Okay let's do this thing: THE GUILT MEME

[ladyfoxxx]

Aahahahaa, okay so we were talking on Twitter about feedback; kudos vs comments and how sometimes you love a story A LOT and really WANT to comment, but don't and then never do and I discovered I'm not the only person who psyches themselves out of commenting like that. So here, have THE GUILT MEME

Comments

[turlough]

We've all done it. That fic that you've read eleventy billion times and never actually commented on. Or maybe you only read it once but it was so good - SO fucking good that you just didn't know how to EXPRESS how good it was so you never actually commented, or you read it on your e-reader and never went back to comment, or you went back to comment and wound up re-reading it and STILL didn't comment, or it's been around forever and you kind of let yourself off the hook without commenting because there were ALREADY so many comments, surely the writer knows it's awesome, right?

Umh, I never have? Well, not since I stopped lurking, that is. The whole reason why I got an LJ back in the day was because I wanted to be able to leave feedback "properly" and not just anonymously.

[ladyfoxxx]

When I saw the notification email that you commented in this post all I could think was "why would Turlough comment on this post except to say that she has NEVER DONE THIS" and LOL I was so right.

I don't know how you do it, bb. You are a WARRIOR. You ALWAYS comment when you read stuff and your bookmarks and recs and UTTER ORGANISATION really blows me away. You are an example for us ALL to strive towards!

[turlough]

I sort of made myself a promise when I became active after years of lurking - that I would never forget to comment on a story I liked. I think I wanted to make up for all those years when I never left any feedback at all. And by now it's become a habit.

[ladyfoxxx]

You SHOULD be insane about that 'verse bb it's SO GREAT. It covers ALL the bases I wanted covered from a Killjoys origin fic and god I LOVE the way you made the Gerard/Korse relationship WORK where as a reader you KNOW it's not good but you WANT IT ANYWAY and then the way you introduce Frank and AHHHHHHHHHHH. i JUST LOVE IT A LOT and I am carrying a LOT OF GUILT over how I've never really told you WHY. &YOU;

It's on my list of things to Improve At as well and I have good runs and bad runs. I really should go through the contents of my Kindle and do some real and proper feedback. Oh man. I hope people pick up this meme, because at least then the ones we KEEP COMING BACK TO will be covered, and they are the ones I carry the most guilt about.

[tabula_x_rasa]

Those are also my feels on Killjoys verse! I was totally going to write an epic KJ origin fic and then I read yours and was like "That's canon" and it felt superfluous to write one.

*waits in a creepy way for part 3*

[mrsronweasley]

Oh God, I have MANY, but the first one that came to mind was jjtaylor's Born to Motorbabies, which BLEW ME AWAY to SUCH AN EXTENT that it languished in my tabs and I never, ever, ever managed to leave a comment that could even in the SMALLEST PART convey how much that story BLEW ME AWAY, and how GORGEOUS it was, and how incredibly heart-wrenching and beautiful and stunningly PERFECT it was. Oh God, my HEART. Even thinking about it, I'm transported back to reading it for the first time and sitting on the stoop of my old therapist's office and just going o_____________o at the world because: words. Her WORDS.

So, there's that one!

There is also: HARD CANDY, I believe, as well as a LOT of people's BRBB fics, which is RIDICULOUS, but there you are. I will have to come back with a full list. OR MAYBE I'LL JUST LEAVE COMMENTS, I DON'T KNOW. /o\ I know I owe shiningartifact feedback to, like, three stories? I think? Which is HORRIBLE, and I suck, and I LOVE her writing and I just - IDK! Our brains, why do they do this?

I love this meeeeeeeeeme!

[ladyfoxxx]

Oh man TAKE TWO, I really fucking loved Born To Motorbabies. I remember it was one of the first fics that was about the Killjoys and just, IDK the way it dealt with the canon and played in that world in a way that worked, and all the symbolism and the storytelling and the way it told you things without TELLING YOU THINGS and just GUH. That happens to me a lot with jjtaylor's stuff though, TBH, I read it and I'm so MOVED that I wind up going, "why do I even TRY to write, I will NEVER be this good?" because JJ is more than just a writer, she's like a CRAFTSPERSON and a STORYTELLER.

There is also: HARD CANDY, ahahahahhhaaaa. Look here, okay T totally told about how Hard Candy made the porn drawer. THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY. Anyway, it's not like I ever told you about all the love I have for We Are Gathered Here To Witness and In the Springtime (A LOT, okay, A LOT. Particularly We Are Gathered because holy shit how you managed to make the porn so smoking hot AND make their connection so intense and completely believeable from the very beginning

[mrsronweasley]

WHEEEEEEEEEEEE TOTAL EVEN STEVENS WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE :DDDDDDDDDDDDDD I can't tell you how happy you just made me, seriously. THANK YOUUUU ♥

DID I EVER TELL YOU OF MY LOVE OF BLUE ROOM???????????

[ladyfoxxx]

DID I EVER TELL YOU OF MY EPIC LOVE FOR RUN? DID I? NO ACTUALLY I DON'T THINK I DID ///////o\\\\\\\\\\\ BUT IT'S EPIC \\\\\\\o////////////

[halfeatenmoon]

I hate comments vs kudos debates because I'm the biggest defender of kudos ever. I LOVE THEM. I LOVE THEM TO THE DEATH. I NO LONGER WANT TO POST FIC ANYWHERE THAT DOESN'T HAVE KUDOS. But people always hate on them. Anyway. That's not the point of this.

I thought I was terrible at commenting, but when I racked my brains for things I've re-read a lot, the only one that came to mind which I hadn't commented on was Love: The Package Deal. There are fics that I've read and not commented on, for sure, but not ones that I've read and re-read

[halfeatenmoon]

A postscript: sometimes I do this with people's journal entries too. That's more a thing in hockey fandom, where people like impertinence and liketheroad make really interesting posts that I love reading, which is why I have them friended, but I look down and go "yeeeah, there are already 80+ comments on this, she's not going to have time to respond to me." Which is ridiculous and untrue, especially of Imp who has usually responded before I even have time to refresh, but I think it's a hangover from the time zone thing.

[ladyfoxxx]

I LOVE KUDOS. The only time I get meh about kudos is when it's from a guest, but even then it's still kind of exciting because it's like OH HEY LOOK A LURKER LIKED THIS. (Or occasionally even OH HEY LOOK SOMEONE LIKED THIS WHO DIDN'T WANT TO ADMIT WHO THEY ARE. It still cracks me up that Price of Pretty has so many guest kudos, like there's all these people out there going LOOK I JUST DON'T WANT ANYONE TO KNOW ABOUT MY THING ABOUT SPANKING but w/ev w/ev

[halfeatenmoon]

I love kudos too! As a writer and a reader, because in both senses I feel like it lets me engage without engaging, if that makes sense. I feel like I'm expected to craft a response to all my comments, even the ones that just say "I liked this", and with kudos I don't have to. And it lets me tell an author I liked something without having to engage. I know one of the reasons some writers dislike kudos is because they want to be able to reply to and engage with all their readers, but sometimes I don't want to, and kudos means I can do that

[silentcs]

I am so guilty of this. Eventually the guilt will get to me and I will comment, but I feel all sorts of awkward when I do, especially when a story is older and I loved it a lot. Text seems so inadequate for my feelings! Sometimes I reread stories on AO3 that I've already hit the kudos for.....so I sign out and leave more kudos, as a guest. XD

Conclusions! I have never left feedback on this story, even though I love it to pieces. After listening to the podfic so often, I did leave feedback for the reader, but that definitely didn't convey my frightening enthusiasm for it.

Like the Tide by arsenicjade and untappedbeauty (Panic, Ryan/Spencer)
This is one of those stories I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning just because I need to know everything would be okay, and then I got up the next day and read it again. Just. This fic pulls my heartstrings every time. New Year's stargazing! How inherently decent and nice Mr and Mrs Walker are! I am not coherent about this story.

(To Die Will Be) An Awfully Big Adventure by fayjay (MCR, general all-around

[ladyfoxxx]

I have no idea why LJ decided to eat this comment but OMG RENI DAYS. That is a like a WHOLE WORLD OF GUILT for me because I found her LJ and read EVERY SINGLE STORY IN IT and CRIED when there weren't any more to read and I considered writing her a big creepy message just basically telling her I love everything ever that she's ever touched but I didn't and then I did that whole HEY I AM NOT IN PANIC FANDOM ANYWAY and never told her any of the awe I feel toward her everything.

Oh man, I hear you on the re-read thing. It's been really hard for me not to just start rereading every single fic on my list!