharing".

When I'm replying to someone's fanwork, however, I never expect a reply unless (similarly) I've asked a question. That's my take in a nutshell!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

In my experience you're pretty good at appreciating comments - I guess I'm really talking about people who habitually don't bother.

[madebyme-x.livejournal.com]

Personally I always reply to comments (sometimes I'm late though, especially if I don't get an alert for it!) because like others have said, that's part of fandom; the interaction between fans and the discussion that can spark from a fanwork. Also that's how you make friends (or that's how I've done it, anyway!)

I tend to comment on nearly everything I read/see, and while I don't expect a reply, it's certainly nice to get one. I wouldn't say that seeing no replies put me off, because if I've really enjoyed a fanwork I want to squee at the artist/author, but it has on occasion made me not bother.

Interesting topic of discussion! On the flipside, I do find it immensely rude when you don't get a comment from someone you've gifted a fanwork to for a challenge!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

God yes, I really will never understand people who take part in gift exchanges then don't ever acknowledge their own gift. Now that is the height of rudeness.

[be-my-precious.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. I don't ever get many compliments to my fics, but when I do get the one or two, I always reply. AO3 with it's kudos system is nice to see that people are liking it, but I really can't answer a kudo lol. But yes, as said, I think it's rude if they don't answer at all. Sometimes it may take awhile (I actually just got a reply from a fic I commented on almost a year ago!), but at least acknowledge, yeah?

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

yes, kudos are ok but they are more a measure than a pleasure!

[fufaraw]

I feel *compelled* to reply to comments. A really insightful comment can make me cry, and those may take me a day, or several, to formulate a reply, but I do answer as honestly as I'm capable of. I've been knocked on my heels by comments, and what I wanted to ask was "What story did YOU read? Because it's not the one I posted. Um." But I try to be at least polite. If somebody spares the time to post, "Nice work," or "I liked this," they deserve a "I'm glad it worked for you," or a "Thanks taking the time to tell me so."

It's rude not to reply to a comment, unless the comment is from a former citizen of the planet Zygon and you're obviously not speaking the same language.

On the other hand I know a very excellent fic writer who is so anxious at the idea of comments she tries to dismiss the idea that people have good things to say. She's really happy with the kudos option, because that way she gets applause without all the emotional input and expectation of replies from other people.

So you know, it stings if I make a comment on someone's work and it goes unanswered. But I still got a story excellent enough to prompt me to comment, for free. So I figure I'm still ahead.

[amypond45.livejournal.com]

On the other hand I know a very excellent fic writer who is so anxious at the idea of comments she tries to dismiss the idea that people have good things to say

I think you raise a very valid point. For a lot of writers, just posting a fic is an incredibly anxiety-producing event. Never mind responding adequately to someone who gives the fic an intelligent response! Yikes! More anxiety!

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

It's an interesting one.

It's nice to get replies to comments and reviews that you leave, but I don't get too upset or take it personally if I don't, because I accept that people have time constraints or other stuff going on in their life, or maybe just forget. Although I'm (generally) pretty good at responding to comments here at Lj and over at A03 (where I don't get that many comments tbh), I have fallen into very bad habits over on Fanfiction.net, and probably haven't responded to any reviews for a few months. I'm not proud of that, and keep meaning to get my arse in gear and rectify the situation! And here we come back to the sticky subject of time and memory...

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

But your habit is generally to say thank you, even if you might miss some.

[amypond45.livejournal.com]

It makes me wonder what's going on with the writer. Have they left the fandom? Are they embarrassed by the comments? Now that I'm getting older, I wonder if they're okay. I can't help trying to guess what's happened, since I read so many fics that were published years ago and whose writers obviously aren't in the fandom any longer. So what happened to them?

But I do agree, it's so important to respond to comments, even if it's just to say "thank you". I've found some of my favorite kindred spirits this way!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yeah, where I'm reading fics from a while ago and the author has clearly moved on (for whatever reason), then I'm not bothered there are no replies. it's more for currently active writers/artists that I reserve my irritation. LOL

[jennytork.livejournal.com]

I find it impolite as well, which is what galls me about my own fics that have to be posted anonymously on certain challenges. Since I don't get the messages that there are replies, I tend to forget they're there, which leads to the whole "now I'M the impolite one" castigation, etc etc.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ah, I try and track those, at least for a few months. You can do that on LJ.

[caranfindel.livejournal.com]

I'm really bad about replying to comments because I'm usually on mg phone, and it sucks. But I love and appreciate every comment and I'm trying to get better.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

But you do respond to some, if not all. What I'm thinking about here are the folks who never (or very rarely) bother to acknowledge their audience. It makes me wonder why they create and post at all, in that case. Unless they are so arrogant they think worship is their due, and any interaction with the plebs would sully them.

[roxymissrose.livejournal.com]

Some folks might be so horribly uncomfortable with engaging with folks they don't know that they can't respond. But I suppose if you can write a story and post it, you can include an author's note explaining why you won't respond. AO3 makes it incredibly easy to do that.

I won't comment on fics where you can obviously see that the writer is only responding to buddies. I left that behind in high school and I'm way too old to play that crap now.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

I guess that could be an issue for some creators, but like you say, there are ways round that...

[ramblin_rosie]

Honestly, I think a lot depends on where the fic is posted. FF.n didn't have a system for replying to reviews at all for a long time, and even now replies are only by PM, so it's not *expected* that you reply directly to every review, although some people do. On LJ/DW/AO3, you can have long conversations in the comments, and those conversations can actually add to other readers' enjoyment of the fic, so it makes more sense for direct interaction to be expected. I do try to respond directly to every comment on LJ, but on FF.n it sometimes makes more sense to reply in the next chapter's A/N, if at all (and I do sometimes get reviews there that genuinely aren't worth responding to because the reader wants something from a completely different AU than I'm writing and won't accept no for an answer).

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Aye, the format does influence it, and yes, on FF.net you wouldn't know from the outside if a writer ever responds or not. Certainly, I'd never expect any creator to respond to everything, my issue is more where a creator never (or very rarely) responds.

[fairyniamh]

I have one story I do NOT respond to, simply because there was a lot of chest thumping kink shamers. I try not to delete reviews. So, it was easier to just not respond. *shrugs*

I do try to respond though. It may take me days to respond... especially if the review made me uncomfortable.

Reviews asking me to explain a clearly crack situation... (a giant penis destroying a village) just makes me wonder about some of my readers and makes me not want to respond.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Ha ha indeed - some responses can leave us wondering. I certainly don't expect people to respond to every single thing - it's more about making the effort to appreciate our audiences.

[anniespinkhouse.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I love to get comments, they make my day but I barely get any comments so I don't check in often, it's depressing, especially if I'm struggling with maintaining the whole fandom thing (right now I'm pretty much out of it) or being conversational. So, there are occasions when I don't see a comment for months (6 months, I think sometimes) and then I'm too embarrassed or find it to difficult to answer them even if I love to get them and they have, in the past, kept me going.

Do not assume because you don't get a reply that the writer is being arrogant. It can be quite the opposite. It is humbling and overwhelming in a good way for me and that can make it almost impossible to find words to reply. Thank you is an insanely crappy respnonse to a well thought out comment. I have trouble communicating in any form with anybody for a good proportion of my life and when I put my fiction out there, I do so unconditionally with no pressure for anyone to comment, but writing it - that is hard and it hurts to think that folks necessarily expect an answer which I can't put into words, to a 100 word comment on a 135K fic, or they won't comment.

I am thrilled for anyone who finds replies and conversation easy but to use awful sjw words - expecting everybody to be able to seems a little ableist to me.

So, I guess the amount of negativity here towards people like me is a good reminder that possibly, it's just not worth the bother of finishing my fics. I never expect a reply to a comment I leave and I do leave comments a lot of the time because they are inifinitely easier than replies. I leave a comment because of the pleasure a fic gives me. It is unconditional in the same way the writer put their work out there for us to share. Yes, I can love if discourse happens and I am conversational but I never expect it (and sometimes it terrifies me too, in case my answer is somehow wrong or arrogant or upsets the person's understanding of the fic) .

Sometimes I am also aware that I am leaving a comment on a fic where the writer is now deceased. I still leave a comment, they earned it, their friends or family may still appreciate it too. They can't reply. It doesn't matter to me.

[yohkobennington.livejournal.com]

First, Im going to say out front that replying to my comments used to give major anxiety, and still does sometimes, specially when it's a very nice comment or from someone I admire. So I get what you're saying and where you're coming from to a degree because it's different for everyone. That said, I always reply. You might find a "thank you" too simple, but it's not. Nobody is expecting authors to write a whole letter as a response. Yeah, sometimes that happens because some people just get super excited and it just runs. But nobody is expecting it to be a massive thank you letter.

A "thank you" is simply acknowledgement that you read that comment. Why would I leave you a comment, when I dont have to at all then? Seriously, I want to know? If writers expect comments, then its simply courtesy to at least say, thank you for reading it, thank you for taking your time reading and commenting. You know how appreciated I feel when authors do that? Very, and it makes me want to read more from them. And, actually Im not expecting even to be answered, but you cannot ask me to take my time to leave a comment on someone's fic when they don't answer their comments at all. Why would I do that? One thing, if someone is dead, or if they already explained in the notes, "hey you guys, thanks in advance for the feedback, but I wont be answering any comments because of so and so." you can't fault anyone for that.

This is why I love the Kudo system too, because I know people who get anxious leaving a comment. So to me, if someone leaves you a comment, you dont know how much that cost them, and we should at least say thank you, as simple as it sound, that is enough. Short or long comment, seriously, that's super enough, don't make it harder for you.

Now if an author doesn't care at all about feedback, then it's different. But I have a huge problem with writers complaining about not getting comments when they dont take the time to acknowledge said comments.

Authors are not obligated to answer comments. But Readers aren't obligated to leave feedback either.

[liliaeth]

well, personally, I kind of have this problem that I don't always know what to say in response to a comment, no matter how nice. It feels like I'm trying to double the number of comments or something.

[yohkobennington.livejournal.com]

Thank you is enough, mah people. Don't make it unnecessarily harder for you. I went through these already, feeling it wasn't enough and then realizing people just want to be acknowledged. I promise you, thank you is more than enough. Also, you can read the comment, give yourself time to answer- like days, and if you still can only come up with "Thank you, so much" that's completely fine!!

Omg we are all introverts here, I thought I was the only one that had this problem! I kinda feel better knowing Im not, but also sad that people also go through this like me :(

[zubeneschamali.livejournal.com]

I always try to respond to comments. But then I'll go back and look in my e-mail and realize I didn't reply to comments on a story from a year ago. I meant to get around to it! Yes, there is some social anxiety going on there; not so much over the human interactions in the comment section, but guilt over not responding right away that piles on and on and on, until it feels like it's too late to reply. But I keep the e-mail notifications in my inbox anyway, I guess as a messed-up reminder of my failure.

But now that I know that people aren't going to leave comments if I've failed to respond on stories in the past (or the current story that they're reading) because they think I'm too important to respond to them or something...now I'm extra self-conscious about the need to make a proper reply to each and every comment, because apparently that's necessary in order to find out if anyone is reading my fic, which makes it ironically less likely that I'll get up the energy to respond. And then less likely that I'll write anything at all. So thanks for that. :/

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Ha! Yes. Me too.

[tsuki-no-bara.livejournal.com]

if there are a ton of comments before mine, and i can tell the author answered them up to a point (like, my comment is on page 4 and the author gave up answering somewhere on page 2 or 3) i tend to assume the author got overwhelmed or ran out of steam, and i try not to fault them for that. i mean, it would be great to get a response, especially if my comment is pretty detailed, but it takes time to answer them and sometimes people have other things to do. (like write more. :D ) but yeah, if there are no responses to any of the comments, and it seems the author never replies to comments, that's kind of rude. i comment on every fic i finish, so a lack of responses won't stop me, but even if i love the fic, i might kind of internettily side-eye the author.

aaaand this reminds me i have a comment on ao3 i should respond to.

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yup, that's about it - and sometimes I will still say something, even if that creator never responds. I don't have a hard and fast rule, it's more about how seeing that lack of respect makes me feel.

[tripperfunster.livejournal.com]

Ugh! I feel so called out right now! ;)

I TRY to respond to every comment I get, but on my popular WIP I have this strange overwhelmed/procrastination thing going. Like ... I feel that I should be working on the fic, but I should also be answering comments. But it's like ... instead of doing either ... I do nothing! But then sometimes, when I have the spoons, I will go back and answer a bunch of comments (and try to be more engaging than just ... 'thanks!',) but then I answer a bunch of them and then time passes, and then ... yup, right back to being overwhelmed again.

Now, to be clear, I generally don't get a ton of comments on my stuff, so answering them isn't exactly a chore, but I have this strange love/hate relationship with this ongoing fic that I ALREADY feel bad about procrastinating on, and for some reason the comments make that even worse.

Lucky for me, there are a bunch of people who comment quite often and don't seem put off by my sporadic replies.

So in answer to your question ... I totally agree with you, but I also can see how it just sometimes ... happens. :D

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Yep, I can see how it happens sometimes - I suppose I'm saving my ire (or more like disapproval) for those who never seem to reply at all, which to me smacks of someone who lacks respect for their audience.

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

I've started doing the same as you - if an author hasn't replied to comments I don't see the point in leaving them as I think either they're not active any longer or they don't bother to read them - and if they do read them, they could at least reply with just a thank you! And that's also why I like the kudos button on AO3.

I'm still in shock that you read destiel, hee hee!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Destiel is like Bon Jovi - it rocks, on occasion.