A random question:

[starrylizard]

I was just wondering if anyone knows what the etiquette is for fanfiction.net as far as commenting goes. Do people usually respond to reviews they get over there?

It's just I've previously only ever put things up in my journal and it seems to be the norm to thank people for commenting and I like to do that. It gives me a fuzzy feeling and sometimes I even meet new people that way. On FF.net though, the replies are private, so I'm less sure. I've only been sending replies to those people who leave direct questions or more detailed commentary. What are other people doing?

I'm a little confused and slightly perplexed by this.

Comments

[lark_ascends]

Okay, I sometimes reply to people's reviews.

I do know a number of authors who do reply to thank, and I regard that as a nice gesture, not trying to bolster their reviews.

Generally, I'll reply where people have questions, or as you said, they've given detailed commentary.

I think people are getting used to the idea that you can reply personally now, so I think people are more open to that.

My last couple of stories, I have replied to a number of the comments. But, where it's the crappy reviewers that irritate me, I don't.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Hee! *cough* I think I'm one of those silly crappy reviewers when I review.

Okay, so hopefully I wasn't doing anything embarrassing. Cool!

[lark_ascends]

No, I don't think you're one of the sort of reviewers I'm referring to.

I more mean, people who write things like "Hurt Tony, just don't kill him" (with spelling and language mistakes)

or "brilllANT CHAPTER", where they can't spell or use caplocks. There's just certain reviewers that irritate the hell out of me.

[lark_ascends]

Stupid idiot people also include people who say "update soon" when you've said that the story is complete.

*head desk*

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Well ok sure. Not me. I do do the thing where I write "lovely" or "Hee! That was great!", which really tells them nothing, but it expresses the fact that I liked it, which is all I'm getting at. I'm not always very articulate and it sometimes seems the better the fic, the less articulate I am by the end of it. :P

I think some people get annoyed by that sort of thing though.

[lark_ascends]

That doesn't bother me, because I am a person who will review with "great chapter".

Personally, I find it frustrating seeing that 1000 people have read a chapter, and maybe 8 have reviewed. What, the rest didn't like it? If I enjoyed something, I'll review.

Which, yeah, I know does irritate certain writers.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

How do you know how many people read it?

[lark_ascends]

Log in to ff.net, and check your stats. There's story stats, which will tell you how many people have read each story in total. If you have more than one chapter, you click on the number for that story, and it shows you the break down in chapters.

Also, user stats will let you know how many (and who) people have added you to their favourites, author alerts, etc.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! Wanders off to see how unpopular I am. :p

[lark_ascends]

I find that the average viewerage for a short story is around 400-600.

With chapters, you need to take into account that the first chaper numbers will be screwed.

[starrylizard.livejournal.com]

Mine are around 250-300 mark. Not bad for a new account though. I really should finish putting the rest of my fic up there I guess. I'm so lazy. I hate fiddling with the lines and taking out the tags.