Converting "Readers" into "Participants"

[Sasha Distan]

I remember there used to be a "care and feeding of your discussion forum" and i wanted to start a similar sort of thing.

 

As Prom's we all have fan bases and readers - just look at our rep points, chapter views and review numbers - we have people who like what we do.

 

So why is it that so few readers make the leap into the discussion forums? Are we (me) doing something wrong? I think one of the best things about GA is the ability to discuss work with authors (this sort of thing is not supported on other sites like LitErotica, FictionPress, StoriesOnline at al) so why don't more people do it?

 

Is it timing? I personally had a lot more people in my discussion forums in the summer. 

 

Ideas anyone?

[Krista]

It could depend on a lot of things.  GA Stories in a way has taken away the need for discussion forums. If something truly does need to be discussed it can be introduced and if people have something to add to the discussion they likely will. If it is something that can be handled within a review, if the writing is straight forward and just doesn't need in-depth discussions, GA Stories provides a perfect environment within itself for that.

 

The way you promote your stories, if you're not doing enough then maybe people are less likely to discuss it. If they can't find it, they can't talk about it either. So if you promote your work by posting it for discussion, possibly a blog, status updates, etc. Linking the discussion link at the end of the chapter could help as well. I don't really promote my writing with any of those, but it can't hurt to try a mixture of those or all of them.

 

Ask people questions. Don't just post a link to the chapter and say, "here it is.." maybe use a spoiler alert and ask readers something like, "What do you think (insert character's name here)'s motivations are for what they did in this chapter.." or something like that to get the ball rolling. You can probably bribe your editors and betas to put in a few talking points too... as long as they don't ramble or give away plots that haven't been introduced yet, it couldn't hurt. 

 

With that said, don't spread yourself out too much. If you talk about your stories on skype with readers, e-mail, twitter, facebook, what have you why would they want to have the same discussion about your story and your writing here? Most of those are one on one conversations that other members can't add their viewpoints to.

 

And humans like easy. Leaving a "Like" seems to be what most people want to do. Is it satisfying or worth it to put in long hours, all nighters, put your editors through hell, etc for a "like," well that's up to the writer decide. Many of us probably wouldn't stop if we aren't getting the recognition and the attention we would like to have, but when the pantry is empty people starve. If anyone can give advice to readers about that without sounding bitchy or ungrateful I'd welcome that discussion. 

 

On the flip side and this is a big one really, RESPOND to people that discuss your work. How on earth are we to keep readers talking to us if we don't. Not saying you don't, but it's just something that is so straight forward, but so easily done. I mean, I've done it. If the story is old, I don't look to see if I have reviews and they go unanswered.

 

And.. as I'm posting this, I'm seeing that I'm probably the worst person to answer this, because I'm guilty of all of the bad things and am too lazy to do all the good things.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Krista

[Suvitar]

It took me awhile before I moved on from just leaving a "like" to writing a review/comment, and now I sometimes think I write too many of those. But I stop leaving comments if the author gives no respond, then it feels like I´m talking to myself and I don´t like that feeling. And I really don´t mean you, Sasha, because you always say something nice in your respond. Few times I´ve said something in discussion forums but probably not anything about the story itself. For me reading the story and commenting chapters and thanking for them is more important than discussing them. Sometimes there are stories I´d like to ask questions about or join a discussion, only to see that there´s no discussion, then I quietly go away.... Especially when a story is complete there isn´t any discussion going on, not anymore anyway. 

[Stellar]

I am with you on this one, Sasha. While it is in my nature to be reticent and not quick to engage with people, I'd like to think I'm making a decent effort to encourage interaction with those who have taken the time to read my work. I respond to (almost!) every review made and have discussion threads available. In each chapter's end notes I include a link to those threads, as well as some hinting/teasing comment about the chapter's plot (and future plot possibilities) as a way of provoking thought, and also directly reminding readers that I welcome comments, reviews, etc. Sometimes I even use my status update as a place to notify of a new chapter as other authors do.

 

In honesty, I think I am doing what is reasonable to make that participation happen. I cannot complain about numbers, as I think I have a good following, but one that seems to be dominated by a silent majority. As with others, I have that core of regulars who sometimes serves as a spark to kick off conversations, and they are more consistent with interactions -- I am very grateful to these people, might I add -- but it seems that most are content not to involve themselves.

 

I'm not sure exactly why this is, and if it's just me. Like Krista, I think it's probably a combination of several things, though I suspect it boils down to 'easy.' The easiest option may be to enjoy reading and nothing else. Responding does require effort and maybe a bit of time, if any level of detail is involved in expressing opinion. I don't fault anyone for that as I don't see the reader owing the writer anything, no more than the writer owes the reader; we are here for the love of fiction and of our own free will, and that's what it's about. However, all the same one cannot wonder if there isn't a reason for it, as the little annoying slightly-paranoid voice in my head keeps telling me: "Psst. It's something YOU did."

 

Then again, isn't there an old adage that says 'you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink'?

Edited February 18, 2014 by Stellar

[Mann Ramblings]

I think sometimes a lot of members aren't active past the point of reading and many aren't officially members as well. That still doesn't stop me from responding to almost every review I get. I still feel like it needs to be an interaction. I know it has to be hard for prolific readers to respond to everything they read; there's so much out there.

 

Some of it can be the story line. A nice dramatic romance in a high school or college age setting seem to grab a great deal of attention but I don't plan on writing in that genre unless it really is the story I want to tell. 

 

My numbers have been good and improving as I go along, so I'm quite pleased with that, but I wish I could maintain the feedback I often get from the start. That would be the only thing I'd like to find a way to improve on. At this point, with the time I have, I'm promoting as best I can and it seems my readership is growing slowly, but it is growing. I feel like I haven't been doing this very long and I'm shocked at times how successful I've been.

[joann414]

Mann hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned.  I try and do read a lot.  They're times when I get behind, read several chapters of an author's story and try to leave a review for each chapter.  Therefore, going into the discussion forum doesn't seem a priority.  I "like" the stories, review them and move on.  Sometimes, I venture into the forums just to read them.  Other times I don't, especially if I am behind on reading the story.  I don't want any spoilers

 

Some readers love to discuss what they are reading.  There's a few stories I'd like to discuss, but I don't because of spoilers.  I'm sure there's other reasons. 

 

But, I think it's great to have the discussion forums.  The activity there is probably always going to go up and down. 

[Ron]

Personally, I love reading the reviews and the author responses to them and more often than not, the author replies are sufficient enough that further discussion is unnecessary. So, Krista nailed it on the head at the beginning of her post as far as that concerns. I've only ever been in involved in one story discussion with any passion or regularity and it was because I was championing a character that every other reviewer seemed to despise and it moved to the story discussion thread. Even then, it was a lively and passionate discussion but limited to me, one other and the author, none of the other reviewers chimed in except through the review section and I can only shrug my shoulders as to why.

 

So, if the author response is enough, what need of a story discussion? Now on the other hand, there is the lack of an author response or maybe the more insidious 'partial' response from authors and by the latter I mean, replies to some but not all of the comments/remarks/reviews left by readers. Stellar, I am going to tackle you with this one and I only do this because I am now reading your story, 'Hidden Sunlight' as part of familiarizing myself with stories nominated for the Readers Choice Awards that I have not read. I am through chapter three and there has been forty reader responses and only twenty author replies. As Suvitar mentions, she stops leaving comments when the author doesn't respond because she feels like she is talking to herself, well it's even worse when an author is responding to readers but apparently not to you. There is absolutely no reason to leave a review, or join a discussion thread about the story however good it is when an author does this. By the way, I am liking the story. But as an aside, Stellar... I have no liking to be considered a horse that won't drink at the trough and I doubt others will either.

 

The topic posed is converting readers into participants but readers reviewing/commenting is participation and if the author responds faithfully... who knows, you might be able to convert the reading GA 'guests' that outnumber the members online every day into participants. If you're intent on gaining a different type of participation, as in discussion threads, invite your readers to discuss their views further as part of your reply to a particularly interesting review/comment. There are times that I would love to be able to 'like' a review or know more about what the reviewer had to say, and if I had some idea that the reviewer was going to carry the conversation over to the discussion thread, I might be more readily persuaded to join in. Just an idea.

[Stellar]

Personally, I love reading the reviews and the author responses to them and more often than not, the author replies are sufficient enough that further discussion is unnecessary. So, Krista nailed it on the head at the beginning of her post as far as that concerns. I've only ever been in involved in one story discussion with any passion or regularity and it was because I was championing a character that every other reviewer seemed to despise and it moved to the story discussion thread. Even then, it was a lively and passionate discussion but limited to me, one other and the author, none of the other reviewers chimed in except through the review section and I can only shrug my shoulders as to why.

 

So, if the author response is enough, what need of a story discussion? Now on the other hand, there is the lack of an author response or maybe the more insidious 'partial' response from authors and by the latter I mean, replies to some but not all of the comments/remarks/reviews left by readers. Stellar, I am going to tackle you with this one and I only do this because I am now reading your story, 'Hidden Sunlight' as part of familiarizing myself with stories nominated for the Readers Choice Awards that I have not read. I am through chapter three and there has been forty reader responses and only twenty author replies. As Suvitar mentions, she stops leaving comments when the author doesn't respond because she feels like she is talking to herself, well it's even worse when an author is responding to readers but apparently not to you. There is absolutely no reason to leave a review, or join a discussion thread about the story however good it is when an author does this. By the way, I am liking the story. But as an aside, Stellar... I have no liking to be considered a horse that won't drink at the trough and I doubt others will either.

 

The topic posed is converting readers into participants but readers reviewing/commenting is participation and if the author responds faithfully... who knows, you might be able to convert the reading GA 'guests' that outnumber the members online every day into participants. If you're intent on gaining a different type of participation, as in discussion threads, invite your readers to discuss their views further as part of your reply to a particularly interesting review/comment. There are times that I would love to be able to 'like' a review or know more about what the reviewer had to say, and if I had some idea that the reviewer was going to carry the conversation over to the discussion thread, I might be more readily persuaded to join in. Just an idea.

 

It is quite a curious way to judge me on that single comment based off the first three chapters of the first story I posted to GA. Not only was I new to being an author on the site, but during the beginning phase I had a different ethic than I do now. Regardless, I will tell you this: Hidden Sunlight has, as of current, been reviewed 214 times. Of those, I have not replied to 49. Of those 49, 13 were from sandrewn, who retroactively reviewed the chapters after completing the story and told me explicitly I did not need to respond to his reviews, but that he wished to simply review all the earlier chapters he had not touched as a courtesy to the author. Nephylim reviewed seven chapters in one go and I replied to all seven in a single response. Similarly, Myr responded to a bunch of a chapters in a row with one-liners and I engaged with him *after* this fact. With this in mind, my strike-rate is already close to 90% and I did say 'almost all' -- there have been times when my real life is quite busy and stressful, and I do not have the will nor the energy to respond to something; consequently, some reviews were left by the wayside. Not only this, but many of those remaining reviews were the same 'regulars' I mentioned in my earlier post in this thread, people whom I knew would not be shying away if I missed a statement or two from them. So ... if you wish to take me to task, it would pay to look a little further ahead than three chapters before doing so. My behaviour fits with my prior statement.

 

Additionally, you are aware of what that saying means, are you not? This in mind, you will realise that it has nothing to do with comparing people to horses and everything to do with illustrating that you can only persuade someone to act a certain way and you cannot force them to do something they do not want to do. While I'm glad you're enjoying my work, please don't take the use of cliché and imagine it as something it isn't.

 

Frankly, this isn't really what I'm focusing on anyhow. What I'm more curious about is the people that don't talk at all. My rapport is fine with those that do review, and I already agree with pretty much all Krista has said, because she is more or less correct in my view.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Stellar

[Mann Ramblings]

I think when you are a new author to GA, a little allowance has to be made. Other sites don't function with the kind of interaction that GA has and it sometimes takes a bit to realize how important that is. However once you discover that, it hardly seems appropriate to backtrack to old reviews that are no longer current, so there may be gaps in the early stages. Lambasting someone for early errors hardly seems fair. If they fail to learn the lesson is another story.

 

The best thing to do is chalk it up to experience and move forward, responding as often as humanly possible to the people who take the time to comment and hopefully encourage others to do so as well.

[Ashi]

This is a very important topic we're touching on, and unfortunately a touchy one, too.  I am not a full-time authors like you do, but I do similar audience interaction with my photos on Flickr.  I try my best to answer everything and thank everyone who has commented on my story/photos  However, it can be hard to keep it up and I don't even have a large following like some people do.  Once a while, I would ask myself should I spend my time on my crafts or doing public relation (which is what reader/artist interaction falls under).  My lack of human skill sometimes just makes me want to slack off, because sometimes I feel it's stressful (I know it's hard to imagine, especially I am in chat a lot, slacking off..., and my previous co-workers thought I was a very talkative person). 

 

I think a lot of people already touched on good points.  Most of the readers are passive, and I am by nature, a wallflower.  If I didn't start doing a lot of promotion for my photos in recent years, I probably would continue to be a passive reader.  As a result, I brought a lot of my personal experience learned in that discipline to my role here as an amateur writer.  But most of our readers aren't producers of art themselves, so they may not have been the shoes we're in and realize how just a bit of appreciation would mean to us producers. 

 

As for from reader's point view.  Ironically, I am an author, but I am not particular good with words (and English isn't my mother tongue, though it's my strongest language), so sometimes I don't know how to review a story to give an author their deserved justice.  Further exacerbating the problem, I am not particularly a fast reader (that's why I usually don't read long stories).  The complication of wanting to write an insightful review (which is constructive to the person I give review to) and lack of ability to finish reading a story on time is pretty stressful.  But instead of doing nothing, nowadays I simply give a simple click on the Like, which is better than doing nothing.  The problem with that is, of course, sometimes I move on to read another story (for whatever the reason) and forgot to go back to review the first story.  It doesn't help my reading queue is pretty long, not to mention I still have my photography work (and the PR associated with it), on top of trying to find a real job that pays.  Trying to prioritize can be tricky sometimes.

 

It's easy to feel lost (and I can only imagine it's even tougher for some of you who have become successful, and trying very hard to hit the next cap).  If it's any consolation, it took me two years before my Flickr account got any regular traffic flow, so don't feel alone or if you did something wrong, because we all are in the same boat.  And when I don't actively participate in that account, the traffic flow suffers.  PR is a continuous work and one has to be actively engaging in it.  We have such a supporting group here in GA, with so many dedicated people helping each other.    I'll end this rambling with a simple statement: keep up the good work.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Ashi

[Ron]

Stellar, I did not write everything as some opportunity to judge you, that wasn't my point. I did say I was going to tackle you, what for and why, included the limitations and I only remarked on it because 1) I was reading your story and the reviews and 2) you were present and involved in the topic. I was direct, but I also wasn't speaking an indictment of your current or continuous behavior, I made that much clear. I used the chapters I knew and only used them as an example of something that can be detrimental to an author from a readers perspective, this reader particularly, as concerns desires to participate in the act of writing reviews. Although, it doesn't stop me from hitting the 'like' button and I have done so, and I will continue to do so for other authors that practice both reply patterns of none and some.

 

I am happy that you are successful, as I am happy for anyone who is. I don't begrudge anyone success. But know this, without your additional information and was I of the mind to be completely turned off from what I noticed, there is no need to guess the results - I would have gone on to read something else, and who's to say it doesn't happen just as it happens for other reasons. As it is, I accept that some authors don't reply to reviews and some to only a few, I don't like it and it prevents me from reviewing but not from reading (and hitting the like button, I can still appreciate) if the story is good.

 

As to the horse and trough adage - if you can name me one instance where the horse as metaphor isn't used to reference an individual or group as being obstinate or foolishly/needlessly strong willed, let me know.

 

To sum up, I am sorry if I came off as dogging you specifically throughout my post, it wasn't intended as such and I am sorry it was received that way. Please accept my apology for any harm done.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Ron

[Sasha Distan]

you might be able to convert the reading GA 'guests' that outnumber the members online every day into participants. 

 

now that would be some kinda of miracle wouldn't it?

[Kitt]

I think a lot of the forum participation is generated by conflict in the story itself, and readers becoming polarized by their empathy with certain characters. The best example I can give of that phenomenon is Mark Arbours discussion forum for 911.  People have sort of divided up into camps and discussion gets lively.

 

Mark  told me that he considers a review and response a personal conversation, and the forum as a public one anyone is welcome to join. I think that an apt description. Sometimes it seems that the author themselves don't follow that open discussion very well. The more involved the author him/herself is, the more likely I am to participate.

 

Author response is important I'll grant you. No one wants to feel like they are being overlooked. I love Stellar's idea of posting the link to the pertinent forum in the chapter notes at the end. When you finish reading and reviewing a chapter is when you are most likely to comment in a forum. 

 

If you find that you are not remembering to reply to forums, follow it! There is nothing like a little snippet under notifications to remind you to go reply!

 

And be patient with us support staff guys. Sometimes it gets really hard to remember what chapter you covered a subject in, especially if we are way ahead of the posting dates or working on multiple stories. We don't like leaking spoilers any more than you like seeing them Joann!

[Stellar]

Stellar, I did not write everything as some opportunity to judge you, that wasn't my point. I did say I was going to tackle you, what for and why, included the limitations and I only remarked on it because 1) I was reading your story and the reviews and 2) you were present and involved in the topic. I was direct, but I also wasn't speaking an indictment of your current or continuous behavior, I made that much clear. I used the chapters I knew and only used them as an example of something that can be detrimental to an author from a readers perspective, this reader particularly, as concerns desires to participate in the act of writing reviews. Although, it doesn't stop me from hitting the 'like' button and I have done so, and I will continue to do so for other authors that practice both reply patterns of none and some.

 

I am happy that you are successful, as I am happy for anyone who is. I don't begrudge anyone success. But know this, without your additional information and was I of the mind to be completely turned off from what I noticed, there is no need to guess the results - I would have gone on to read something else, and who's to say it doesn't happen just as it happens for other reasons. As it is, I accept that some authors don't reply to reviews and some to only a few, I don't like it and it prevents me from reviewing but not from reading (and hitting the like button, I can still appreciate) if the story is good.

 

As to the horse and trough adage - if you can name me one instance where the horse as metaphor isn't used to reference an individual or group as being obstinate or foolishly/needlessly strong willed, let me know.

 

To sum up, I am sorry if I came off as dogging you specifically throughout my post, it wasn't intended as such and I am sorry it was received that way. Please accept my apology for any harm done.

 

That's just it - in that paragraph you did choose to single me out and then, yes, made a judgement based on inconclusive data. It may not have been your intention but this is exactly what you did. I then rebutted your point, without ad hominem, because it was wrong. I am comfortable with my responses to my readership, and when someone incorrectly uses me as an example of the opposite, well, do you think I'm not going to say something?

 

I don't really want to discuss any of this further now, but thank you for your apology. Appreciated.

[Never Surrender]

I can only really answer for myself as a reader, but ill answer anyway In all honesty, I really struggle to write reviews. I don't meant to take away from those authors who spend their time writing the chapter for my enjoyment, but sitting me down and asking me to write a review fills me with a horrific form of writers block, which manifests into a form of panic. This isn't a great feeling, and by the time I've 'word vomited' something onto paper, its normally utterly useless and uninteresting anyway.

 

So back to the other question?

 

So why is it that so few readers make the leap into the discussion forums?

 

 For me personally, there are a variety of reasons why I don't. It tends to swing one of two ways for me. Firstly, one of the main ones (for me) has actually been picked out by Suitar below.

 

For me reading the story and commenting chapters and thanking for them is more important than discussing them. Sometimes there are stories I´d like to ask questions about or join a discussion, only to see that there´s no discussion, then I quietly go away....

 

I do not have as much time to read on GA as I have done previously (i am currently reading no more than about 5 stories on GA), I sometimes find that the stories I am interested in reading and commenting on either do not have a discussion forum, or I am friends with the author anyway. For example, if I read a chapter of So Little Magic Left by Mann, I will drop him a like. At this point he will know that i have read it, and we will normally discuss next time we are conversing on Skype. This way he knows what I am thinking and I am providing feedback (even if it is normally along the lines of 'omg I cant believe you killed Tessa the non-cow'), but there is no outward sign on GA of me providing anything more than a like.

 

The other reason? FEAR!

 

I think a lot of the forum participation is generated by conflict in the story itself, and readers becoming polarized by their empathy with certain characters. The best example I can give of that phenomenon is Mark Arbours discussion forum for 911.  People have sort of divided up into camps and discussion gets lively.

 

Mark Arbour's 9-11 forum is one of the busiest and most strongly opinionated forums i have come across I very much enjoy his work and I will always make an effort to read the chapter and slap down a like if I have enjoyed it (and potentially the odd random review if I can manage it), but at the point of providing further feedback I hit another mental block. Do I try and force out a mostly useless and rambling review? or do I venture into a forum that scares the living daylights out of me because I feel that sometimes it would be like running naked onto a battlefield I will say that when I have shared my opinions, both Mark and his forum have been more than polite, happy to talk and quick to respond (So please don't assume that I am jumping on anyone!), but when things start to 'hot up' as such, for me its often very much preferable to avoid any kind of public confrontation or conflict, even if it is being done in a friendly debate way instead of being hostile. 

 

 

THEREFORE

That is what it is like to be me and the reason why I struggle to do more than put down likes. Probably not seen as good enough excuses, but I cant help that. Honestly a lot of the time, it comes from the doubt of having anything worth saying, also. If I do not hold a strong opinion, do I leave a review saying 'yeah.. it was ok... good chapter', or do I not? If I do hold a strong opinion but others have already written about it in their reviews on the chapter, do I hammer home the point again by saying essentially the same thing? or do I leave it.

 

This was probably total rambling, but there you go.

[Suvitar]

 

but when things start to 'hot up' as such, for me its often very much preferable to avoid any kind of public confrontation or conflict, even if it is being done in a friendly debate way instead of being hostile. 

 

 

THEREFORE

That is what it is like to be me and the reason why I struggle to do more than put down likes. Probably not seen as good enough excuses, but I cant help that. Honestly a lot of the time, it comes from the doubt of having anything worth saying, also. If I do not hold a strong opinion, do I leave a review saying 'yeah.. it was ok... good chapter', or do I not? If I do hold a strong opinion but others have already written about it in their reviews on the chapter, do I hammer home the point again by saying essentially the same thing? or do I leave it.

 

 

I have some issues from another forum where some people weren´t nice to people who didn´t agree with them and had their own opinions....I left them....and here I´ve tried to take things slowly so I could be sure what can be said and where. And everyone has been very nice here. I too hate public confrontations and it´s even harder when it´s done in a foreign language, when a chance of misunderstanding or getting misunderstood is always a possibility. 

 

Recently I´ve been reading someone´s older stories and when I left my first comments I wasn´t sure if they´d be even read but the author read them, answered them and thanked for them, and she did the same with all the stories I read. That made me think that I did what I should so as a reader, even if I don´t have anything significant to add to other reviews, and perhaps no-one gets annoyed with lots of reviews/comments 

[Kitt]

I don't think any author would be upset with even a two word review.  Who could hate "Great chapter!" ???  

[Mark Arbour]

I can only really answer for myself as a reader, but ill answer anyway In all honesty, I really struggle to write reviews. I don't meant to take away from those authors who spend their time writing the chapter for my enjoyment, but sitting me down and asking me to write a review fills me with a horrific form of writers block, which manifests into a form of panic. This isn't a great feeling, and by the time I've 'word vomited' something onto paper, its normally utterly useless and uninteresting anyway.

 

So back to the other question?

 

 

 For me personally, there are a variety of reasons why I don't. It tends to swing one of two ways for me. Firstly, one of the main ones (for me) has actually been picked out by Suitar below.

 

 

I do not have as much time to read on GA as I have done previously (i am currently reading no more than about 5 stories on GA), I sometimes find that the stories I am interested in reading and commenting on either do not have a discussion forum, or I am friends with the author anyway. For example, if I read a chapter of So Little Magic Left by Mann, I will drop him a like. At this point he will know that i have read it, and we will normally discuss next time we are conversing on Skype. This way he knows what I am thinking and I am providing feedback (even if it is normally along the lines of 'omg I cant believe you killed Tessa the non-cow'), but there is no outward sign on GA of me providing anything more than a like.

 

The other reason? FEAR!

 

 

Mark Arbour's 9-11 forum is one of the busiest and most strongly opinionated forums i have come across I very much enjoy his work and I will always make an effort to read the chapter and slap down a like if I have enjoyed it (and potentially the odd random review if I can manage it), but at the point of providing further feedback I hit another mental block. Do I try and force out a mostly useless and rambling review? or do I venture into a forum that scares the living daylights out of me because I feel that sometimes it would be like running naked onto a battlefield I will say that when I have shared my opinions, both Mark and his forum have been more than polite, happy to talk and quick to respond (So please don't assume that I am jumping on anyone!), but when things start to 'hot up' as such, for me its often very much preferable to avoid any kind of public confrontation or conflict, even if it is being done in a friendly debate way instead of being hostile. 

 

 

THEREFORE

That is what it is like to be me and the reason why I struggle to do more than put down likes. Probably not seen as good enough excuses, but I cant help that. Honestly a lot of the time, it comes from the doubt of having anything worth saying, also. If I do not hold a strong opinion, do I leave a review saying 'yeah.. it was ok... good chapter', or do I not? If I do hold a strong opinion but others have already written about it in their reviews on the chapter, do I hammer home the point again by saying essentially the same thing? or do I leave it.

 

This was probably total rambling, but there you go.

 

You should never be afraid to say what you think, especially in my forums.  If they're a little rough and tumble, well, that can be fun sometimes.     I think the deal with forums is that you get to choose how far to push things.  You make your point, and then you can leave it at that, or you can keep arguing about it.  People seem to forget that saying the same thing over and over again doesn't mean you  have a different point, it just means you're stubborn.  Some people strive for victory, which they define as having the last word.  News flash:  that's not victory in a forum.  In forums, I'll watch some people beat a dead horse, but the big indicator is how many other people 'like' their comments.  If no one does, then they're just talking to a void.  Most figure it out in the end. 

[Kitt]

Speaking from a readers standpoint, It's a rush to have an author "like" your comments, most especially if you have been involved in one of the debates we've mentioned!

[Sasha Distan]

 In forums, I'll watch some people beat a dead horse, but the big indicator is how many other people 'like' their comments.  If no one does, then they're just talking to a void.  Most figure it out in the end. 

 

Sometimes i feel like i'm talking to a horse. they're listening, but no one is saying much back...

[Mann Ramblings]

Sometimes i feel like i'm talking to a horse. they're listening, but no one is saying much back...

 

I get that sometimes too. I know they're out there... sneaky readers...

[Sasha Distan]

I get that sometimes too. I know they're out there... sneaky readers...

 

Should we go hunt them down?

[Ron]

Should we go hunt them down?

 

You might have to eat 'em cause its been said already that you can't make 'em do nuttin'.

Edited February 21, 2014 by Ron

[Mann Ramblings]

Should we go hunt them down?

 

I think that's an excellent suggestion. We'll trick them with promises of candy...

[Suvitar]

Author´s respond to your comments can make you read the whole story. One time I was reading a story that was good but writing/grammar wasn´t very good and I was thinking about leaving it unfinished, but then the author started answering all the comments I had left so far...and I kept on reading until the end. And it was a good story.