Conngratulations Aunt Carla

I don't think it's irrelevant at all. They're active here now, and I'm sure they would appreciate a comment - I know I would.

Why? What makes an author's older work less relevant and less worthy of comment than his/her newer stories?

Guy

A quote is not only feedback to an author (who may or may not read it, depending on whether he/she is active on the site). By making the story appear on the "Latest Commented" list, with the observations of you as reader, it also offers a suggestion to other readers, many of whom seem to like picking their next reads from some list or another.

A good story is timeless much like a good movie. Modern movies are slick and chock-full of special effects but oldies such as Citizen Kane and Casablanca are still held in high regard. It`s true many writers develop their style over time but every now and then a writer pens something that is never bettered no matter how hard they try. There has been many examples of this in music as well as literature. Is it peaking too soon, uncanny inspiration or something beyond our ken? The same may well be true in this fine repository of tales but I haven`t read enough of Aunt Carla`s as well as other writers to come to any meaningful conclusion.

I would not say that age makes an authors work less relevant or less worthy, I just thought the comments on older stories are not so relevant. But if you authors still appreciate comments, it's okay. I will try to comment more on older stories as well in future.

But I still want to point out that the amount of comments is not an appropriate measure for the quality or worth of a story, especially not for stories with few comments. Another reason may be that "funny" stories in general get more comments, because it is so much easier to respond to some funny themes, where a reader must not explain his/her emotions or involvement. I myself comment less on stories which really touch me, because it's quite hard for me to express my own feelings and emotions. So if I don't comment, the reason can either be that I like the story too much or that I'm not interested at all. Most likely I comment on stories which I like, but where I am not too much emotionally involved.

Therefore my advise to all authors would be, not to overrate the importance of the absolut amount of comments given to one author or one story, especially not in terms of worthiness of specific stories.

I always get a kick out of finding a comment on an older story of mine.

Thanks, Mati - that was the definitive 'How to ...' guide!

OK, boys, so what's it to be, then? I'm getting 2 reads a day, I haven't had a comment for 3 weeks and I'm desperate.

Paddles, cat-o-nine-tails, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles? You name it.

And well done, Aunt Carla - cream rises!

mati's statistical analysis is partly correct but I think you also must put "favorites" in the mix. A lot of shy readers click favorite without commenting, but it shows they liked the story. Also collapse the multipart stories into integral works. Most readers view them that way. Then the ratio becomes

(Favs + comments)/ integral works= whatever you want to call it. But it sort of indicates good vibes per story or something like that. There are some writers with only a few stories who would have a very high whatever---"batting average"?

I've disagreed with this once, and I'll do it again. Since we're on a thread about Aunt Carla, just check out her serials. Multiple readers comment on more than one, if not all, of the segments of a serial. SOME readers may comment only once, but is that always because they view the work as a whole, or is it sometimes because there isn't as much comment-worthy in a particular segment?

I would agree, though, that 'favorites' must be considered in determining how 'popular' a writer is. I find it interesting that 'favorites' and 'comments' do not go hand in hand. While most authors have significantly more 'comments' than 'favorites,' in other cases, they are relatively even, and in still other cases (notably ChardT, CaseWintermute, and saradora) there are far more 'favorites' than comments. What's up with that?