judge not lest ye be judged: fanwork comment edition

[merelydovely]

I've been privately griping (i.e. mentally feeling hard done by) for the past few weeks about never getting a comment from my Sewerexchange gift recipient. Then today I was signing up for the Les Mis Holiday Exchange, writing my prompts, and as I re-added a prompt I'd used before, a memory stirred: hadn't somebody written a fill for this exact prompt?

I headed over to my Gifts tab on AO3 and paged back to 2020 only to discover yes, I had received a gift, opened it in the middle of a busy holiday time, seen a couple of my least favorite SPAG errors, lost my motivation to read 8k of text, and left the tab open until my ADHD ass forgot all about it. For TWO YEARS.

ಠ_ಠ

Anyway, I read it, and despite the SPAG errors at the beginning, it was pretty good as gifts from total strangers go! I left a nice comment with a profuse apology. And I have officially revoked my right to feel sorry for myself over the silence of my Sewerexchange giftee.

The discourse around fanwork comments is often pretty bitter, when it's not outright aggressive. I'm usually pretty firmly in the camp of "comments are wonderful, but nobody owes you any," but I do feel that when the fanwork itself was owed, as in an exchange, then some kind of at-least-minimally-positive reaction is the polite thing to do, even if you didn't enjoy what you received.

I'm usually in exchanges to give rather than receive, so it doesn't bother me much if what I get is underwhelming. Getting assigned an unskilled partner for a Big Bang, though? THAT has led to me dropping out of an event at least once TT_TT

I don't think I have a thesis here, other than that I want to put together a post about making my Sewerexchange gift, because comments or no comments, I'm really really proud of it (✿◡‿◡)

Comments

[hebethen]

Yeah, I think exchanges are a bit of a special case. You've specifically asked for a thing and someone has specifically made a thing specifically for you. That's not just coming across a fic in the wild or whatnot.

[harinezumiko]

At least it gave you that reminder to read a pretty good gift! And you're happy with your work, that's important.

I had the silence once in an exchange. I actually asked them directly if they'd received it. They said yes, they had, and nothing more... So I left it at that. ^^;

It's hard when you don't know people to write for what they like. The prompts give objective likes / dislikes but nothing subjective to get a feel for it. But I still like doing them even if they're hard. (Really struggling with one right now!)

[merelydovely]

Most of the exchanges I write for are based on server membership, and frankly I get a bit stalky trying to figure out what my recipient will like best, reading through discussions they've partcipated in regarding what kind of fic they like, what kind of characterization headcanons they have and so on. It does mean I've turned out some eerily well-matched gift fics in the past, but it also means I'm more invested than usual in that specific person validating my choices!

The Les Mis Holiday Exchange is more general and I might be assigned someone with a mostly-empty AO3 profile and nothing else, at which point I'll just be winging it and writing something with general appeal.

Best of luck with your current gift fic! Hit me up if you think you'd benefit from stalking tips 😆 Or is it more that the execution is proving tough?

[harinezumiko]

Thank you for the offer! It's more that I know what this person likes and it's pretty different to how I normally write. I'm not confident I can pull off something they'll appreciate. And also the old enemy, time..!

Good luck with your Les Mis match!

[merelydovely]

Thanks! I just got my assignment and all three prompts are the exact same list of likes and dislikes, just with different ships attached. No actual prompts or specific requests. They probably thought they were being nice by leaving it up to their gifter to do whatever, but I honestly work better with stricter parameters, so I'm a little at a loss right now!

[sunshine304]

It's great that you are happy with your fic no matter the lack in reaction. And at least it had the good side that you checked on that forgotten gift! XD

I think if it's in an exchange, it's totally legit to expect some reaction. You made the effort to write something especially for another person, taking the time to try to write something they might like. So it doesn't seem entitled that you'd want a bit of feeback for it.

We're all happy about comments of course, but I also don't leave comments on everything I read sooo... I'm trying to be better about it, to at least leave a short sentence or some emojis etc. to show my appreciation. I always leave kudos, at the very least, if I've read the fic in full.

Totally get that bad SPAG made you click out of the gift at first. XD I can't read a fic that's full of SPAG, it's too annyoing and I start editing in my head, especially if it's stuff that a simple spellcheck would've caught.

[merelydovely]

I usually have to be really into the premise to bother reading past obvious SPAG problems, and very very occasionally it's worth it, but...ehh. There's so much content, why give yourself a headache?

Honestly I think I'm probably in the minority in that I don't especially enjoy super minimal, low-content comments? If I see someone commented on something I can't help but get my hopes up that it's going to say something specific, so if it's just "♥" there's definitely a part of me that's like "but that's what kudos is for???" If it's a keysmash and a slew of 😭😭😭 emojis that's another thing, or "reread kudos", or something that's high impact, then that's awesome, but I think guilting everybody into leaving a smiley or three heart emojis when all they really wanted to do was leave a kudos is kind of counterproductive.

[sunshine304]

Yes, in big fandoms like MDZS/CQL, there is just so much else to read, very likely something that is very similar to the fic in question, so we can just move on. XD I've usually been in big fandoms, so there was lots of choice, but I remember one author in one of my old fandoms who posted very frequently, almost every day, and who had a lot of typos. Not really actual SPAG problems, just... didn't-read-it-again-before-posting typos. That was annoying, but I came back to their fics because they just kept drawing me in with the premise or the pace of it, or the drama. XD

Oh I get that! I'm always happier about comments that tell me at least something of what the reader liked, and the super long flailing, squeeing comments are the best of course! (Though I haven't really gotten them T_T) But I'm looking at those comments that are only three ♥ or something like, "Well at least they've taken the time to not only leave kudos but some extra hearts so that's nice".
I think there might've been some posts that were like, "If you don't leave comments you're a bad reader!" and I also think that's counterproductive. Because as you've said, guilting people into it isn't the way to go, it'll likely only make them more reluctant over time. I've seen some other posts that were more helpful, like, "You want to comment but you are too shy/don't know what to say etc." because looking back on my early fandom time, I also often was too self-conscious or shy to leave a comment. So encouraging those readers to leave something to express some extra love is a good idea, I think.

It's just a feeling, IDK if it has true merit, but it seems like people leave less kudos and comments than they used to. I'm not well-known in the fandom, so I get less "engagement" than bigger names anyway and that's fine. First and foremost, I write those fics for myself because I want to see that story written. But I've seen some people remark on this, too, who are getting less reactions than before - and I don't think that's because the quality of their work has dropped or anything. IDK, there are likely many factors playing into it... Shorter attention spans and desiring instant gratification like other social media teaches them, or not reading WiPs until they're finished, or a premise that just isn't the best liked or or or...

[merelydovely]

I don't think I've noticed a drop in engagement... Maybe slightly less commenting? But I've been writing for older fandoms lately and that puts a damper on things.

I think it's possible there might be fewer comments relative to hits, just because there are more young fans who don't think to comment, but since I usually write NSFW and my audience are adults anyway I'm not as affected?

Desire for interaction is huge though, which is one reason I'm always excited to be back on Dreamwidth! Just have to keep my energy up so I can comment on other people's stuff too :D

[sunshine304]

It's always hard to tell. I didn't expect my latest fic to take off or anything because the setting is quite "specialised" and so I think that some readers might shy away from it because they're unfamiliar with it. But yeah, comparing the hits-kudos-comments ratio, there definitely is a bit of a drop. I saw some other people that I follow comment on having a similar experience, and those were all WiPs too at the time. I guess it's a combination of several factors and I definitely can't compare it to my fic before that, because that included a lot of popular things in CQL fandom. XD
I'll see how the next one fares. XD

But yes, if you add older fandoms or NSFW, than it's different again, too.

I've always loved the interactions in fandom (well, if it didn't drift into wank XD) and talking about fic etc., so starting up DW again has been quite enjoyable! I think many of the younger fans just don't know about "comment culture", how it used to be in LJ threads etc. We'll have to lead by example, I guess! XD

[lassarina]

Most exchanges I've done have a "you must at least say thank you" rule for comments; people who don't comment on their gifts are not permitted to participate in the future.

It's super valid to feel frustrated when you don't get a comment on something written specifically for someone else, though.

[merelydovely]

Huh! I've never seen that rule, but it makes sense for larger, more anonymous exchanges for sure.