#comment interaction

If the author writes a note at the end where it’s clear they really want reviews, I might leave a short review when I otherwise wouldn’t, but I have two main reasons for giving reviews sparingly: it’s hard for me to articulate my thoughts and I want to be honest but not hurtful.

I don’t want to only say the things I liked because that wouldn’t be an honest impression, but I also don’t want to hurt the author by mentioning things that didn’t work so well, especially when I really do enjoy most of the fic I read I just don’t have no problems with it. If I enjoy the fic but some of it was very meh, I’m not likely to review. If the author makes clear they like constructive criticism, or if they seem desperate for reviews, I’ll take the extra time, but honestly it’s hard to get the tone to come across as appreciative so otherwise I won’t bother unless it’s a fic I love since in those cases I’m pretty much just praising and the tone comes easier.

It can take me half an hour or more to write a single review because I have to figure out what my points are, what layout I want to bring them up, reword some of them, and check my tone to make sure I’m coming across with the voice I intend. I’m not going to do that for the vast majority of the fanfiction I read. Sometimes I can write quick reviews that I’m satisfied with, but if I can’t then I’m not going to post.

Lately I have been going through my favorites list and leaving a comment on every fic that has fewer than fifty reviews. I think I owe it to them.

Maybe when you make a bookmark, there could be an added message, “Consider commenting!” or something along those lines. I also think that the floaty text box would help this because you can jot things down as you’re reading and thus have more of a basis for your comment when you reach the end instead of trying to articulate yourself from scratch. Saved drafts would also help but alas, technical difficulties. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Mainly my issue is getting the tone right while still giving an honest assessment: I know that criticism hits harder than praise and I don’t want it to when I honestly did enjoy something, but I also don’t want to give a false impression. I don’t know what could help with this, other than commenting guides or just practice writing comments (I’ve gotten a lot better at this over time).

I also think maybe we need to foster a more interactive commenting culture. It’s sometimes easier to respond to someone else’s comment/analysis than it is to make one from scratch yourself, but I’d feel weird commenting on someone else’s comment on AO3 because I just don’t see that happening typically in the comments. I definitely don’t want the same commenting culture as a forum, but you can see how much back and forth discussion happens on a site like Sufficient Velocity and it’d be nice if we could foster those kinds of norms/interactions on AO3. (Maybe not the pithy one-liners/reactions to the chapter, but that’s why I’m glad there won’t be an upvote function.)

LLF Response: That thread is fascinating and has some interesting discussions! Thank you for sharing it and your experience on commenting. I can only admire and applaud your dedication and the thought that you put into your comments. And going back and leaving even more comments of your favs? You’re one of the real MVPs. 

From what we have (or rather have not) gotten feedback on, I think that the bookmark/Mark for later features on AO3 are potentially underutilized. There is such a huge focus on comments and kudos, and I think that authors sometimes overlook the bookmark feature. To be fair, bookmarks can be private, in which case, an author can only see that it has been bookmarked on the statistics page, but there is also a fic rec option which not many people seem to talk about either?

Overall, I agree that we could all benefit from a more interactive comment culture as you said. I fell in love with fandom through AO3 and it was the back and forth (sometimes off topic and personal exchanges) I had with authors in the comments section that I absolutely loved about fandom. Hell, I wouldn’t be on tumblr at all if one of my readers hadn’t convinced me to do it through a comment thread. Look where we are now :D

As to how we can foster more of that kind of culture, @ao3commentoftheday has been having some good discussions about commenting and comment etiquette. Things like the Zero Comment Challenge or what you’re doing in going back to your favourites and leaving more comments are such great ideas as well! I’m spitballing here, but perhaps something like going back through your bookmarks/subscriptions and leaving a comment on unfinished WIPs or WIPs that haven’t been updated in a while could be other things? Or how about reading a fic with a friend? You guys can start a comment thread together and get some discussion going that way. Anyone have any more thoughts about this?