What are your favourite types of comment to receive?

[birdsofshore]

First of all, THREE of my prompts at hp_kinkfest have been claimed (one for fic AND art *flail*), and one at dracotops_harry, and I'm so bloody excited! I don't know who you are but I love you a lot already. Are you OK, mystery creators? Do you need anything while you're busy with that? I mean, can I get you a glass of water or a back rub or anything? No? OK. I'll just sit here very quietly in the corner. Waiting. WAITING AND FLAILING.

So, comments. \o/ This was inspired by a great post from blithelybonny which made me realise that writers of different genres might value different types of comment.

I think my own favourites are basically the ones where the commenter claims to be too sexually aroused to attain coherence. I'll let this one remain anon but I was extremely pleased to be told:

I think I can't brain.

I would have been happy with even ONE of the following sentences in a comment, but to have all three was a bit of a joy.

If I was male I would have turned gay for this fic. This is so disgustingly arousing I can't even describe how it made me feel. My limbs have literally fallen off !

Disgustingly arousing. LITERALLY FALLEN OFF. She typed it with her nose. I'm so happy.

This next one was actually on a bookmark, so not really intended for my eyes at all, but oh boy, I like it. :D

HOLY BUCKETS

I also remember certain comments from when I was new, and someone lovely said something really encouraging. Or how about the first time a writer I utterly fangirl over commented on something I wrote? GOD. That was the flail to end all flails. I'll keep the details of those ones private for now, sorry.

Some people leave the most wonderful detailed feedback. Those comments are pure gold. They feel like a gift - no, they ARE a gift. A gift of time, and love, and kindness. I have wanted to write since I was a little girl, and never had the confidence to properly try until a few years ago. I thought I was probably going to be pretty crap, and when I post something new, often I still think it's pretty crap, and I'm sure sometimes it is, but then - it's like magic. Someone comes along and takes a chance on what I wrote, and then they take the time to TELL ME they enjoyed it, and why. It's the most incredible thing. There are some people, and they know who they are, and they leave these comments by the bagfull. And I love them for it.

I also love making people late for work or school, or made them miss a train because they didn't want to stop reading. I REALLY like that. Or when someone was laughing so much they frightened their cat / baby / spouse. Probably half of these people are fibbing to me, but I don't care.

Any comment is great. Some people say they feel anxious about commenting, but even a little phrase or an encouraging word is lovely to receive. But I can't help having my favourites. So, to sum up, my dream comment would probably be something like: "This was so hot my eyes fell out. Reading this made me miss my own wedding, and then my whole neighbourhood was evacuated because I was laughing so hard."

What are your favourite type of comments? Do you remember your first ever comment? Do you have certain comments that you'll always remember?

Comments

[tryslora]

Your comments on erised were definitely among my favorites. :) Getting to watch you live comment while reading was absofuckinglutely brilliant.

I love flails. I love keysmashes. I love "this isn't my thing but..." comments... oh gods do I ever love the "I read this anyway" comments because it means that either I dragged them in somehow despite being a thing they don't normally like, or they trusted me enough to try it anyway and enjoyed it enough to comment, and both are brilliant.

I'd say I love every comment, but there are some I do not. I don't like comments that simply say "more" or that say "you need to write a sequel" or otherwise demand more work. And I don't like critique. I admit it, when I'm done writing, I'm done writing, and I've written the story I meant to write, and I'm sorry if it doesn't appeal to a reader.

But other than that? Yeah, I love every comment. But my favorites are the long rambly flails, the keysmash incoherence, and the I never wanted this before but NOW comments.

I should comment more. I'm so bad about it, but I read on my phone and I get super angsty about leaving actual comments with my thumbs. :(

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

I don't like comments that simply say "more" or that say "you need to write a sequel" or otherwise demand more work.

OMG, yes. A thousand times yes to this. I can't tell you how many times I've posted a several thousand word fic only to have a commenter say "more" as the only comment. Argh!
My 'fave' was the one who commented "pls write seq". Ugh.

[torino10154]

"pls write seq"

I think we may have some of the same readers. LOL

[tryslora]

I had one on a TW fic who when I said "no" thought that multiple rounds of begging would get them a sequel. I've made many rants on tumblr about comment etiquette and how I don't see the demanding of sequels as a compliment, which apparently it is meant as. There are so many ways to say the same thing in polite ways, rather than demanding.

[birdsofshore]

Awwww I'm so glad my live comment stream was fun and not just REALLY IRRITATING :DD

Yes! "I never usually read.... but...." That's so flattering, isn't it?

But man, "More" on it's own as a comment comes across as so rude to me. It's like, someone gave you a present, and instead of saying "Thank you", you just say, "Another?" It's fine when people comment and THEN say they'd be interested in a sequel. Although I do have one or two fics where nearly every comment asks about a sequel and I'm not sure how I feel about that either!

[tryslora]

It was brilliant.

And YES, that sort of comment is my favorite, and I give it often, too, when I bump into that thing that's not usually my thing but suddenly IT IS MY THING for that one fic. Even better are the ones where someone discovers a new ship and goes off to read everything written for it. *happy sighs* best comments.

I like the ones where folks say "I'd read 100k more in this 'verse". Those are okay because they acknowledge that the fic, as written, is done, but make a wish for more at the same time. That one I take as a compliment. But "more" or "you have to write a sequel" drives me nuts.

I've found that if I get a fic where everyone seems to want a sequel, I update the note at the front saying that it's a one-shot and I have no plans for writing a sequel at this time. Hopeful that they'll stop asking, at least!