Comments up at AO3?

[birdsofshore]

I hesitated about posting this, because it might be annoying to read if you're NOT getting comments, but I decided to go for it anyway. It's not often we hear good news about comments!

I feel like there might have been an upsurge in commenting at AO3. I was lucky and had comments for my erised fic over the last few weeks, and I'm still getting the odd one on that fic which is lovely, but in general, I'm getting one or two comments (on other fics) most days. This is NOT usually the case for me, and it's quite delightful.

Do you think there might be a swing back towards interacting with writers, rather than just leaving Kudos or navigating away? It would be super if there was. Kudos and hits are all very well, but comments - oh, nothing makes my heart go pitter-pat like a real juicy comment. ♥ Thank you so much to all of you who still leave them, whether here or on AO3.

EDITED TO ADD: this is in no way meant to make people feel uncomfortable or pressured about comments. I know some people get stressed about commenting / not commenting. DON'T WORRY! Read fic and be happy.

Comments

[notearchiver.livejournal.com]

I haven't been getting an upsurge in comments, but I've been getting a huge upsurge in kudos, which is very strange seeing as I haven't posted anything but my Yuletide in months upon months, and my YT won't exactly attract mainstream attention.

As for comments, I can only guess that it started during the holiday season, then people decided to do some sort of NY's resolution for commenting, and then people just keep going with it. Well, I don't know. What the hell, I don't really get comments because I don't post much of my writing.

[birdsofshore]

I wondered about that! Whether it was a new year's thing, or whether there was some drive on another platform I don't use, to get people commenting or something. That's really interesting about an upsurge in Kudos. Another thought I had was that people were perhaps coming back to HP fandom, with the upcoming films and the plays bringing it back into people's minds?

[afrozenflowerr.livejournal.com]

Indeed, comments are always lovely. <3
I have been trying to comment more on what I read because I have been such a lazy reader when I first started getting into fanfics. I don't know if more people are starting to interact with writers or not, but it is good to know it is happening! :)

[birdsofshore]

Gosh, I used to read and not comment when I got into fandom. I think that's true for a lot of people. It was only really when I joined LJ and then I saw some really stellar commenting and realised there was a whole community here, of amazing people, all just being excellent to each other (er, most of the time ;)).

*frown* I think however it may mean I have never commented on some of my favourite fics. That's pretty crap.

[teddyradiator.livejournal.com]

I have to say that lately I seem to have an upswing in comments as well. And come to think on it, most of them seem to stem from AO3. I don't know if new people are 'finding' my fics, or if people are just commenting more, but it's nice to have the feedback.

[birdsofshore]

This is interesting to hear! And very good news, too.

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

Commenting for me at AO3 seems steady (no upswing here), but they do come in, which is lovely! No complaints. :)

[birdsofshore]

That's nice to hear, as well. I'm glad you're appreciated <3

[helenarickman.livejournal.com]

I like leaving kudos on AO3 so the writer will, at the very least, know I read their story and liked it. I don't like kudos on AO3 on my works because I believe for all the work I put into a story, a nice comment is appreciated. I know, I'm a hypocrite. But I will leave comments on AO3 on occasion myself it I am truly moved by a story.

Truth is, I also post on Ash/Syc and TPP. I don't think I get near as many story reads on those and much fewer comments (than kudos), but those are my "go-to" sites for reading as well as posting so you take what you can get. I do hope there is a swing back towards more comments, though, only because it is the polite thing to do.

[birdsofshore]

I know, I'm a hypocrite

Ah, none of us are perfect! I didn't post this to make anyone feel criticised or pressured to leave comments. Just to say how nice it is when someone does, really!

[digthewriter]

I think maybe people are finally settling in from the holiday stress and reading long fics.

I don't subscribe to kudos notification so i have no idea when ppl leave me kudos, but not much has changed for me for comments, though, also possibly b/c I didn't write for anything big this holiday season!

♥ Hopefully commenting more will become a thing again!

[birdsofshore]

It's interesting to see how holidays affect Kudos and comments and so on. I remember there was one year that America seemed to spend most of Thanksgiving reading H/D smut, from the sudden surge in my Kudos notifications. ;)

Why do you choose not to get notifications, by the way? If you don't mind me asking, of course.

[lauren3210.livejournal.com]

I know that I got a bit of an upsurge in ao3 comments in December, and not just on the fest fics that had been posted recently, but across the board. I think it might have something to do with Tumblr, because there's been a post that I've seen on my dash loads of times, explaining the kinds of things people could say in comments and urging them to leave even just a word or two on the fics that they read and enjoy (and I had one comment apologising that they hadn't commented before now and saying that Tumblr had reminded them to do so, which was sweet).

And I agree; kudos and hits are lovely, and I do like getting that daily email telling me how many kudos I've had, but a notification of a new comment always makes my smile just that little bit bigger!

[birdsofshore]

Ah, I did wonder if there was such a thing happening at tumblr, that was one of my theories. I will sit on my hands and not grumble on about the irony of tumblr encouraging people to interact with one another... ;)

I know from past discussions that some people do find it stressful to leave comments and I hope nothing I've said would make anyone feel awkward or obliged to do it. But that post with encouraging suggestions about comments sounds like a really good thing.

[firethesound]

I've noticed a decent upswing in comments, too. It started around the time of Erised reveals, so I assumed it was people finding me through my submission there and then clicking through to read other things. I've recently had an upswing in kudos as well, a good number of which are one person going through and clicking kudos on a lot of things in a row. So yeah, I've blamed Erised. But the whole new year's thing makes a lot of sense, too. I've noticed with myself, now that we're past the whole holiday craziness thing, I've been leaving more comments than I did pre-holidays.

[birdsofshore]

Yay, I'm so pleased to hear it's not just me imagining it! I am such a comment whore, I know the quantities I'm getting are not impressive or anything, but they are madly appreciated.

I'm glad you're getting plenty of post-erised love. ♥

[capitu]

This is lovely to hear, more comments are love. Can't say that enough. :)

[birdsofshore]

Hey, is it your post on commenting that's going around at tumblr? If not, get it on there! It's the best.

[kitty_fic]

I've noticed a few more comments on a some of my older fics as well. Mostly it's just 1 or 2 specific fics, but I'm always surprised when I get a comment notification since I haven't written or posted anything new in quite some times

[birdsofshore]

I seem to be getting comments on all sorts of things - I seem to have two lovely people working their way through my masterlist, which is the BIGGEST compliment ever. But just random people commenting on random old fics, too, which is like getting an unexpected present in the post <3

I'm glad you've noticed it, too!

[lyonessheart.livejournal.com]

well I never get more than 1-3 comments shortly after posting on AO3 and I cannot say that I have the feeling that I get a lot of comments in general. But I learned to be ok with kudos. Asking more of the readers seems to be too much.

[birdsofshore]

I think Kudos is a useful tool in some ways. It can be frustrating to get Kudos when we're yearning for a comment. But Kudos is a sign that we're appreciated.

[brinimc.livejournal.com]

One of my friends who writes was telling me she hates AO3 cause of the lack of comments and I love AO3 cause of the ease of reading and how to can narrow my searches so well. Since I want to encourage her to write on there more I went to all my bookmarks and left comments. After that I tried to comment at least one word on everything I read except for awful stuff cause people respond VERY BADLY to any kind of critique. Hopefully people keep posting there.

[birdsofshore]

Commenting on your bookmarks is a great idea! I think people will keep using AO3 because of the ease of using the site, just as you say. I like the nice clean layout, but it can feel a bit impersonal on there sometimes; LJ is just so friendly.

[pauraque]

I have noticed a rise in both kudos and comments over the past few months, but I'm not sure if that's attributable to an actual increase in the percentage of people responding in some way, or simply to the site itself getting more traffic as its popularity grows. If ten people looked at a fic and one left a comment, that's a 10% response rate; if 100 people looked at it and 10 left comments, well, I'd be very happy! But it's still 10%.

I'd love it if fandom culture were taking more of a turn towards interaction, but I think more research is needed to find out if there's really any sign of it.

[birdsofshore]

It seems more dramatic to me than an increase in traffic, which I'd expect to be slower and steadier, but there's no data to back up my gut feeling, none at all. I'm glad you've noticed a trend, too - whatever it is , it seems a good thing!

[nerakrose]

I've been thinking about this lately. For the past 2-3 months I've been getting many more comments than I usually do - instead of months passing between comments I've been getting them weekly, even daily at times. I didn't know if it was just me (which would be odd, considering how little I've posted of fic this year), or if it was a general thing. I haven't read the comments to this post yet, but hey, my zero knowledge of statistics tells me that if two people experienced it then it counts as A Thing. XD

Either way, I'm very happy about it! I hope the trend continues. And now I need to do my part and go comment on the fic I've been reading this past week...

[birdsofshore]

Yes! Daily comments! This is not a thing I am used to at all! It's quite a delight. I completely agree that it must be A Thing. I'll try to use it as inspiration to comment more myself, as well. Thanks for the reminder of that!

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

I've experienced this too, and think it's delightful!! I second your tumblr theory and have seen a lot of pro-commenting posts going around, but also wonder (though it pains me to say it) if it has something to do with wattpad? I can't make heads or tails of wattpad as a platform but listened to a podcast that explained it, and heard that they have a function that allows commenters to leave comments on individual lines/paragraphs, and they see more comments there because of it. So maybe it's people getting into more of a commenting habit there? In addition to all the posts circulating on tumblr?

[birdsofshore]

Ooooh, that's not something I know anything about, but I like your theory. I'm so pleased other people are confirming that this could be a trend on AO3. What I really crave is the sense of community and connection that we have here at LJ, but comments on any platorm are certainly a fabulous thing <3

[http://users.livejournal.com/_melodic_/]

I've only got a handle of comments on my three owl posts fictions and no new ones have come in but I have noticed that I do get a few new kudos every day to every other day and it makes me very happy! (Maybe after reveals I'll get more? Who knows!?)

I'm sure comments would be even more amazing, but seeing as this was my first year participating in a. Fest I'm just happy right now to see people are reading my story at all as well as letting me know they like it!

[birdsofshore]

There is so much going on around Christmas that comments can be a bit hard to come by if it's not at one of the big fests.. Owl post is a lovely thing to do - I hope you got nice comments from the recipients.

[chickenpumpkin.livejournal.com]

I've noticed it too. I wonder if some people who've taken a break from the fandom came back for the new erised fics and got reinvigorated enough to see if they've missed anything else over the last year. That happens to me sometimes--reading something good makes me want to dive back into a fandom, and since I'm all enthusiastic, I'm more inclined to leave comments.

Not that I'm gonna second guess this gift horse =D

[birdsofshore]

So glad it happened to you too! And you didn't write for erised - I don't think? So it's not just people checking out erised writer's other fics - it's a general upswing? I think this is brilliant!

[themightyflynn]

I've assumed that Erised has something to do with the amount of new comments I've been getting. It's such a popular fest that new people find you when you participate (it was my first year!) and then go search you out. I've gotten more hits on lj since then as well, but no extra comments here. I haven't seen the tumblr post, though, but maybe that's just because I tend to only go thee when I'm incredibly bored.

[birdsofshore]

I suspect erised had a hand in my increased comments - I've definitely gained a couple of lovely people who are working through my masterlist, and I think they found me via erised - but it seems like other people who didn't write for erised are noticing it too? Whatever it is, it's lovely!

[kerrilee75.livejournal.com]

When I started reading I was very intimidated to comment and I honestly still don't love commenting on AO3. Some people link back to LJ for comments and that is usually where I go. I like the interaction of the community here. If I leave a comment I love getting a response back, too!

[birdsofshore]

I think commenting can be intimidating. I know some people get very stressed about it and if that's the case, I think they should just forget it and enjoy the fic anyway! But sometimes people post helpful hints about commenting and I hope that encourages people, if they want to leave comments. I agree - I'd rather comment on LJ. More about that below!

[kerrilee75.livejournal.com]

I'll also say that the wonderful comments you leave each other inspire me to share mine! I notice many of you say "more thoughts on LJ" when commenting on AO3. Just curious your reasons behind that....

[birdsofshore]

I love reading comments - they can be so thought-provoking, or inspiring, or funny, or just gleeful, when someone has really let their squee run wild, LOL.

I usually comment on LJ because I don't feel so comfortable over at AO3 - I think I described it once that LJ feels like a friend's house, or maybe a coffee shop where you are a regular and you know lots of people there. AO3 feels more neutral and impersonal - a nice place, but maybe like a public library. I don't feel comfortable leaving a rambly comment there, or a very excitable one, or anything like that. This feels like our little community, here on LJ.

I might then leave a comment on AO3 saying "thoughts on LJ" because some people on AO3 judge which fic to read by how many comments it has. You can search by comment count, or if you're looking at a collection of fics, eg erised, you can scan down and see how many comments each one has, and it can be a sign of which fics are more popular, and therefore (possibly) which ones are more enjoyable. So you're kind of giving the writer that little boost in the AO3 stats when you leave a short comment on AO3. I don't always do it - but I think that's why people do.

[awickedmemory.livejournal.com]

I only noticed an upswing on one particular story for a few weeks, which makes me think it got rec'd somewhere and I just don't know where. In general though, my comments have been pretty steady with one or two on HP fic most days, and around five or six kudoses, so not much of a change. But I'm really happy for your upsurge. :D

[birdsofshore]

One or two a day is unusually high for me - perhaps I should have explained that! Yeah, I'm not getting dozens or anything, but I'm loving getting one, two, or even more per day. I used to get maybe one or two a week?