#responding to comments

[cinder46231]

I don't know if I handled this correctly so I'm turning to here to help me decide. I received this comment on one of my fic today.

And I responded to it with this.

I just want to know if I took it too far because I didn't really put many tags on the fic, only these

So maybe it was my fault?

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I am incredibly serious right now when I beg you all, please, and if you have Twitter or Tiktok or whatever to please spread the word: click on an author's profile on Ao3.

You want to know if an author has written more? Want to know if they're still writing? Want to see more from them? Want to know if they've written a trope or kink or sex scenario you enjoy?

Click on their name. And look at their profile.

I cannot tell you how many times in the last six months someone has read a new or newer fic of mine and said they (a new reader who has read nothing else I've done) "can't wait to see what you do next!" I've written 50+ fics and over a million words already.

"I don't know if you're still writing..." click on my profile. I am. I literally wrote a 128k+ fic for that ship last month.

"Would you ever do X?" "Please do Y!" I already did. Click on my name and look at my works.

Archive of our Own is a library. It's an archive. Not social media. It is your responsibility to fight back against the laziness that corporate algorithms have trained into you.

Click my author name. Just click it. Just click it.

Before you demand more, or ask if a writer will do XYZ, or wonder if the author still writing, or anything - click on their profile. Click on the author's profile.

I'm not trying to be mean or condescending or anything like that. I'm just exhausted. It's disheartening and frustrating to repeat myself ad nauseam, because someone couldn't take thirty seconds to do the tiniest bit of work to see if I've written lately, if I've written more for their ship, or scan my works to see if I've written what they're asking for. Please. Please. I'm begging.

Click the author's name, and explore before you ask.

[lycorogue]

Very much this. Also, as a commentor, I don't know what's going on in the author's life. I don't know if they needed to step away from their account for some reason or if they had an ADHD moment of THINKING they answered and didn't realize that they got distracted and never did, or if their notification got buried before they even saw it, or if they just didn't know how to respond to my comment initially, etc etc etc. I know that I, as a writer, have had a few of those situations myself: buried notification, intended to answer but didn't have the time/spoons and then forgot that I never got to it, didn't know how to respond....

I know my readers have been cool with me replying a month or so after they left a comment (and were very appreciative), and I know I'd feel the same way. Woe is the reader who reacts poorly to a "late" reply, honestly.

So, if you want to reply, I say go for it, regardless of how long it's been. It will most likely make their day.

(Also, yes, getting a reply months later HAS encouraged me to reread the fic and give it extra love. So you have that bonus as well.)

So I just noticed some old comments on my fics, and now I’m overthinking replying since it’s been so long. So tumblr:

[rusticfurnace]

face studies with the vaqueros i did some time ago!🤠🤠

...and some white guy ig.

[starksmarketingllc]

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[kk1smet]

Posted a new chapter on my Drarry artwork collection! | View full update here.

Every month (or every other month, really), I draw some drarry microcreations based on discord prompts here. This month's theme is epistolary, where you’ll find some prissy Draco, a three-day stubbled Harry, and an owl named Wuzz.

New drarry fanart/schedule of updates in my archive will vary because yours truly rolls like a tumbleweed

[anbaisai]

Happy New Year!! 🎉🐍

It's the year of the snake, so who better to celebrate it with than our resident snake boy?

I may not be the best with words, but I really appreciate everyone that has showed me support in the past year. You guys have been amazing, and I hope to see you around in the new year too ❤

Thank you for an incredible 2024, and wishing everyone a wonderful 2025!

[morganbritton132]

Eddie, posting this TikTok: Uh, excuse me? Why are some of y’all saying I don’t know Erica Sinclair? That I don’t know Lady Applejack?? I know her!

Eddie: Because-

Eddie: *aggressively holds up picture of the Scoops Troop eating ice cream together a week after Starcourt to the camera*

Eddie: I-

Eddie: *holds up picture of Steve giving Erica a piggyback ride so her shoes didn’t get wet*

Eddie: Married-

Eddie: *holds up picture of Sue Sinclair showing Steve how she braids Erica’s hair*

Eddie: Her-

Eddie: *shows picture of Charles Sinclair, Lucas, and Steve moving Erica’s stuff into her dorm room. Erica and Eddie are in the background with no intention of helping out*

Eddie: Dad!

Eddie: *shows picture of Steve and Erica on the campaign trail. Steve’s got a shirt that says ‘you can’t spell America without Erica. Eddie’s photobombing in the background to give them both bunny ears.*

Eddie: Also, we played D&D together *shows picture of a Hellfire campaign*

[sharpace]

125. Pumpkin

Happy (early) Halloween!!

Crank It Comics  |  Leave a tip! (Ko-Fi) |   Twitter

[manufacturedrainbows]

My fellow fanfic authors, I'm begging on my hands and knees – and Ima hold your hand as I say this – you gotta respond to the readers that leave comments on your work.

I know social anxiety is the worst (trust, my autistic ass understands) but I promise you, nothing deters a reader from commenting more than seeing a comment section with no replies as you continue to post fanfics. Even if it's as simple as "thanks for reading!" or just some cute emojis, it'll show that you're actually engaging with your audience!

We work so hard on our writing, and those of us that post them online want it to be seen, right? Indulging in our little fandoms is how we build connections with people that feel the same way.

It might be hard or even scary, but I find the more you socialize with others (especially in a more controlled environment like a comment section), the easier it gets! 💕

[realcleverscience]

"@thebardostate : Things die for good reasons. Extending the life of organisms that are no longer reproductively viable would only increase the burden of overpopulation. It is ultimately a self-indulgent and foolish quest that will benefit the rich (it's an opportunity to hoard more wealth) at the expense of most of the rest of humanity."

Definitely a valid view though I see it a bit differently. 1. to start, it's not clear to me that "things die for good reason", as much as that "things die bc evolution didn't select for them to live longer." In other words, our goals as humans are not necessarily the same goals as the blind force of evolution. (e.g. medusa jellyfish don't die of old age. they are functionally immortal. that's just how their biology worked out.) Similarly, in terms of the "evolution for reproductivity" angle: life extension could well mean extending reproductive viability. Imagine people having a kid when they're 100 years old!

2. More importantly, I think reproductive patterns will adjust. E.g. most western nations' birth rates are below the replacement rate. i.e. population shrinkage. In some countries, the gov'ts are desperately trying to get people to f*ck and have more kids. Depopulation is also a concern. I would also add that data shows birth rate decline in many countries as a. women get more rights and education, and b. as conditions in the country improve. I expect both of those trends to continue. Related to that, people are having kids later in life or even having no kids at all. I imagine that if the human lifespan was extended to 300, that most people wouldn't spend it pumping out kids constantly. Instead, maybe people have one to three kids, starting at age 100, who they put a lot of work into. But this is admittedly just my speculation.

3. Overpopulation: As I said, I think birth rates globally will continue to decline, but there are also other options, such as expanding our range of resources so that there's enough for earth to sustain more people. Alternatively, we could also use gov't law. E.g. one extreme could be something like china's old one-child policy. On the other end, we could incentivize behavior with tax incentives. E.g. you get an extra $5k/yr for your first child. You get $1k/yr for a second child. Third child gets no tax benefits. Fourth child and you start to *lose* benefits. My point here being that there are also other options.

4. self indulgent - I mean... I guess so. Though I never considered wanting to be alive as self-indulgent.

5. access: while the rich will always have more options than the poor, I don't think that such technology will be just for the rich. For one, there's just too much money to be made from it. If you have a magic pill that can drastically reduce illness and extend life, most people are going to desperately want that. There's just so much money to be made, that I don't think this will be left inaccessible. Also, patents expire. Even if the first 25 years this was just for the rich, it wouldn't stay that way for long. Also, it's unlikely that a single pill will do everything. More likely that it'll be a combination of several therapies. Maybe once a year you go to the doctor and get a few shots; maybe a few pills to take at home, etc. So they'd also have to control *all* the various therapies, as well as the various versions of each offered by different companies. Then there's also the international angle: even if healthcare is f*cked in the US, there are other systems overseas. The rich would have to wrangle with gov'ts across the world. Which also relates to my last point: the public would lose their sh*t if this wasn't available. I'm talking riots and violence. So I don't think this will be limited to just the rich.

That said, I do think you raise some good points about the things that are required (legally, culturally, economically, etc) for such a monumental shift in humanity's nature.

Thanks for your comment

I've been interested in radical life extension since first reading some Kurzweil books around 2007, nearly 20 years ago.

At the time, when I discussed the idea most people reacted like I was insane. Sooo... really glad to see this topic getting more attention and being taken seriously now. For instance, I believe there's an x-prize now for longevity, which indicates they think these are goals we can start to realistically achieve.

That's important bc obviously humanity has *talked* about radical life extensions for literally thousands of years. When DNA was being first understood in the early 1900s, people talked about extending life. When the human genome project began in the 1990s, again we spoke about potential healthspan breakthroughs. But decades have passed with little progress, so it's understandable why even those interested in the technologies and concepts might be disillusioned. Like fusion energy, it always appeared 30 years away... forever.

However, like fusion energy, we are achieving practical steps which make it seem like those goals are actually within reach now. For instance, while we've known about genes for a hundred years now, we are only *just now* starting to edit and manipulate them.

Aging is still not fully understood, but it seems primarily to function at the cellular level - things like DNA, RNA, mitochondria, and connections and communications between cells, etc. These are complex interactions and sciences, but we are reaching a point or unprecedented control at those levels.

Additionally, what the "perpetually 30 years away" attitude also misses is that the pace of scientific advances grows faster over time. "30 years" of scientific research in the early 1900s might be closer to 10 years of research today. This applies to the growth of AI in medical advances as well. Not only are AI capabilities growing dramatically each year; those AIs are helping us to unlock knowledge, materials, and abilities in other fields as well. (As mentioned, genetic-level medical interventions are finally happening, and there's an avalanche of research and breakthroughs happening.)

So it's certainly possible that I'm wrong, and that life extension techs will always be '30 years away', and I'm failing to appreciate that lesson of history... but I think there are *very* good reasons to think that we are close to breakthroughs. Which poses an important question for society:

Do you want to get old and die like your grandparents, continually weakening and growing increasingly ill till you die at around age 90?

Personally, I'd love to halt my biological aging, improve and extend my "health-span", and to live at least an extra 50 years to explore all the new amazing thing science will produce in that time.

We can be another generation that lives and dies and is forgotten, or we can invest in research to fight back the grim reaper and bring that '30 year' window closer to fruition.

What do you want?

p.s. Yes, there are important social issues tied to this that require important discussion and policy guardrails, etc. And yes, maybe not everyone wants to live for 1,000 years (and they wouldn't have to). That said, it's very rare to find someone excited about getting older, weaker, and dying.

[choccy-milky]

just the wedding pic bc i rly like it🥹💖

[sbd-laytall]

"I ain't alone, bub–I got you." I'm just going to climb into a hole and just lay there for the rest of my life.

Uncanny X-Men (1963) #165

[danikatze]

[ID in alt text]

10 years ago I drew this crappy little AtLA comic (affectionate) that became one of my first 1k+ posts lol. Felt like doing a bit of a redraw :)

[ID in alt text]

[tinyfantasminha]

I don't want to keep clogging my blog with vent posts but uh... I guess this is a more general concern/observation

But it's getting real hard to stay motivated in fandom spaces when there's little compensation, and annoying occurrences are more frequent than good ones.

Mainly there's been less engagement/people showing interest in creators and their art (such as sending asks, making comments and reblogging with tags) and MORE parasocial interactions. This goes for both artists and writers.

Over this year I've noticed a vast disinterest within my public in general. Asks about ocs, my art, or just nice simple comments of ''I love your art'' has been getting more and more scarce. My follower number is bigger than 2-3 years ago sure and I get more likes on my posts but they are feeling more like just numbers and statistics than actual people who supposedly like my stuff.

And while people being parasocial with creators has always been a thing, I feel like it's gotten way worse... in general? People sending personal pictures out of the blue in hopes of being validated, unwanted psychological advice or assumptions about the creator without any established connection first ( <- these happened to me in the same week.) ventdump, just insensitive/lacking of common sense comments in general, unreasonable demands (mostly with writers)... I wondered at first if it was just me, but a handful of mutuals/acquaintances who are artists and writers seems to be going through it as well.

It's annoying. It's tough. It's getting exhausting. Creators pour so much of themselves into their work—countless hours, effort, and passion, all to share something meaningful or entertaining with others (and for FREE) The LEAST anyone can do is show respect, even if opinions differ. When a writer posts a fanfic, don't just say ''omg post next chapter!'', when an artist posts a drawing of their favorite character, don't just say ''omg draw (character) next!'' as if they're faceless content machines that are expected to churn out more '''content''' for you without acknowledgment, encouragement, or appreciation.

''I want to support creators but I don't know what to say and I feel intimidated by their talent so I just lurk silently :((('' I swear to you, no creator (at least not the majority) is making up an intimidating persona to discourage you from interacting with them. They WANT your comments. A single ''I love your art/writing/videos'' or even something as silly as ''I want to eat your art'' is enough to keep a creator sighing dreamily for WEEKS. It doesn't have to be deep! It's heartfelt and that's what it matters!! (Just remember to keep it relevant and thoughtful... It takes just a bit of common sense NOT to comment things like ''this looks like (another character)'' or ''this but with (another unrelated ship/character/show)''. No one wants to hear comparisons or unrelated ideas when they’ve poured their soul into something.)

In fact, the ''I like your art but I think you're intimidating'' feels more hurtful than flattering. It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong, acting wrong. 💀

If you love that fanfic that changed your brain psyche forever and want to gush about it, go tell the writer. If you loved so much a piece of art that you saved it a million times in your phone and can't stop thinking about it, go tell the artist. Push away the ''they probably won't care about my comment/it won't make a difference'' thoughts. DO IT NOW. You won't know when they might go inactive forever or deactivate. You can't know if that is the last piece they will ever post. Make sure you show appreciation to creators NOW, while they are still here. While they're still not being replaced by AI.

[zeroaddzero]

Springsteen's Most Anxious Album