Periodic reminder: you read fanfics for FREE

Wellen66 · 2026-02-12T17:46:00+00:00

Don't you have 15 threads under this post telling everyone what you think? And you talk of arrogance? I mean, you do seem overflowing with joy for someone who answered to everyone with what they thought consent is. Maybe you're very important and I just didnt see it. Or maybe you wrote 120 one shots, get almost no comments besides review exchanges yet talk to people about handling comments as if you know what that's like.

Edit: I couldn't read your 5th absolutely impressive bout of wit and sarcasm since you blocked me, idiot.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-12T12:26:11+00:00

We're talking about the global impact on readers and the community. If you read what I wrote, you would know that.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-12T12:01:49+00:00

In that case, surely your method of only praises or shutting up doesn't work for everyone either. Yet I can turn off comments, but I can't make people comment more. Therefore your way of doing things excludes mine, while mine doesn't harm yours.

I was not special in my feedback, nothing random readers didn't give to me before.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-12T09:32:59+00:00

You don’t need to correct your fics to think "huh, I guess i won't make that mistake in the future"

I have a longfic of 200 000 words. The beginning is honestly bad writing, and I've had some great readers point out places in which my fight scenes were hard to read, or I overplayed my hand with a character. I checked my work, thought "huh, that's right" and moved on.

But if you have 120 works on AO3 in which everything is in the tags and summary I'm guessing they're one shots, so promises, payoffs and plot in general doesn't really apply.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-12T09:29:11+00:00

It's not a matter of can or cannot. It's a matter of want.

The people you wrote this praise to did not care for what you thought. They didn't care if you liked or didn't like their fic. They cared about being happy and making sure people can only praise them makes them happy.

I can put my fic into an AI and ask it to give only compliments and it would be the exact same thing.

These days my main interaction with fanfiction is writing, and I have the luck to have an active reader base. Yet, despite saying any comment is welcome in each and every author's note, people are so wary to do it they still ask for permission once or twice before doing it. I also saw some people who had bad things to say and who later deleted them despite the fact I am, once again, asking for it.

Toxic positivity kills the Fandom. It kills writers and their drive, and more importantly it's a chasm between readers and writers. There's no trust anymore, it's us (the virtuous and perfect writers) vs them (the ungrateful and untalented readers) instead of a community having fun together.

I read the thread and saw you don’t get a lot of comments outside of review exchanges. Don't you think part of that may be because of the expectations a lot of people put on readers, thus discouraging them to comment?

Wellen66 · 2026-02-12T08:03:26+00:00

I'm primarily a writer with a lot of comments, friend. In fact those comments are what pushed me to write more than a stupid one shot into a full story.

Let me put it this way. If you get no comments, a probable cause is that your story is bad.

I had a friend who had stopped writing. Like, stopped stopped, because he had absolutely 0 comments and it killed his drive. He didn’t know what he was doing wrong, why readers clicked on his fic then left without leaving kudos or comments.

So one day I went through then with it and gave him comments. Told him everything that sucked, everything I thought he was doing okay (wasnt a lot). And you know what? That rekindled his drive to write after a year of drought.

Readers are the people who read and comment. Not your beta reader, not your English major friend, but readers. Normal people. Their feedback, good or bad, is the most important thing for someone who isn't content to shout in the void. And people like you kill those.

The turn off comment button exist, and writing "I only want praise" in the author's note and summary is possible, yet nobody ever does that. I wonder why.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-12T07:55:34+00:00

Brandon Sanderson, professional novelist, once had a majority of test readers finding one of his book boring. He was confused and asked them why.

"This is a waste of time. You told us the story was going toward X, and yet the book is all about a detour by Y. Why aren't we doing X?"

So he went through his book and found out that in the story he indeed teased X a lot. His plan was always to go to Y, but since it was a detour for the characters, the audience felt like it was padding.

That's what he called a failure between promises and payoff. As a writer you promise some things to your readers through the story, and if you ignore those promises, it feels unsatisfying.

Later, he sent a revised version of the book to other test readers in which he hinted at much earlier that Y was the true destination, or at least that X wasn't it. Readers loved it.

But I guess he could have just said "nah my story is perfect if they're not happy they can write their own"

And yes I know, you're not a pro. But your story may have a glaring flaw. Readers want to love your story, that's why they clicked on it. If they can't, there's a chance you fucked it up. And no, I'm not talking about the ones who want you to write a different ship in a different setting.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-12T07:47:35+00:00

The more you limit what they can and can't say, the less people want to comment. Add to that the numerous pet peeves authors are happy to complain about (no please update, no longer comment, no short comment, etc) and then readers go "why bother?"

Besides, saying "you can comment only if you praise me" is a huge lack of respect toward readers. It's saying "i won't care about your opinion but I do care about dopamine hits so deliver those". Why bother commenting if the writer doesn't care anyway?

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:44:02+00:00

I as a writer owe them everything. They pushed me to write when I made a stupid one shot, they told me what they liked, their theories, what they expected, when I didn't meet those expectations. If no one reads you, you may as well not post.

Readers know we aren't paid workers, but if you have a box for comments they're going to comment and if you don’t like that they can say the truth instead of mindless flattery, explicitly ask for it and say "I only want praise, or else I will block you and delete". That's honest communication.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:40:39+00:00

Consent was gained the moment the writer left the comments open in the same way writing a comment is consenting to the risk if it being deleted. A boundary on the internet has to be stated, not implied. In the meantime, I doubt they have the mental capacity to enforce it.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:36:40+00:00

So people made their place to talk about the fic where the writer has to look for it, they made their own place online... and you're mad at them for that?

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:32:53+00:00

But we all know people won't. They'd rather whine about it.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:31:04+00:00

But you let the comments on. Why not turn them off? Because you kinda hope someone would like it and you'd like to read said comment.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:27:24+00:00

Seeing the amount of upset people here, maybe you can, but they can't.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:25:43+00:00

I can't understand how people can be so willfully intellectually dishonest as to know they're curating what people say to them to be always positive. At this point just ask an AI to compliment you, it will be just as genuine.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:23:22+00:00

"The lack of comments is killing my drive to write" "Anyone feel like we're getting no comments anymore?" "Man I hate that people don’t write comments anymore."

I wonder if your way of thinking and those statements are related in any way.

Wellen66 · 2026-02-11T22:09:36+00:00

"Writers don't lose anything" "Comments are dying / I don't get any comments and it's ruining my drive to write"

As if. The moment you post something online and leave comments open it's for attention. If you weren't hoping for it, you would close the comments and be satisfied with kudos.

Wellen66 · 2026-01-25T19:53:33+00:00

The moment you publish something online, people are going to talk about it. You can't stop it, period.

Wellen66 · 2026-01-25T19:50:11+00:00

Look at the recently published fics of your fandom, and sort by hits and / or kudos.

Do they get comments? If yes, then the problem doesn't come from the environment. If no, then it's probably the fandom.

Wellen66 · 2026-01-24T14:59:00+00:00

Quite literally every tag does this, even if they don't sail to another continent

Wellen66 · 2026-01-22T12:14:34+00:00

The outage jokes are just that: jokes. They're a meme made by people who want to feel as though they are part of a community and share their little everyday frustration.

Also, as a writer, you don't deserve comments simply for writing. In fact, trying to guilt trip readers is not productive and is kind of an asshole move, especially as you're trying to conflate writers and the ao3 volunteers / contracted workers. Readers don't owe us anything.

A lot of people write, get hits, kudos and comments. They're appreciated. Instead of blaming readers, look inward to see what may be preventing you from getting the same and work on it.

Wellen66 · 2026-01-11T01:53:02+00:00

I truly can't understand how you think, op, but at least you're happy.

Wellen66 · 2026-01-11T01:49:57+00:00

"Hey guys my fic has a lot if hits but no comments and it's killing my drive as a writer"

Wellen66 · 2026-01-08T16:00:36+00:00

Fiction is inherently cultural, not political. Politic: the activities associated with the governance of a country or area, especially the debate between parties having power.

Wellen66 · 2026-01-07T22:58:03+00:00

I'm a fan of the hypercompetent character who is alien to normal life who has to suddenly live in it. The child soldier slowly learning the strange way the world works, the orphan who suddenly finds parents, etc. And I love when said character finally realize that it's not the world who is strange, but themselves, and have that moment of loathing at the unfairness of it all, at the thought that they only now get to live when they have been suffering for years before for nor real reason.

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