Story Comments

There are a lot of really great stories in the library that haven't received the notice they deserve. Life is not always fair! We have a lot of stories here, and some deserving work will always get lost in the crowd. Timing has something to do with it. Sometimes a story gets a day or 2 on the "new stories" page, and sometimes it gets displaced within the hour; it's just the "luck of the draw".

As readers, we should be jumping on the first story of a new author with the same enthusiasm that we reserve for the new stories of established authors. You just don't know what delights you will find until you take the time to sample each author's work.

It can really be rewarding to explore the dusty, less-traveled shelves. In my own "lucky dip" program, I have been systematically making a trip through the library looking only at authors with 3 or fewer stories listed. It is not unusual to find amazing stories that have languished for years with no comments and just a few reads.

There's one thing that really has me puzzled - with one of the two series I have here, the middle story has many more views than the other two parts.

Goodgulf

That very phenomenon was discussed on the previous page of this thread, goodgulf. I can understand part one getting 30 views, part two getting 24, part three 18 and so on. But we don't understand the apparent randomness.

Commenting is good. I remember when I first got a story published on a site, I counted the number of replies and it made me feel good. On a few sites the stories without feedback tend to slip down from the first page and get lost for good. So, commenting on those sites helps maintaining a story you liked in evidence.

On another thread Goodgulf made a valid point. Writing "good story" or something equivalent takes a few seconds and not much of brain usage. To write "this story has a weakness" require an explanation, so it's time consuming. By the way, it's time consuming as well saying that "it is a good story" and explaining why do you think so.

I used to comment a lot, but recently I found myself diminishing the feedbacks, so, I have to take those few extra minutes and do to others what I would like people doing to me.

I just posted my first story and was lucky enough to receive several kind comments. I know that plenty of wonderful stories on here have never been commented on, so it was such a nice surprise. It is encouraging, even if the comment is just something simple, like 'good story'. Now I'm trying to make it a priority to comment on more stories, particularily older stories that are kind of forgotten. There's usually at least one good thing to say about most. I always remember how delighted I was when someone left a comment for me and wish to do the same for others.

My sentiments exactly. We reap what we sow. The law of Karma (though beware your karma doesn't run over my dogma)
I always try to comment because I like it so much when I get them.