A comment on comments.

I probably see a lot of myself in Priscilla's comment. However, I also have issues with leaving comments more wordy than "good job," "good read," etc.

For clarity, and yes I realize not every writer can respond to this question, but: would writers like to hear comments like "I couldn't finish your story" and why? Would anybody consider that kind of comment helpful/constructive?

To sass the statistical element of the thread, I have to counter such ideas on statistical analysis on words written to comments returned by stating that my average comment is 421% to 1,024% more verbose, than the average commentor, and while my comments average around 250 words, the average story length in the library is around 1500 words, meaning for every 6 words a writer writes, they get a return of 1 word back from me. if that is the case, that means for the amount of words hotspur has written, i'd have to write a comment 13,490 words long and that's only for one writer!!!

Now frankly, I don't have the time in one day to write that lengthy a comment for each story read, not accounting for the editorializing and reviews expected for such a comment. I'm not even sure a writer wants to read a comment that long. Some? I'm sure they do, but the majority of writers like much smaller stories, I mean comments.

Further more, it's been statistically proven that 87.9% of statistics quoted in casual conversations are made up on the spur of the moment. However, as my dad always used to say, "51% of statisticians always try to manipulate the statistics to suit a favorable outcome."

I do, I really do, as long as the reason why is given, what put them off and what they would have wanted to see instead. Writing is a breathing hole to me, but I don't want my stories to be empty stuffing overflowing the library with crap which hides the good stories and work to decrease the general interest in this wonderful site. Comments is the only way to know if my aim is good. As someone wrote, authoring is a lonely business and sometimes we go astray. Don't get me wrong, I do write for my own sake and I don't turn myself inside out just to write what appeals to people, but what no one but me likes, I don't need to submit, so even harsh words help a lot.

I agree - I'd prefer a comment saying why the reader didn't enjoy my story, or how they thought I could improve it, to just seeing the number of views go up without any comments, leaving me to wonder whether the readers were looking for something else, or gave up after the first sentence or two, or that my story made so little impression on them that they couldn't think of anything to say about it!

Yes, I welcome all comments too. I think it is possible to be critical without being nasty about it. Of course, all stories will be good for some while not right for others. I do comment when I find a story to my taste that's interesting and well written, but I find it hard to say anything useful about a story that just isn't for me.

I completely understand that, but I try to do it anyway. I often write "not my style, but *this* and *that* will probably appeal to people who like **" and focus my commenting on if it was good character building in the story, a coherent plot with a good development, etc, even if it wasn't to my taste at all. It's a bit of a challenge to me. If I set out to comment, I need to think through the story and sometimes I see qualities that I didn't see the first time when I skimmed through it. I feel that it's the least I can do when someone has put his or her heart into writing something. It's not always that it works though and sometimes I feel that it's better for all that I don't comment. I'd really love to have more comments and I hope that only getting one comment per 46 views doesn't meant that the other 45 thought my stories too crappy to even consider commenting on them.

If I finish reading a story, I will comment on it. I generally will address specific parts of the story that I enjoyed. I will also make any criticism as precise as possible.
Concerning my own stories, written under the name "The Spanking Agent," there have been fewer than one comment for everyone with 100 views. Assuming that even 10% of those views, the reader finished the story, that is very few comments.

Here's my numbers :
Words Favs Comments Views
5,654 10 39 1,982

I take virtually anyform of input to heart and try to make something positive about it. That takes me down some pretty weird roads that I gain life lessons from.

My point, have you ever watched that exotic foods show with Andrew Zimmerman? He said once, while growing up, his parents (instead of being overbearing like my parents "you MUST eat it!!! It's good for you!") said to him, "you don't have to eat that food, if you can say WHY you don't like it."
Have you ever tried to explain or describe WHY a particular food isn't tasty?
Because it isn't.
That's not a reason why.
Because it's yuckie.
Closer to why, but can you be more descriptive?
It smells unpleasant.
Okay, but you haven't even tasted it yet. How do you 'know' it's bad until you try it?

His parents were quite brilliant, if you ask me, because it makes you taste what you "hate" probably one or two more times so you can analyze what definitive characteridtics about a food that seems revolting.

I usually start off explaining in a comment "This isn't my kind of story." Hopefully, the writer, instead of feeling butt-hurt, picks up that I'm working through a negative aspect, yet trying to make something positive from it by explaining "why." At least that's how I try to make it work. More often then not, writers get butt-hurt in my past experiences.

Anyways, that is part of my life lesson. Trying to explain why something isn't to your taste and definitively explaining what parts you don't like, is one of the hardest things you can do.
Explain why you like something? MUCH easier. I only hope my sharing one of my life lessons might help others to work out their harder to explain comments.

I try to comment on all stories I read, but I also try not to make it feel like an obligation as that will soon kill all the fun. I admit that sometimes when I have difficulty connecting to a story, my comments can be pretty inane, but at least I can usually say something about the characters and their reactions. As an author, I would definitely prefer a thoughtful, negative comment to no comment at all. And perhaps even a not-so-thoughtful, negative comment as comments has a tendency to draw the attention of other readers.

One indication of whether a member has enjoyed a story is when they read part two of a two-part story. Presumably they wouldn't bother with the sequel if they hadn't enjoyed part one.

I try to do that when I have several spankings in a story, break it up to get a hint if I'm doing anything good or not. I've set a 0.5 read-on ratio as a mark if the story is anything which might be something for future plots. This is the most recent outcome:

The Forgetful Headmaster 0.58, okay
The Morale Booster 0.46, we certainly can live without sequels (unfortunately, I have
already written it, sigh)
On The Origin Of Hairbrushes 0.61 (I should try to make more like this I presume)
Halloween House Mix-Up 0.56, okay