#wattpad shit. so i dont like feeling guilty but i still do which is probably why i will not disable comments

[readandwritesilver]

i could make a hashtag serious post about this and maybe i will when it's not pushing two am but i just want to say that as my fic has started to. idk. get some more attention in the past year and a half or so ive really noticed that there are a lot of people that are Bad at being normal in ao3 comments. like a lot of people are sweet and even plenty of the odd ones seem well-intentioned and i do love and appreciate most of the comments that i get but i think a lot of people are bad at understanding the two facts that a) this is not like leaving a comment somewhere that the author of a "real" book could hypothetically see it. im not saying its just 100% cool to be weird in that setting either but like. an ao3 comment is functionally a direct message (one that happens to be public, yes, but still) to just like. someone sitting at home on their phone/computer. and that b) said person sitting at home is not your friend and does not know you. i understand how it happens where ypu develop a certain kind of parasocial relationship with fic writers- not only does fanfic feel like very personal stories, due to both being kind of like the author's own love letter to characters you already love & being much much less polished than something you'd read on a shelf, but authors often slip bits of who they are as a person in. notes talking about the responsibility they skirted or late night they pulled while writing, the life event that delayed the fic getting updated/finished, little things about their friends or their family or whatever that inspired minor details, etc etc. maybe they even link social medias that you follow them on. i wont lie and say it's never happened to me before. but the issue comes when you BREACH that and start talking to them like theyre your friend. teasing them in a way only meant for situations where both people know the other's name, offering critiques that shouldn't be offered uninvited unless the person knows ypu well enough to know you dont have mal-intent, etc.

again, plenty of comments are great !! im not trying to like. bitch too eccsessively. but i think that, before commenting, a lot of people need to make sure they've considered that they're saying it directly to the author, and whether or not the author knows them well enough for it to be cool for them to do that