InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I COULD BEAT YOU IN A RACE"

doro_chan (rood) wrote,
@ 2008-03-21 21:07:00

Current location:	Leipzig
Current mood:	depressed
Entry tags:	fandom, internet, language: english, meta

Meta Friday
Confessions of a Reader

As some of you might have noticed, I don't comment much. On anything. I know that this is generally considered to be a bad thing in fandom, but I can't help it. I just refuse to comment when all I have to say is "Well, it was good", because for some reason people don't appreciate comments like that. I've often been told that I am just not enthusiastic enough when I try to tell people that their stuff was... well, good.

Another reason why I don't comment much is that most of the time, I simply don't have anything to say. Yes, really. It's nothing personal, I just can't come up with something witty or thoughtful enough to add to what you, dear reader, already said in your post. So don't feel insulted if I don't reply to your posts most of the time.

I guess this is the reason why I always feel slightly insulted when people de-friend me because I didn't comment enough. I can understand it if you de-friend me because you're not interested in reading my journal, God knows I don't write nearly as much as I would like to, but because I don't comment? Sorry, I just don't understand it. But maybe that's because I don't expect anyone to comment on my journal, friend or not.

And even though I do write, I still spend most of my time online as a reader. A reader who is not worth much, in the eyes of some, because I don't comment. So I have a proposition for you: If you want to know if I read your story/entry/whatever, and if you're a paid user, why not put a poll at the end of the post, asking your readers if they read it, and if they liked it or disliked it, while still encouraging them to comment?

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eumelkeks
2008-03-22 07:37 am UTC (link)

There is nothing wrong with being a reader. However, the internet does not offer a great variety of ways to communicate. The easiest way in fandom is to comment and post. I would not defriend anyone for simply not commenting enough but I can understand that people may feel otherwise and think that communication is a little one-sided. Journals, fiction, art etc. strive on interaction between users.

As bad as it is, fanfiction.net offers a good way to see how many people clicked to read a story. I freely admit that it is disappointing to work on a fic for months and then get 5 comments while seeing that 500 people clicked to read and some even put one on author or story alert.

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