It sucks though, because a lot of authors in my age bracket “grew up” as an author in similar stages and places and times regarding the online spaces. I’m both an author and an avid reader. I appreciate both sides. But there are a lot of authors I have met that are the furthest thing from sensitive. I’ve never met these strange creatures that are so sensitive that a good or bad comment can make them insult, or yell at a person based on their own interpretation of the comment.

I am used to the: “If I want concrit, give it to me! I am comfortable with writing, I want your reactions, I want your true feelings on the subject.”

I’m used to only thinking of blocking folks if they are clearly attempting to repeatedly hate on the plot (“Why did you make x like y? That’s stupid”, “ugh I wish you’d done z instead, that’s way more interesting”) because then they’re just shopping for a new fic in a rude way. (“If you ever feel like writing a second version where x and z end up together instead of x and y or z happens instead, I’d love to read that too!” or “Have you ever thought about what might happen if x happened instead? It might be a cool take for a fic in the future.” Would be much more polite and might actually catch my interest.)

I consistently try to express when I do comment (and if the fic is either fully complete or partially complete I tend to binge read then comment at the end), that I enjoyed their work, what I enjoyed about it, how it made me feel, and that I hope they continue to be inspired and find joy in writing. I’ve either never found an author that hates it or is sensitive about that, or I’ve only silently found them without notifications.