I think a big fandom shift in interacting with stuff has gone from people commenting under the created thing whether it be fic or art to people linking it in private discord groups where the person who made it will never see any positive comments left on the thing they made.
Comments
But a lot of people approach fic as a book (I blame booktok a little for this) so the demand to get a certain quality is there, and
But the readers want to provide "feedback" (aka criticism) and are met with authors blocking them or telling them off (rightfully) or they stop posting because of the criticism because this is a hobby space.
And so some of it goes into these--
Sorry for yapping here so long :D I just feel like this is a part of the puzzle that is not talked about.
And I think that's also a big thing
Just a small comment can make the difference ❤️
Sometimes id get almost no comments or views and think my work is shit and no one cares, but then when id share it in a private group id get very nice comments 1/2
I do this thing, I'm calling myself out as much as anyone else xD
Yeah
Yeah that definitely ring true
Sometimes my friends will share screenshots showing me my work being posted on discord servers but that's it.
I see sooooo many fics get shared around and then so many comments in discord groups, people having whole convos and then I click into the fic and it has 0 comments 💀
I want to share with my friends via socials and the private chats and the servers, but I gotta comment!
I don't need to be in 307 Discord servers.
And even on fandom discords the feedback is getting less and less. People just don't want to put any work into their fandoms anymore.
While other social medias give fics and art very short shelf lives
And let's not talk about how most of the times on discord servers arts arent properly credit even.
I try to engage in my end notes with a friendly "hi! How are you finding this?" Or plot related question and it's like...crickets. (But I still have my four regular ride or die commenters 👼👼👼👼)
I'm gonna make an effort to leave comments on stuff people link to me, I think people should know I like what they made.
Same with commissions cuz people assume "Oh they have so many followers they don't need my support"
but just imagine I've left some snacks out whenever I post something and I do invite people to interact with it >v<
I imagine a lot of writers/artists/crafters etc are like that.
We're all lonely and looking for connections on this bitch of an earth
I personally feel even just hitting a like or a kudo button is better than sharing it in a discord group and the creator literally never seeing a single interaction cuz everyone's yelling in the groupchat and they weren't invited xD
But that only works if you share a link and not a still image or screenshot
Try to make sure that when you share something the creator is no more than 1 click away from who you share it with.
Final: I'm not mad at anyone for not commenting I can't force you to do anything and don't want to xD
I noticed the downfall of people talking about my stuff with me was in the year 2016 when telegram was becoming popular.