COMMENTING

I notice by the stats below the stories read today exceed 1000 but all day there were only 12 comments made by all the readers. Now I go through days without commenting but this a ratio a bit silly. I know the rule if one does not comment after reading 500 stories they are limited but I am beginning to wonder if things need to change down to reading less stories and more limits.

Maybe I am in a bad mood and should keep my opinions to myself and I know this issue has come up before but it has never irked me like it does now.

I always encourage readers to comment on stories. I always send pop-ups to commenters on my own stories, I try to recognize top commenters (as I did recently with Guy), and I even wrote a story that attempted to persuade readers to comment. But I think the way to go is encouragement, not requirement.

The current rule is more an encouragement than a requirement. Someone can read 500 stories with no comments, and still read 10 more every day. Not much of a limitation. But when it went into effect, last May, it triggered the explosion of comments we're still enjoying today.

If Februs & Co were to impose tighter limits, one (or both) of two things would happen. Some readers could be excluded from access. But other than feeling good that "we showed them!" what does it really do for anybody? And/or we elicit half-hearted comments from people who have no interest in making them - quantity, not quality. I'd prefer to know that the comments on my stories, however brief they might be, actually are validating my effort, rather than they they might just be fulfilling a quota.

That doesn't mean I don't also get irked that someone might read half a dozen of my stories in a row - obviously getting something from them, but not have the courtesy to acknowledge the effort I shared your annoyance. I guess I just differ on how to react to it.

That's my two cents.

I sometimes wonder whether folk realize just how much a writer gains from a good comment. Personally I would like people who read my stories to let me know how they could be improved, as well as including a nice remark to boost my ego of course. However, I know that many people are chary of offering criticism for fear of offending or hurting. But if it is done in a kindly and pleasant manner it should be acceptable.

I try to respond to all commenters via pop up Nibra is right, writers get so much more encouragement when someone comments on their story.

Well I am usually an unstopable incurable commentor, and will soon surface in the story comment columns! I have already mailed to one great artist of the spanking genre, one of the first I happened to open here (for the subject matter), one DJ Black, who is way beyond the average spanking story writer. I have soon finished his (I assume "his"!) brilliant The Academy[b][/b]. Filled with dread and horror, yet in a light and humerous tone. Some times reading it I laugh, all the time I actually get aroused, which does not happen so often reading spanking stories... The Academy is I think on the level of classics like The Feminine Regieme, as far as style, plot and drive is concerned, but with harsher spanking, which I like.

If every reader should comment every story, then the comment pages would be cluttered up with thanks galore. If I do not have anything sensible to write, then I abstain from writing at all. But I understand that it is nicer to see, that somebody has liked a story. So I may be wrong. Let this be my thanks to all the writers whose stories I have not commented!!!

I don't think ANY author would ever consider a comment page 'cluttered up.' I know I wouldn't. I do prefer a bit more than 'thanks' or 'good story,' but how hard is that really, to say something like "I loved the character Darla," "Great use of humor," "This one felt so real," "Over the top, but fascinating," "I think Sebastian said it all," or "Truly one of your best." Obviously, if you have even more to say, we'd prefer that you do so.

I totally agree with njrick...there's no such thing as too many comments. Each and every individual comment is appreciated by authors as it does validate the author's effort and lets him/her know which aspects of the story are enjoyed by readers.

Interesting discussion you've started, canadianspankee. FWIW, here's my take.

I've been a member of the board for just about a year. Right from the git go, I thought it was the greatest thing going and I read avidly. As for commenting, at first, I didn't. My thinking was 'I've never written anything, who am I to comment on those who do?'

Then, one day, I got a pop up encouraging me to make comments. So I started doing it and found that I liked adding my two cents worth. Now, I almost never read a story without commenting; typical exceptions are when many people have already done so and I feel that I really have nothing new to add. Even then, I may find myself resorting to the 'nice story, really enjoyed it' type of remark, just so I don't feel guilty about not commenting.

That last feeling stems from the fact that I finally decided to try writing stories myself and quickly came to appreciate just how gratifying it is to have readers tell me that they read and enjoyed something I wrote.

Like Seegee, I do make it a point to respond to all comments. More than just a matter of courtesy, I think it's a good idea to let a reader know that his or her comments were read and appreciated.

Bottom line for me, though I may be atypical, it was definitely an evolutionary process; first a reader, then a commenter, finally a fledgling writer.