Are comments back in fashion?

Statistical Nerd's Update:

The number of comments made on stories has risen for FIVE months in succession. The only time this happened before was between September 2010 and February 2011.

Well done, LSF members! Lifeblood and all that, you know.

Can we make it SIX?

N.B. The same Stats page (Info-Stats-Comments-Main) reveals that 6 out of the top 10 all-time commenters sadly no longer frequent the site, which may be a contributing factor to comment decline in recent times.

COVID19, perhaps?

I'm not sure how many of us are fortunate enough to be "staying home," but I suspect that the increased isolation is creating the human need for interaction and the comments are a nice little measure of that.

Let us hope this is something that continues after COVID19 is gone. It is extremely important not only to authors, but to the whole spirit of the site.

When I first contributed to the site comments were very frequent and very welcome. For the last few years there have been few.

I love getting comments, positive or negative, it shows that readers are engaged.

Sometimes I will see a reader working their way through an entire serial, episode by episode and judging from the time spent on each episode it is clear that they are reading them properly.

I think they must like it so perhaps they will comment when they have read the last episode. Sadly that generally proves optimistic.

Come on readers--more comments please.

Geoffrey Stirling.

I'm more of a quality over quantity man myself, but I understand the desire for feedback. I wonder how truly "positive or negative" is universally received as comments are moderated.

So many years here and I'm still trying to figure out this place...

I get unreasonably excited whenever I get a comment. I am thinking of having a flagpole installed in my front garden so I can run up a flag on each occasion.

I can understand the quality over quantity perspective, but although I obviously prefer a well thought out comment to a routine one, I welcome all comments, positive or negative. Even a routine comment is a token of recognition, almost like saying "thank you" when you receive a gift. Still, most comments on this site are much more than just tokens; they usually say something about the story that you are glad to hear or that set you thinking. I published my first stories on a site with no comment facilities, and publishing a story there was like dropping a stone into a well - you heard a "plop" and that was it. Comments makes a huge difference!

I try to comment every time I read an entire story out of respect for the authors and knowledge of how nice it can be to get a comment - every time I get an email telling me I've got a new review I get a big smile out of it, so I try to give that to others! That said, when I read a serial I tend to only comment on the final installment if the whole thing is already published. I think comments are important and often very interesting, and so I try to do it consistently.

I'm the same as you, trans an in that it is a respectful thing to do. I also endeavour to respond to every comment I receive.

As I am a relatively new member I have noticed that there have many years since the last comment was made. I have just went over 1,000 stories read and have over 300 comments. I tend to comment on the serials after the last chapter,