A Fantasy for Authors

In a site so predisposed to fanciful musings, may I humbly offer another? I say "fantasy" with clear forethought since I am well aware that realizing such a thing would result in an unrealistic added workload on an otherwise already overburdened staff. ( If there's any solid common ground between the staff and authors here, I would propose that it is that we are all overworked and underpaid LOL) That said, onto the fantasy itself:

Dear fellow authors, imagine if you will that just as we earn medals for contributed words, comments received, and favorited pieces, that readers were also similarly rated with gold stars for having left comments regularly and with lucid and pertinent content, silver stars for comments in general, black spots for every ten stories read without a single comment, and lastly a skull and crossbones for each time said reader made a specific story request/inquiry in a thread without ever commenting on the subsequent stories suggested? All one would have to do is click on their name and up would pop their stats! How easy it would then be to see a request thread and, before responding with a sincere recommendation, see that person's rating before deciding whether a response was even warranted?

Ah, fantasy! The best thing our minds can offer when reality fails to satisfy!

Imagine if you will, that I have read your musings with a certain amount of interest. To be honest, I fail to see the humility. I can accept that you, as an author, are underpaid. But I simply can not believe that you are overworked. Your words belie you.

If you expect comments with "lucid and pertinent content," than you have indeed lost touch with reality. My personal preference would be that you wrote less about "black spots" and "skull and crossbones" and more about your fantasies.

As for me, I do not need any more black spots.

A quick perusal of past threads yielded none that you authored requesting a specific story type, unless it was more than two pages back, since that's as far as I was willing to explore, so I don't understand your defensive tone. You don't seem at all guilty of what I wrote about, so why the concern over black spots?

As for whether I am overworked or not, I suppose it comes down to opinion, and yours, while entitled, is (due to you knowing virtually nothing about me) sadly uninformed. And as for what I write about, as an author I believe that will rightly remain my decision.

What exactly have you written and contributed? I'd be curious to check it out.

This post was obviously meant to be satirical. There's a wink and an LOL, so it's hardly a serious essay. I'm thinking though that one might need to be an author here to see the humor. Still, I have no ill will towards you, and hope you feel the same.

KD. I saw the humor in your post. I had hoped that you would have seen the humor (?) in mine.

Please give me some credit for realizing that your post was meant to be satirical. No offense, but you don't need to be an author or a brain surgeon to figure that out.

You weren't serious. And neither was I. I thought you were trying to be provocative. And so was I. I just took some of your phrases and turned them a bit.

If you search the forums, you will find that a lot of questions have already been asked. That's what I do. So, if you're looking for something I initiated, you won't find it.

I haven't authored very much. Just some tame "feelers." You are a wonderful writer. I've read and enjoyed many of your stories. When I suggested that you write "more about your fantasies," I was hoping you would have taken that as a compliment.

Your proposed skull and cross bones category rather presupposes that the “subsequent stories suggested” in response to specific requests actually satisfied the criteria set by the original poster or, indeed, whether they read such stories. I have some sympathy for the poster that does not read a suggested story once they have seen the synopsis and determined it’s not their cup of tea. I think it would be most unreasonable to require such a poster to read every single story that was suggested to them.

I'd reserve the skull and crossbones for readers who request a story from a particular author - a sequel to a story they've enjoyed, for example - then don't bother to read or comment on it once the author has written it!

KD. I just read your post on the thread "I think I might be commenting more." I apologize for only seeing the satire and not the serious point you are making. I will give it more thought.

danjackson84

If you look at my post in the 'commenting thread' which prompted this satirical 'fantasy' you will find this:

>>>>>>> I even think that if a suggested piece falls short of the OP's expectations, it is still appropriate to acknowledge the suggestion with at least a "thanks for the suggestion. I read the story, but I didn't really connect with it." To do otherwise is like making a specific request for a particular drink from a host at a party, getting it, and then walking away without so much as a 'thank you'....as if the host was some lowly personal servant.<<<<<<<<<<

which, I believe addresses precisely the point you are making. So, obviously I disagree. Any random reader may or may not comment as is their wont. And any person who made a request is equally free to also avoid leaving a comment. My contention is that, while certainly allowable, the latter is rude.

Noah
No problem. We're good. I guess I just found it odd that a serious rebuke of mine in the other thread went by without issue, and yet my humorous fantasy here seemed to not land with the humor intended. And thank you sincerely for your compliment on my writing. I do try

Hmmmm. I think THAT example goes beyond the skull and crossbones and warrants a guillotine emoji.