Listen up, silent majority!

I don't think we can expect everybody to comment. There will be lurkers here as there are lurkers on all other sites, and that is just fine; one cannot be expected to be an active contributor to all the sites one likes to stop by once in a while (I'm a lurker on many sites myself). Still it would be a great boost for everybody involved with the library if we could get the comments back up to where they were a few years ago. It is not easy to see how this can be achieved as I think many of the non-commenters are here only for the stories and never explore the other parts of the library. Hence they are totally unaware that discussions of this of this kind are taking place. Perhaps they have never even pressed the comment button at the end of the stories. (Take it from an expert lurker: It's unbelievable how little it is possible to know about the features of a site you visit frequently!)

How about a compulsory training course before new members are let loose on the site, including training in commenting and a slide show that has to be run to the end, describing the functions of the page?

@Glagla
I'm sure Februs and flopsybunny have plenty of free time on their hands to work on this. Or we can just accept the fact that 90% of the members will do little but read, and work around the edges to prod a few few more into contributing/interacting. Of course if a certain not to be mentioned (by me) story were to be made compulsory reading, things might improve on the commenting front.

May be it was Halloween or (most likely) I am going nuts! Last night I found myself bent over a desk and a very angry looking woman was threatening to spank me with a belt. Not going into the details, it was very humiliating, I felt weak and vulnerable. She revealed herself as a Halloween Witch and promised me that she will be back next year and actually deliver the spanking. But there's a catch. I can avoid the spanking by contributing something to the library, losing my status as the majority and join the elite Writers' Club.

Now, this is weird. Ever since my puberty (or even before, I'm not quite sure) I always enjoyed the view of a nice female bottom and when it comes to spanking, I never imagined myself on the receiving end. You know, it is hard to enjoy the view when there is no view and a burning tail on the line. So, naturally I'd want to write a story and get over with this.

But, the witch was extremely sexy and I really really want to meet her again. Should I wrote something and save my ass or wait for her and risk my tail? This is a spanking dilemma. Given that I've a full year at hand, I hope I'll come up with something, something naughty and clever.

I just saw this and I'm not going to read 15 pages of comments. But to address the original post, my comments are held until somebody approves them, and some are not posted at all. I could understand this if I made unkind or bad comments just intended to her but I don't. I inquired as to why this was so and got no answer. So I don't comment anymore except in some rare circumstances. And also this site is not completely free, I paid $10 for it I think it was but I won't pay it next year.

@Eric
I can't speak to the particulars of your situation, but I know that comments are moderated and either approved or disapproved until the member is determined to be a "responsible" commenter (I don't know the specific criteria). One of the most frequent reasons for rejection of a comment is if it is something perfunctory and minimal like "good story," since that type is often used simply to meet the commenting threshold that allows more story views. If your comments are of this nature, you could try writing a bit more (a sentence?) To see if that changes anything.

The site is Free, you can still browse and read the stories, leave comments and participate in forum discussions. I know it cause I am doing it and I am not a subscriber (all free). But someone has to pay for hosting the site and if you choose, you can participate, which is completely voluntary. You are not being charged but decided to share the load, which was kind of you.


I like to comment on a story I enjoyed, to let the writer know that his/her efforts were appreciated and encourage similar type of posts in future. This is my way of showing gratitude. Also, I usually comment in 2/3 lines, not too big but good enough to show my enjoyment and gratitude.

But I am not sure what are the criteria and why some of my comments were not posted. Also if it is the same moderator or it changes as sometimes I found comments similar to mine were approved and mine wasn't. I don't hold a grudge and spy, I just love to read comments as they often make you see the story from a different angle.

Anyway, I found that if your comments are not going through, a private message to the author still gets the job done.

The messages seem to have changed.
When I first joined I read the guidelines carefully. What I got was (1) don't say something banal like "good story" or the like (2) say something original not redundant (3) if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Therefore I always read all comments before adding my own; if someone has made my point, I don't repeat it.
With some trepidation, I have found it impossible not to criticize content but this was rare usually involving realistic depiction of harsh and or unjust treatment, especially of minors. I expected push back, but it didn't come.
There was a recent thread about criticism in comments that frankly puzzled me because it contradicted #3 the something nice point. And I do recall someone once commenting on style getting a "come on be nice"
push back.
My library card indicates that my comments are numerically beyond the norm. Authors have privately thanked me for comments.
So, what's the deal? But be careful what you wish for.
BTW Authors can get good crits at other sites where writing without criticizing is considered rude and can result in being banned outright or shunned by other authors.

Sugarcane, I've got three suggestions for you:

1) write it
2) write it
3) write it

I'm dying to read your witch story!


Oh, if it was that well. According to my recent commenting ratio it's about 99.2 % of the readers that do little but read.


Yes, it's a bother, but probably necessary to avoid the threat of a troll invasion as happens to most web pages. About one out of five of my comments goes astray as well and not often long ones. I think it's more often technical problems than the comment being erased. Such things happens and I go through the effort of writing a new comment, it's no big deal and it does a whole lot for the author. I'm sorry to hear that some comments not appearing has discouraged you from commenting. And you don't have to be a paying member to have access to the library. The $10 is just for extra features.


Well, criticism can be positive as long as it's dished out the right way. I find comments like, "I wish it had been like..." or "I found it strange that he did that after..." or "there seems to be a glitch between..." and so on, it helps to improve the next story the author write. It's a huge difference to writing "This was the worst piece of shit I've ever read!" which I assume is what the manual refers to. But no matter how bad a story is, I can always find something positive about it, the idea if nothing else and give some kind advice for the author how to carry on. I dearly want to hear both what is good and what is bad.

I don't know if comments is a silly author thing, but it is after all the only confirmation we have and a way of interacting with the readers. It has given me some of my best ideas for sequels and new stories, so it works both ways. If we get something, it enables us to give so much more in return. I'd love if a few more readers could walk that extra mile (or yard it's more like) and write a quick comment. We're not talking scientific, in-depth reviews here.

I find this debate quite interesting because I am one of the (almost) silent majority having read 2,500 plus stories, poems etc. and having made just a handful of comments. The reason that I remain largely silent is NOT because I ' ... do not have anything nice to say ... ' about the literature I have read. To have read 2,500 plus stories clearly shows that I love what I read here and, indeed, I both used to and have recently written a few stories for my own pleasure, motivated by the imaginations and quality of the authorship on this site. But many years ago I had a bad experience on a site and now strongly value my anonymity. Occasionally I feel that I would like to get really involved but then ... I change my mind.

The point is that we all have our own reasons for what we do, but there wouldn't be a large silent majority if they didn't enjoy being here. After all there is no compulsion to read anything on this site. To me, therefore, the readership figures and the number of 'favourites' are both strong indicators of the popularity of a story and they supplement any comments made.

I hope this opinion helps, but I wanted to touch on the readers' side of the question rather than just the authors' views, which seem to the bulk of the responses.