Comments on older stories.

Today I received a comment on a story I wrote back in March 2010.

We generally see quite a few comments on the latest submissions. It is encouraging though when somebody takes the trouble to read and comment on older stories.

Yep.

That's what makes the search and browse features so great. Date of publication is irrelevant, so using them takes you out of the latest uploaded/commented boxes.

And the Lucky Dip!

I always look up the comments, they help me to find the stories I like. So please go on commenting.

I always use the Lucky Dip as a Pot Luck type thing. I come up with some great stories. The dust has been blown off quite a few that I've read.

I am looking for old stories, going back to 2007. "Hotspur" was one of them. First, I start with my primary interests by using the "search" and as many old stories that might be interesting to me. But I can't read too many as I get tired easily.

I often wonder if it is worthwhile commenting on older stories - perhaps the author is no longer visiting, or has lost interest in something they wrote many years ago. But as in me adding my post to this thread, if I have something to say I will go ahead and say it - even if there is no audience.

@crudcutter
Good attitude. I like thinking my comments are communication with the author, but I'll comment even when I know the author to be long gone or even dead, because it's also communication with other potential readers.

I think the tendency is quite clear: Most comments come from the 100 to 200 first reads, after that they are usually quite sparse even if the story reaches 5-600 views. Authors probably have mixed feelings about this phenomenon; they obviously want to know what people think about their newest story, but it is also good to be reassured that the old ones are still being read and appreciated.

To me it's always a pleasant surprise to receive a comment on an earlier story ( I hesitate to call them old since I only started submitting stories in 2015). Since I've had a number of stories published I've honestly sometimes forgotten everything about a story except the title. I don't ever reread my stories after they're published except to respond to questions raised in the comments (too much second-guessing on what should have been done differently).

So to receive a comment on an older story sometimes elicits a mild sense of panic, seeing specific comments or questions about a plot I can't for the life of me remember. That forces me to scroll back through it to refresh my memory so I can respond.