Upcoming changes to comments

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2021-02-04 02:37:54 UTC

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In our next release, we'll be rolling out two changes to comments on the Archive. The first change will provide both work creators and site admins with the ability to freeze comment threads. The second change will provide site admins options to restrict comments on news posts, much like creators can restrict comments on their works.

Comment freezing

Creators will soon be able to freeze comment threads on their works using the "Freeze Thread" button. Freezing a thread prevents new replies from being added to a comment or to any of its replies. It also prevents comments in the thread from being edited.

A comment with replies. Each comment has a Freeze Thread button.

Frozen comments will have a "Frozen" indicator and the "Reply" button will be hidden. An "Unfreeze Thread" option will allow creators to re-enable replies.

A comment with replies. The first reply and its replies are frozen and have a Frozen indicator, which looks like a pressed button. They also have Unfreeze Thread buttons.

Although "Freeze Thread" initially prevents replies to all comments in a thread, creators can use "Unfreeze Thread" to selectively re-enable replies for some comments in a thread.

Site admins will also be able to freeze comments on news posts, and the Policy & Abuse team will be able to freeze comments anywhere on the site.

News post comment settings

In August, we gave creators more control over who can comment on their works, enabling them to choose between allowing comments from anyone, restricting comments to registered users, or turning comments off completely.

Site admins will soon have the same options when creating and editing news posts. This will allow our teams to turn off comments on outdated news posts and prevent newer ones from being overwhelmed by spam (e.g. advertisements or, more commonly, short series of random letters left by bots).

If comments on a news post are turned off, or if you're logged out and comments are restricted to registered users, the comment form will be replaced with a message indicating which setting is in use.

If you can't comment on a news post, you are always welcome to contact Support with any feedback.

We hope both of these changes will help the users and volunteers who read, write, and receive comments on the Archive!

Edit, February 12, 21:20 UTC: Comments on this post had to be disabled due to off-topic discussions, trolling, and harassment.

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smokesmokesmoke Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:21AM UTC

Love to see it!

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Claravoya Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:23AM UTC

nice feature, thank you for all you do !

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MBP Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:23AM UTC

Thank you for all the hard work!

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bluedreaming Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:30AM UTC

This is exciting! I do have a question; if you’ve commented in a now-frozen thread, can you still delete your comment, or is that ability frozen too? (I hope I didn’t miss this in the post or screenshots.)

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1. AO3_Support (Official) Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:47AM UTC
  
  Hi, bluedreaming:
  It wasn't in the screenshots, no. The commenter would be able to delete the comment, though it does not unfreeze any dependant comments.
  Best,
  CJ
  
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2. 1. bluedreaming Thu 04 Feb 2021 04:17AM UTC
    
    Thanks! That’s exactly what I was curious about. Appreciated!
    
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  2. lemonsharks Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:55PM UTC
    
    That is excellent implementation 💯👍💖✨🎉
    
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Account Deleted Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:33AM UTC

Awesome, thank you!!

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ReleasingmyInsanity Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:35AM UTC

Excellent ideas. And now that news posts will have admin options to turn off comments, we should be able to avoid those posts that collect spam replies to comments for weeks on end.
Thanks so much for all your hard work.

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xehzee Thu 04 Feb 2021 03:53AM UTC

That's great, thank you!

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Qem Thu 04 Feb 2021 04:18AM UTC

This is great, thank you for your hard work!

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Account Deleted Thu 04 Feb 2021 04:26AM UTC

Thank you so much!

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halcyonwaters Thu 04 Feb 2021 05:45AM UTC

Any chance you will ever give us a block button? The freeze option is a good thing, but it won't stop determined trolls unless the author freezes all comments, which defeats the purpose.

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1. AO3_Support (Official) Thu 04 Feb 2021 12:17PM UTC
  
  Hi gingermaya,
  The ability to block a specific user from interacting with you is a planned feature that we have been actively working on developing for the past few months. However, since it is a complex feature that will affect multiple parts of the site, we can't give a specific timeline for when it will be implemented.
  We will be publishing a news post in the next few weeks which will give a general update on this topic and our progress.
  
  Last Edited Thu 04 Feb 2021 12:18PM UTC
  
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2. 1. halcyonwaters Thu 04 Feb 2021 12:48PM UTC
    
    That is excellent to learn, thank you!
    
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  2. WalkingInland Thu 04 Feb 2021 07:15PM UTC
    
    Thank you for this! This will be such a wonderful feature ❤❤
    
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  3. Wintercameandwent Thu 04 Feb 2021 10:41PM UTC
    
    That's amazing. You guys rock!
    Thank you so much for the work that you do. I'm grateful.
    
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  4. HeresEverything Fri 05 Feb 2021 02:43AM UTC
    
    Hi there, will this block function only stop blocked users from commenting on your fics, or from kudosing and/or bookmarking them, too? Thanks for all the work y'all do! Love this site.
    
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  5. 1. AO3_Support (Official) Mon 08 Feb 2021 02:02PM UTC
      
      Hi, HeresEverything:
      We'll be answering questions about any block feature on that news post.
      Best,
      CJ
      
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  6. Morgyn Leri (morgynleri) Fri 05 Feb 2021 07:11PM UTC
    
    Excellent!
    
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  7. satai Mon 08 Feb 2021 10:01PM UTC
    
    Great to hear! Thank you all for the work that you do on this site. <3
    
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3. GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 04:38AM UTC
  
  I know you want the staff's answer, but really, words can be ignored. After all, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Is how you handle them anyway from my experience.
  
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4. 1. halcyonwaters Fri 05 Feb 2021 04:59AM UTC
    
    I already got the staff answer and I found it satisfying and encouraging.
    As for words that can be ignored, I completely disagree. I've known people who repeatedly got death and rape threats over ships and fic content. Real life people who someone decided to treaten repeatedly with murder and rape because some aspect of their writing wasn't to the psycho troll's liking. That sort of thing should not and cannot be ignored and people deserve to have a way to protect themselves from it. I love AO3, but this feature should have been implemented years ago. I am glad they are finally working on it.
    
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  2. Antis GFY (Guest) Fri 05 Feb 2021 07:23PM UTC
    
    ^ Found the person butthurt that they won't be able to shit up other people's comments with harassment.
    
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  3. 1. GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 07:48PM UTC
      
      Not really. I just don't trust human nature to NOT use and abuse this feature.
      
      Last Edited Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:17PM UTC
      
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    2. 1. flying_mirror Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:47PM UTC
        
        How do you suggest this feature might be abused?
        
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      2. GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 09:00PM UTC
        
        All it takes to see what I mean is to look at any Youtube channel that is known for having the comments turned off completely, or a look into Twitter's toxic purity spirals and chain-blocking to see how this can easily be abused by people who want power more than anything else.
        
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NotAlexHorne Thu 04 Feb 2021 06:40AM UTC

Neat! Glad to see this being added. Definitely going to come in handy in the future.

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Amara1783 Thu 04 Feb 2021 07:12AM UTC

Please make it possible to block individual users from viewing works thanks.

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1. AO3_Support (Official) Thu 04 Feb 2021 12:19PM UTC
  
  Hi Amara1783,
  The ability to block a specific user from interacting with you is a planned feature that we have been actively working on developing for the past few months. However, since it is a complex feature that will affect multiple parts of the site, we can't give a specific timeline for when it will be implemented.
  We will be publishing a news post in the next few weeks which will give a general update on this topic and our progress.
  
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2. 1. Amara1783 Fri 05 Feb 2021 05:26AM UTC
    
    Hi AO3,
    Thanks for replying I appreciate it. I think it is important to not just to be able to block interactions but to be able to block specific accounts from seeing the works is there, similar to how it is now possible to limit visibility of a work to registered users. This is so that the harassment doesn’t simply shift to another platform (such as Twitter or Facebook) once a harasser becomes aware of the fanwork.
    Thanks again,
    A
    
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  2. 1. Mere_Mortifer Fri 05 Feb 2021 05:23PM UTC
      
      I mean, would that really do anything? You'd have to make all your works archive-locked for that feature to even make a difference, otherwise the blocked person could just sign out and view the fic anyway. Idk it seems more important to me to have the ability to block interactions.
      
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3. GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 04:40AM UTC
  
  Why? Isn't this supposed to be an archive for free fanfics? I don't want your ilk turning this into the next Fanfiction.net.
  
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4. 1. GreenRaccoon97 needs some boundaries (Guest) Fri 05 Feb 2021 07:30PM UTC
    
    "your ilk"
    Please, tell us all about how AO3 is repressing your fReEzE pEaCh because it won't let you go around telling slash writers that their yaoi is OOC and they should have written your self-insert banging your waifu.
    
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  2. 1. GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 07:51PM UTC
      
      Dude, what fanfics writers put in their fanfics is their buisness. I just don't trust people to NOT use and abuse this feature to stifle criticism. Because to the people who will use and abuse it, Criticism IS harassment. This is an unhealthy mindset for any creator, as it stops them from growing.
      Mark my words, this is the beginning of the bar of entry being so low that every fanfic will be My Immortal-levels bad.
      
      Last Edited Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:24PM UTC
      
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    2. 1. GreenRaccoon97 needs some boundaries (Guest) Fri 05 Feb 2021 09:17PM UTC
        
        Has it ever occurred to you that (1) you are not the arbiter of fic quality, (2) some people are just posting to have fun and are not looking to ~grow~, and (3) not wanting to engage some rando who thinks they know how to write your fic better than you do is not "abuse"?
        
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      2. GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 10:29PM UTC
        
        Woah, looks like I hit a nerve.~
        But seriously, if some Tumblrina writes some revenge-fic where she systematically goes into 4channers home to kill them, and freezes the comments after reading her shallow, politics-ridden revenge-fic, that will be the point where the bar for quality fanfics will hit rock bottom.
        
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        Anon (Guest) Mon 08 Feb 2021 09:27PM UTC
        
        You know you can just not read fics you don't want to read, right?
        
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        GreenRaccoon97 Mon 08 Feb 2021 11:30PM UTC
        
        Refer to jcf's comment, dude. That won't on someone who is bored, and determined to give you the works. You'll also be inviting socks to flood the comments.
        
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      3. scribblemyname Fri 05 Feb 2021 11:58PM UTC
        
        How odd. Unsolicited criticism is considered impolite in most modern fanfic circles, and it's not stifling it to not welcome it. No one is required to receive your criticism on their work's page. You are welcome to criticize on any of your own pages. Furthermore, most writers who have no interest in random criticism have their own trusted beta readers or friends to help them grow. Random criticism rarely provides much of value in the current fandom culture, as it's rarely constructive and usually runs along the lines of either harassment or the reader's personal taste, rather than an actual improvement on the work in line with the goals of the author. That sort of criticism is easiest to find by soliciting it off of AO3 well before posting.
        
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      4. Account Deleted Mon 08 Feb 2021 02:04AM UTC
        
        "Unsolicited criticism is considered impolite in most modern fanfic circles..."
        I have to ask, honestly: since when? I seriously would like a frame of reference, as this is news to me as a writer.
        "Random criticism rarely provides much of value in the current fandom culture..."
        I understand what you mean by the rest of your sentence; sometimes it really is up to the reader's personal taste and therefore, the 'criticism' runs more into opinion. However, you cannot tell me that just because it 'rarely provides much value' (I have to disagree--I have seen and read plenty of modern fanworks improve due to random criticism) that it should be done away with eventually, only to be judged by our beta readers/writers and besties/friends/acquaintances. This just leads to a regression that I do not even want to fathom--the mere thought leaves me frightened for the future of fanfiction.
        But I digress. This is about freezing a thread to prevent spam/resurrection of an old and done thread. And the possibility of abusing the feature is very real. As for the OP of this thread stating, "Please make it possible to block individual users from viewing works thanks," I imagine this feature would actually be important for preventing harassment/stalkers. Those unfortunately do exist.
        But as for another user stating, "You'd have to make all your works archive-locked for that feature to even make a difference, otherwise the blocked person could just sign out and view the fic anyway. Idk it seems more important to me to have the ability to block interactions," I have to agree with this, especially if a person is very dedicated to the continued harassment. At that point, I'm afraid that type of situation exceeds the responsibilities of any fanfiction website. But if it's just about getting some random that doesn't enjoy the work much (not to the point of trolling, mind you; that is not the type I'm talking about), then why would the site have to add a feature to censor those that simply don't like your works?
        It's a bit baffling.
        
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        GreenRaccoon97 Mon 08 Feb 2021 06:16AM UTC
        
        Criticism should never be "solicited" because that stifles growth for writers to improve. Do you really want you comments section to become a hugbox? Do you really want to punish people who are trying to help you just to get back at "duh trools"?
        
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        Anon (Guest) Mon 08 Feb 2021 10:56AM UTC
        
        You heard it here first, folks. According to ao3 user GreenRaccoon97, actively soliciting for feedback is bad and all writers should only ever get critique from random driveby anons, who given the state of driveby crit probably don't know the first thing about giving it!
        Have you heard of a thing called "beta readers?" You should give those a try. I guarantee you that a good beta reader communicating with you will beat out 99.9% of driveby crit every time.
        
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      5. lordhellebore Wed 10 Feb 2021 04:07PM UTC
        
        "use and abuse this feature to stifle criticism"
        Fun fact: You're not entitled to and have no inherent human right to commenting on / criticising other people's fics. No, really. Also, not all creators are about "growing". Some only want to write their fic for fun, don't care that much about the quality, the end. That's perfectly fine.
        ALSO, there is no "bar of entry" to writing and posting fanfic, and certainly not on AO3. That's the whole POINT of the archive. Everyone can archive their fic, no matter the content, no matter how badly spelled. It even says so in the TOS. Maybe you should read those once in a while.
        
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      6. GreenRaccoon97 Wed 10 Feb 2021 04:48PM UTC
        
        I bet you say that to everybody who dunks on your fics, bro. Shows how much you care for other people.
        
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        lordhellebore Wed 10 Feb 2021 05:01PM UTC
        
        I tend to not talk to the few people who "dunk on my fics", there's no need :) Also, aren't the people who "dunk on" other people's fics the ones who're not exactly the caring type? Maybe think before you type, that usually helps.
        
        Last Edited Wed 10 Feb 2021 05:01PM UTC
        
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    3. Account Deleted Mon 08 Feb 2021 10:46PM UTC
      
      "Please, tell us all about how AO3 is repressing your fReEzE pEaCh because it won't let you go around telling slash writers that their yaoi is OOC and they should have written your self-insert banging your waifu."
      Damn son, settle down, you're going to give GreenRaccoon97 apoplexy.
      
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5. halcyonwaters Fri 05 Feb 2021 05:08AM UTC
  
  Absolutely not. The block function should be about stopping troll's from interacting further, but it should not become a punitive weapon for users to target each other with. Besides, the whole purpose for Ao3 was to be be open to everyone.
  
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6. 1. Pteropoda (SilentP) Fri 05 Feb 2021 12:57PM UTC
    
    I'm not sure i want the block feature to prevent users from seeing that a story exists either, but I want to note that the ability to block a user from reading an individual fic/an author's work doesn't really change AO3 being "open to everyone." AO3's mission statement doesn't preclude the idea of an individual reader not being able to access a specific author's fic. "Providing access to and preserving the history of fanworks" doesn't necessarily mean "everyone ever can read any story posted", because then the archive wouldn't allow features like deleting works or locking works to registered users. AO3 remains open to anyone so long as anyone can make an account, or even multiple accounts (which many users do already, for reasons benign and malicious both).
    
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imaginary_dragonling Thu 04 Feb 2021 07:26AM UTC

Just curious, but I'm interested in hearing about the drive behind the Comment Freezing feature. Is it mostly to prevent spam/trolls on a creator's work? Are there alternative uses of the feature that ao3 is envisioning apart from controlling spam/trolls? Thanks in advance!

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1. yishaqeni Thu 04 Feb 2021 09:16AM UTC
  
  not a Support staffer here, but I would imagine it would be very useful if a comment conversation got out of hand - for example, arguments between two users about a controversial trope in a specified work, or other users jumping in to defend an author from a troll and escalating a situation.
  
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2. 1. Subsequent Thu 04 Feb 2021 11:56AM UTC
    
    Just chipping in to say - freezing comments is/was a long standing feature on LJ/Dreamwidth, and this is EXACTLY the kind of thing it was used for. It's a very useful moderating tool! :)
    
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  2. 1. imaginary_dragonling Sat 06 Feb 2021 01:22AM UTC
      
      Thanks for the response both of you! :) Definitely see the benefit of the feature in a moderating context. Was just wondering if there was another use case I was overlooking. Thanks again! :D
      
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    2. Account Deleted Mon 08 Feb 2021 10:52PM UTC
      
      I've never used LiveJournal/Dreamwidth for writing, but I've read fics on there and it has been generally a very good experience. I didn't know that was a feature. That's pretty good to know, considering I was concerned about the possibility of quality-drops on this site due to the feature. Seems that it's highly likely that won't be the case and will likely actually help the site grow in a healthy manner. Thanks!
      
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dagdasgoddess Thu 04 Feb 2021 07:45AM UTC

This looks like a great feature! Thank you!

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naye Thu 04 Feb 2021 08:04AM UTC

Any news on when the block/mute function you mentioned in your Statement from the OTW on June 24th last year? Freezing doesn't keep an abusive commentator from coming back again and again.

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1. AO3_Support (Official) Thu 04 Feb 2021 12:19PM UTC
  
  Hi naye,
  The ability to block a specific user from interacting with you is a planned feature that we have been actively working on developing for the past few months. However, since it is a complex feature that will affect multiple parts of the site, we can't give a specific timeline for when it will be implemented.
  We will be publishing a news post in the next few weeks which will give a general update on this topic and our progress.
  
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Morncreek Thu 04 Feb 2021 08:06AM UTC

This will be very helpful. Thank you to the team.

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Gingerquery (PeppermintTegan) Thu 04 Feb 2021 08:12AM UTC

Y'all's forward thinking and transparency is a joy to behold. Thank you for all you do. I don't get enough comments for this update to affect me much but I'm sure my more popular friends will appreciate it.

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UMsArchive Thu 04 Feb 2021 08:44AM UTC

But if we freeze one comment thread, cannot whoever we're trying to silence just figure they can simply start a NEW comment thread and take it from where they left it? Or is this specifically for readers going off at eachother in the comments, as it would put an end to continuing THAT convo?

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1. AO3_Support (Official) Thu 04 Feb 2021 02:05PM UTC
  
  Hi, UMsArchive:
  First, a disclaimer: We are not Policy & Abuse, and individual cases will vary significantly. However, Support's thought is that if the creator(s) tell a commenter to stop commenting and freezes the thread, and the commenter makes a new thread, we would suggest that it would be strong evidence of intent for P&A to review.
  The tool is generally intended to give the creator(s) more control over the comment flow on their works, and is a long-standing moderation tool on a number of fannish sites and forums. There will be a number of situations that the creator(s) can apply it to.
  Best,
  CJ
  
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2. 1. UMsArchive Thu 04 Feb 2021 02:23PM UTC
    
    Thank you for the clarifications. It is also good to know that it can be counted as a pre-measure in the decision of whether a situation should be escalated.
    
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3. GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 04:41AM UTC
  
  You shouldn't be trying to silence anyone anyway. Words can be ignored, and so long as they don't get a rise out of you, they'll get bored, and fuck off. A means to block them opens the floodgates for insecure content creators to stifle criticism with the feature.
  
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4. 1. callmearcturus Fri 05 Feb 2021 05:34AM UTC
    
    It also opens the floodgates for creators to not have to endure so much goddamn harassment from fancops. Read the room, the AO3 is just trying to give us more tools to protect ourselves.
    
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  2. 1. UMsArchive Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:08AM UTC
      
      Precisely. At the end of the day, the writers are the ones putting themselves out there, and THEIR ability to control what happens to the content they provide should be enhanced, and not the commodity of consumers to be 'critics' (as if THEY are hired professionals to the otherwise amateur writers). This is just the good ol' fandom entitlement. Nevermind that the "criticism" is usually 'I hate this character(s) specifically'.
      
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    2. 1. GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 07:58PM UTC
        
        "Fandom entitlement"? You DO know the people who'll read your stuff falls into the category of "fandom", right?
        Plus, people saying "I hate this character." Is par the course for fandoms to begin with. People will always have that one character that they absolutely idolize, and one that they unquestionably loathe.
        Here's MY criticism: If you can't handle the way fandoms are, to the point where you have to block them because they said something YOU didn't like, then you probably shouldn't be around them, and if you absolutely can't stand to be around them, then maybe you shouldn't be making stuff for them.
        
        Last Edited Fri 05 Feb 2021 07:58PM UTC
        
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      2. UMsArchive Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:08PM UTC
        
        🙃 Bruh.... The way this site was built, with all this intricate tagging was so that... People could-
        1. Be free to post whatever they pleased, with no one having a genuine right to persecute them for not being their personal thing BUT ALSO-
        2. Be in full control AND filtering responsibility of what they consume. If some douchebag is consciously and purposefully searching a tag to start shit, THEY are the ones being intrusive AND sensitive, just so hurt and angry knowing that somewhere on this huge site someone is posting about their NOTP and they HAVE TO INTENTIONALLY go look for it to make their dislike known.
        Maybe YOU are in the wrong place for your fandom views, not me? 🙂
        
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        GreenRaccoon97 Fri 05 Feb 2021 10:22PM UTC
        
        Sonlemme get this straight... Catering to the people who'd read my fanfics, and listening to their feedback is bad, and should never be allowed. Gotcha.
        
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  3. UMsArchive Fri 05 Feb 2021 07:56AM UTC
    
    Oh, I'm not talking about 'criticism'... I was talking with a specific problem I've had (and also seen around) of people purposely going into the tag of ships they don't like to leave provocative comments in order to start 'discourse' for authors to defend their ship, or even blatant stuff like "I hope they both die".
    As to "criticism", I've seen a discussion on a different platform that I found myself having to agree with: unless a creator asks for criticism, no reader should be adamant to give it. They don't like the direction of a story/poor characterisation/etc, here's where an 'ehh' and the 'back button' comes into play. This is, again, from a discussion with a bunch of both writers and readers. Some fanon creators are just having some mindless fun and don't want 'criticism to improve' and trying to force it on them even when they make that clear makes one an asshole.
    
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  4. 1. AStrangeMoose (Guest) Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:26AM UTC
      
      The problem with that sadly is that even honest requests for concrit are dismissed as "oh they surely don't really want criticism and if I tell them what I don't like I will get hated by them in return" because this anti-cricitism mindset is so wide spread. I cannot do anything execpt saying again and again and again that I don't mind critcism, that I even want it and it's the feedback I actually want the most, but it's not taken seriously... :(
      (I'm not talking about harrassment of course, it should be clear that that's an absolute no-no in all circumstances, but feedback in good faith, even if that is "eh i didn't like the characterisation in this latest chapter that much anymore"!)
      
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    2. 1. UMsArchive Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:43AM UTC
        
        Well, you should consider that-
        1. Giving proper criticism is its own kind of work (and knowing what you're talking about), and many people just come about to read something casually as a 'goodnight story', so all they have to say is 'yeah, this was nice to read right now, thanks'. Readers shouldn't demand more of you than you are ready to offer, but neither can you demand work from your readers beyond the participation amount they are committing to, as an audience.
        2. Maybe people reading your story enjoy it as it is, and see no personal reasons to criticise it, even if you don't find it (and maybe isn't) perfect. There's all this discourse in any fandom about 'being critical' and picking a piece of media apart. But some want to freely enjoy content. And fanfiction is often the thing they turn to FOR THAT, like 'yeah, the characterisation on this was kinda cringy, but I like this trope, and I was looking for something as cheesy and unrealistic as this in particular'.
        
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      2. AStrangeMoose (Guest) Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:59AM UTC
        
        Of course I don't want to demand any pages-long essasy dissecting my stories into the finest details, or that every person who just so much as clicks on my story even if they then read the first sentence, decide that it's not for them and uses the back-button again has to justify this decision. It's the same arguments as why one shouldn't/cannot demand that readers leave (positive) comments at all, which I wholeheartedly agree with and definitely don't want to dispute in any way!
        But your example of "yeah, the characterisation on this was kinda cringy, but I like this trope, and I was looking for something as cheesy and unrealistic as this in particular" is EXACTLY the kind of feedback I'm looking for and would love to receive. But I bet if the person who thought this were to leave a comment (again, if they want to leave a comment in the first place, I don't want to infringe in that decision at all), it would be something like "cool story i loved the trope this was exactly what i needed right now!" because criticism is so frowned upon in fandom spaces and you're basically denominated as Literally Satan if you don't leave a comment that's entirely positive that even an author's notes of "i would love to hear your honest thoughts on this" isn't enough to erode that conditioned fear. :(
        
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      3. No dude (Guest) Fri 05 Feb 2021 09:19PM UTC
        
        This is bullshit. The majority of people here are not actually looking for concrit, nor do they feel so stifled in asking for it. You are projecting your overweening desire to tell other people how to write onto them.
        
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      4. AStrangeMoose (Guest) Sat 06 Feb 2021 01:24PM UTC
        
        Is this post meant as a response to a previous post of mine? (I’m asking because I seem to have made a typo when entering my mail address, as I haven’t received mails about replies to my post and I cannot tell the answer reliably from the comment’s position. Sorry about the hassle.)
        If it is a reply to me, I’m a bit confused, as this post details the complete opposite of my issue. I am not concerned with whether other people want criticism or claimed that they were stifled in asking for it, I am concerned with my want for criticism and how I feel like the readers are stifled in giving it.
        If it isn’t a reply to me, sorry about the confusion I caused on my end with this reply.
        
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  5. DarchangelSkye Fri 05 Feb 2021 08:39AM UTC
    
    Yeah, ignoring bullies has totally never made them *more* pissed off and escalating their harassment! /s, in case I'm being too subtle
    
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  6. fictus (Guest) Fri 05 Feb 2021 05:41PM UTC
    
    I don't owe trolls or busybodies a platform for their bleating under my fic. Personally, I happily delete, but it's good the freeze option exists now for those who want it.
    
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Jenrose Thu 04 Feb 2021 08:47AM UTC

Restrict to registered users absolutely eliminated the trolls in my story without me having to restrict the whole story. Thank you.

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JoCarthage Thu 04 Feb 2021 08:53AM UTC

Thank you!

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