Standards for Commenting Deification

The women do love it when you talk dirty like that.

A person who reads over 3,000 stories and only 10 comments, receives a sluggish comment status. REALLY.

Right! And if YOU read another 30,000 items without commenting on any of them, you too will earn 'Sluggish Commenter' honors. (The fact that there are only 16,000 more items in the Library should not deter you.)

Actually, should not be any status at all. Its not sluggish, its dead. Period. So...reading 16,000 stories with no additional comments should earn 50 strokes with a studded steel paddle. That should do it.

You mean you can't rest on your laurels from all the comment you've already made? (Assuming, of course that your "laurels" haven't been whacked with that studded steel paddle)

A bit late to jump in, but just to add: the number of stories read is one potential pitfall but there might be another one, the serials. In most - or at least many - cases you will comment on the series as a whole, and reading and commenting a lot of extensive serials you may never 'advance' as a commenter. And commenting on each part of a serial could encourage unwanted rather silly comments. Nevertheless, the general idea should be clear to everyone regardless of some potential pitfalls.

I have 4 serials out there and I would say there are no "unwanted rather sill comments" on any of them. Some people chose to wait until the end of the series to post a comment however it is recognized that each part of the series is hard work (usually harder then a single story because of the need to develop characters and flow). Each part of the series is worthy of a comment just like a single story is in my opinion.

Without doubt, each part of a serial is hard work and it's worth of a comment. No question about it. Regardless, it is questionable whether we can actually do it in a meaningful way, if the parts are interwoven and dependent on their sense of context. For some serials it is, for others (many?) probably not.

Meaningful way...what is that?

You mean a comment that you liked this character or that character when they did this or that? A comment that you thought it was an interesting series and looked forward to the writer continuing the series? You mean a comment that the part of the series made you laugh or cry or feel sorry for someone, or perhaps you recognize parts of yourself in the story?

ANY and ALL comments are meaningful to an author or this site. No author is going to be disappointed if anyone writes a simple comment like those above. If we ever get a real live qualified "critic" on site then perhaps for that one person an author may expect more, for anyone else any type of comment including constructive advice is always appreciated.

Sorry arsdigta, but to me, and perhaps me alone, what you write is simply making excuses for not commenting more. I know you comment some and please continue, but don't rationalize away perhaps the nagging thought in your mind that is telling you to comment more .

I fully appreciate what you are saying here, arsdigita. You aren't expected to comment on everything you read, but a meaningful comment on something that you have particularly enjoyed is really worth having and will be much appreciated by the author.