“I don’t like…” no one asked go complain in dms

found this on twitter and yeah — while a part of me is convinced this one’s a bot, unfortunately there are people who actually leave this kind of comment on writers’ works — this and the ai witch hunt are the exact reasons more and more writers stop sharing their works. the level of entitlement to be walking inside someone’s house, after they were kind enough to let you in, and then starting to criticize the way they decorate their rooms when you can just quietly leave if you don’t have anything nice to say.

fanfics are something writers do for themselves. we don’t get paid for it. we write whatever makes us happy for our own enjoyment. if you dislike it, that’s cool. quietly exit the fic and find something else to read. or better yet, write it yourself.

you as a reader are not our customer. we don’t write for you. we don’t write to please you. we just give you the privilege of reading our works for free. whether or not you’ll read it, whether or not you’ll like it, is not our business. but you are rude and entitled to be criticizing fanfics like it’s something you paid for and not a gift people were kind enough to give. if we want constructive criticism, we will ask for one. if we didn’t ask, stay quiet if you don’t have anything nice to say.

not to mention, more often than not, your constructive criticism is never really a constructive criticism but what you personally want to read. keep this up and eventually there will be no fanfics for you to read because no one wants to share their works for free anymore if people will just be this rude and entitled.