Dear Mr Comment Skeleton, I have a confession to make. As a reader, I feel a little discouraged at leaving comments on AO3 because a lot of the time, authors don't really bother to respond to them or even acknowledge their existence to begin with. Of course, we readers aren't entitled to author responses but it sure does make leaving comments not very rewarding for readers, you know? Reader and author interaction is so good and so rewarding yet...it seems rare now? Or at least it seems rare to me? Am I being silly, comment skeleton? What words of wisdom do you have for us who feel this way?
THE AUTHOR WROTE A WHOLE FIC FOR YOU!!! THEY SPENT THEIR TIME AND ENERGY COMPOSING A FIC THAT YOU ADORED!!!
WE THANK THEM FOR THIS TIME AND EFFORT AND DEDICATION BY LEAVING A COMMENT TO BRING THE AUTHOR THE SAME JOY THEY BROUGHT TO US WITH THEIR FIC!!!
ALSO, YOU CAN'T GET AUTHOR INTERACTION IF YOU DON'T LEAVE COMMENTS!! BUILDING COMMUNITY TAKES TIME!!!! LEAVE A THOUSAND COMMENTS AND IF ONE AUTHOR RESPONDS THAT'S A BRICK LAID IN THE FOUNDATION OF THIS HOUSE WE CALL A FAN COMMUNITY!!
KEEP ON COMMENTING MY SKELLY FRIENDS. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR QUESTION!!!
attempt at a reply below, it grew way too long ↓
it's not a silly sentiment but i think it lacks perspective, maybe? i find the reply mildly dismissive too; you shouldn't have to write dozens or even hundreds of comments to find the community and connection you're looking for. i'm simply not convinced ao3 itself is a platform that encourages and allows for community-building between readers and writers specifically, as much as i wish it did.
an ao3 account can feel more like a portfolio, to a degree, something to link to from where the community is being built—see e.g. how comment counts deemed too low or high quickly raise suspicion about a work. some might also have reservations about disclosing personal details on ao3. and frankly: the longer comment threads become, the less readable they are.
so there is hesitance around conversation via ao3 comments. if you're looking to enter a dialogue, with the goal of making friends, i genuinely think any other way to contact a writer directly (via askboxes or dms, or by replying to their tweets) is the favourable approach.
and this might be anecdotal and an experience exclusive to my ficdom, but i've never made an acquaintance in the comment section (neither as a writer nor reader). establishing a personal connection happens on twitter. and with twitter becoming a less hospitable environment by the day, and general ficdom culture dying on there (i haven't seen creators talking au ideas in ages, and that used to be a staple, a daily occurrence for my first years in fandom), i understand why pressure to receive replies to comments would mount!
regarding acknowledgement: please remember that writers have full control over comments. if we don't want them, we can turn them off; your standard assumption should be: if you can comment, the writer receives an email, or otherwise checks comments regularly. ao3 makes it easy for readers to acknowledge fic (kudos button); sadly we don't have this option with comments.
depending on your comment, and the number of comments a writer receives in general plus their backlog, it might also turn into a repetitive chore to respond—to short, erring on the side of impersonal/vague comments especially. longer, heartfelt comments pose the opposite problem: responding to those takes time and effort, or can feel like an impossible task because of how wonderful of a comment it is. receiving a mere 'thank you' to a comment that took two hours to write would also be seen as unappreciative, regardless of it technically being a reply and acknowledgement, no?
personally, i can only say i want to respond to all comments sincerely and with care. this, and declining mental health, led to my not replying to comments for almost three years (and around two years before that). the threshold of 'if i reply now, the reader might not even recall the fic' is passed at a couple months, at best ;; (i experience the added difficulty of a memory so bad i need to reread my fics before responding, and depending on my mood rereading can ruin a fic and day for me, so it's a balance act in that regard, too.)
and, more importantly: whenever i do reply to comments, any time and energy i could spend writing that day goes exclusively towards replying.
what you as a reader who comments still can do is adapt your behaviour, and adjust or redirect your expectations.
try to think of comments as the missing piece that completes the fic—the work is done, on everyone's side; anything beyond that is indulgence.
what makes a comment reply rewarding, and why? maybe a 'thank you' is all a writer can muster at that point in their life, and yes, this 'thank you' is likely silent—or it's silent because it's a new chapter, or a new fic. sometimes, the connection is less obvious and runs deeper than you'd think.
what kinds of comments do you leave? leave ones that make responding interesting. ask questions, present theories, ponder motivations, share thoughts on what a character is up to after the fic ended, bring up a song or situation in your life you were reminded of—something that absolves the writer of having to think of ways to rephrase their 'thank you'.
keep in mind we have lives and issues to deal with outside of writing, and sometimes writing is the only thing we find time and energy for.
if you like to talk in the comments, skim comment sections before reading and find writers who reply frequently. with others who don't reply, find different avenues to establish contact elsewhere.
whatever you do, please don't give up on commenting ;-; i understand your frustration; however, many writers are in the same boat with receiving comments in the first place. pouring one's heart and often what amounts to many years of work and dedication into writing only to be told that we're ungrateful or neglectful of readers or our connection to them for not responding to comments is incredibly frustrating as well.
