What gets you most fired up on your activity feed? Favorites, followers, or comments?

[grenefire]

Comments. Writing is such a lonely pursuit and at times it feels like putting your work out into the void. It is nice to see that people are taking their time to comment on what you wrote, even when it negative or plain weird.

 

[lovecraft68]

Nothing beyond writing the story itself.

 

[Cagivagurl]

emails and gift bags. comments a close third.

OMG...
You get gift bags.... Wow.
Now I'm impressed....

 

[Kelliezgirl]

OMG...
You get gift bags.... Wow.
Now I'm impressed....

If you knew what was IN the gift bags you might not be...

 

[Cagivagurl]

Gotta be candy... Chocolates,

 

[EmilyMiller]

What gets you most fired up on your activity feed? Favorites, followers, or comments?​

Comments every time.

I wish we had better ways of engaging with readers. They have all been mentioned before:

1. Comment threading - or at least @User working as it does on the forums
2. Author blogs - with links to stories enabled
3. Author AMAs

Emily

 

[Cagivagurl]

I'm not so sure about the comments.
I have been told that in the early days of Lit. Comments posted instantaneously.
Story comments were overwhelmed with commenters fighting each other.
Sure it would start about the story, but soon degenerated into flame wars between conflicting commenters.
The story long forgotten.
In my opinion. It would be quite disconcerting to see your story derailed into an argument between commenters.

Cagivagurl

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm not so sure about the comments.
I have been told that in the early days of Lit. Comments posted instantaneously.

They still do, sometimes. The screening (which used to be done on a batch basis) was introduced four or five years ago to combat spam attacks on the site. There must be some kind of instantaneous screening for links and html these days, because some of my comments get posted immediately - but others seem to go into a queue. Can't figure out what's going on there, because it's only ever text.

Story comments were overwhelmed with commenters fighting each other.
Sure it would start about the story, but soon degenerated into flame wars between conflicting commenters.
The story long forgotten.

Probably why authors were given the ability to delete comments, using whatever criteria they choose.

In my opinion. It would be quite disconcerting to see your story derailed into an argument between commenters.

Deleting comments solves that.

 

[Cagivagurl]

They still do, sometimes. The screening (which used to be done on a batch basis) was introduced four or five years ago to combat spam attacks on the site. There must be some kind of instantaneous screening for links and html these days, because some of my comments get posted immediately - but others seem to go into a queue. Can't figure out what's going on there, because it's only ever text.

Probably why authors were given the ability to delete comments, using whatever criteria they choose.

Deleting comments solves that.

Yes, deleting comments as they popped up would solve it.
However, that would mean watching it and monitoring it.
I don't follow it that closely.
I'll check the day after a story has posted, but then may not look at it again for days, maybe weeks or months.
I think comments made by a recognisable ID post straight away.
Anonymous ones take up to 24 hours. I think, that's what I have noticed.

Cagivagurl

 

[mirafrida]

There are generic / simplistic / rude negative comments, and those roll off but certainly don't do anything for me

There are generic / simplistic positive comments, and those are super nice to get.

But i think the most meaningful is when you recieve a thoughtful, rich, and constructive comment (even if it more critical than supportive).

 

[Priscilla_June]

Comments! Love to see that type of engagemenf.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

Gotta be candy... Chocolates,

No, it's not me in the bag ...

 

[Publius68]

Put me in the Comments first and foremost camp.
Favorites seem for me to just be a shorthand marker for how many reads I'm getting on a story.
I should pay more attention to Follows than I do, but they don;t float my boat that much.
But Comments... mmm.

 

[MyBareTorso]

I enjoy ANY form of response, to be honest, as I don't get huge views and lots of scores. Comments are always the most interesting, of course, because they involve more than just hitting a button. I have had some very thoughtful ones that I have really appreciated, but I would never alter my writing in any way because of something someone said. Writing the story itself is the cake, the rest is just delicious icing...

 

[alohadave]

I'll be honest, all I really care about are views.

 

[SimonDoom]

The bottom line for me is knowing that my stories are reaching an appreciative audience. A thoughtful, positive comment is deeply appreciated, but I know that there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of readers for every comment, and it's satisfying to know that they're out there even if they never let me know how they feel. My attitude is to pick and choose types of feedback and story data like I'm at a buffet, feasting on whatever I find.

 

[karina_jayde]

Strangely one of my favorite sorts of 'feedback' is seeing a consistent trend of ratings over the course of a series.

Readership obviously drops off over the course of a series, but it was nice to see a fairly consistent trend of 4 and 5 star ratings (presumably from the same batch of 10-15 readers) for the last 4 entries of my Drowning at Dusk series.

 

[Paddleboardpnw]

When someone favorites a story, even better if they favorite, comment and then follow, or any order of that.

 

[intim8]

How about you? Why?

Attention. I hate having attention on me in real life, but on my writing, gimme gimme. Votes, comments, followers, favorites, views. Even seeing it on the new stories list in a category.

OK, call it feedback. I want to know what people think of what I write. Yeah, I appreciate the "H", and kind of think of that as the standard of "success" of the story, but I'm almost starting to take it for granted. (sorry if that sounds like a humblebrag, but take it as minimizing the importance the H tag). I want details. A few comments do that, but not enough. It's not the praise, it's the 'what do you *think* about it?' that I crave.

 

[THBGato]

I was going to say comments (which I do really appreciate) but then this:

Strangely one of my favorite sorts of 'feedback' is seeing a consistent trend of ratings over the course of a series.

Readership obviously drops off over the course of a series, but it was nice to see a fairly consistent trend of 4 and 5 star ratings (presumably from the same batch of 10-15 readers) for the last 4 entries of my Drowning at Dusk series.

YES! Really good point - it's great to see that readers have obviously enjoyed part 1 enough to follow through and read part 2 (and beyond).

 

[stonedinstilletos]

I’m still at the point that I get excited over it all. I think my favorite are comments (even though I’m scared to read them), then favorites, then followers.

 

[Trionyx]

I like the royalty checks directly deposited into my account.

After that, comments mean the most.

 

[Kasumi_Lee]

Definitely comments. As much as I like having favorites and followers, the former are signaling they like what you wrote without stating why and the latter are indicating they like what you wrote and expect to see more. I want to know what people really think about my stories and why.

 

[AG31]

When I first started publishing on Lit five years ago it was definitely favorites and/or comments and it probably still is for a couple of days following the release of a new story. But for all of the rest of the time, I look for those green follower notifications. How about you? Why?

Comments. No doubt about it. I want to know what people think, positive or negative. Stars don't do it. Nor do followers.

 

[AG31]

Followers I tend to fear, because there are a couple of bad actors who follow me to 1-bomb anything I post.

How do you know which readers give you 1 star?