buffer-overrun

destinationtoast:

Feel free to answer any subset of these.  I appreciate many different types of comments from my readers, including most of the critical ones. But I have been trying to figure out how best to respond to certain types of comments, and that’s gotten me curious about what makes people comment in the first place, and about their expectations of authors when they do comment.

1. Do you hope to get a response to your comments from the author?  Do you expect to?  Do you enjoy it when the author replies?

It’s nice to get a quick acknowledgement.  A couple of times, I have also gotten really sweet responses to comments that just made me really happy

How often do you comment?  What inspires you to do so?  Do you comment on a subset of the works you kudos, or a different set?

I only comments on a small proportion of works.  If I find myself mulling over something about the fic later, I try to leave a comment to 1) share what I’m thinking about and 2) show appreciation for a work that had an impact on me.

I am usually commenting on works that I have already given kudos to (and often works I have bookmarked or subscribed to). I try to give kudos pretty liberally.  (I’m still a little conflicted about whether to give kudos to WIPs.  Like, what if the author does something at the end that really upsets me.  Am I going to take away my kudos?)

What kinds of comments do you usually tend to leave — quick thanks/appreciation?  favorite lines?  longer thoughts about the writing?  reporting on your emotional response?  other?

Usually it’s whatever I can’t get out of my head about the work.  Also sometimes if I find something weirdly hot.

Do you ever ask the author of a multi-part fic where the story is going, or express a hope that it ends a certain way?  What kind of a reply/outcome do you hope to get when leaving such a comment?

No.  Except one time when the author asked for advice on whether he should write an epilogue.

Do you ever leave critical comments (e.g., “this bit doesn’t work for me”, “this took a turn that weirds me out”, “this seems out of character”), and if so, when?  What kind of a reply/outcome do you hope to get when leaving such a comment?

I used to leave typo/ factchecking comments, and then I realized how much it annoys people.  I still wish there were a way to flag typos for the author without it being part of the comment thread.

I did leave a critical comment on emmagrant01’s Interlude, because it upset me to the point that I couldn’t actually reread A Cure for Boredom.  I didn’t want to be a jerk; I basically said that after reading Interlude, I couldn’t trust her Sherlock anymore.  And maybe that was what she intended.  I didn’t expect a response.

[Edit: I went back and changed that comment on Interlude to something like “These poor kids.” It was really bugging me that I had left a negative comment. And now I know that I cannot read disfunctional BDSM fic because it will make me want to cry and throw up. So, lesson learned.]