What's the collective noun for kudos?

[elf]

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who really loves the Kudos feature at AO3. I don't mean, "wow, it's great that there's this option for people too busy or overwhelmed to leave a comment, so authors can know someone liked their story," because sometimes that comes with the unspoken (or not unspoken) followup of, "but of course people should be leaving comments, so if it causes people to not leave comments, maybe it's not so good." I love kudos. Unreservedly, with no caveats. I maybe like them more than comments.

I love comments. Pretty much everyone loves comments, and I write little enough fic that I treasure every single one of them. Comments tell me what worked, tell me when I've managed just the *perfect* way to get across what I was thinking, tell me if I've failed to cover the (obviously brilliant and compelling) backstory & other bits in my head. Comments tell me that someone else loves not just my favorite characters, but loves them the same way I do. Comments tell me I've succeeded in intriguing or disturbing or arousing the reader, or maybe all three at once.

Comments help me grow as a writer, and I feel horribly guilty for everyone one of them I don't reply to. I know lack of replies means it's just a bit less likely that person will leave comments in the future. :( Bad elf. No cookie.

Kudos don't do any of that. Kudos just tell me someone is glad I wrote the story. And I don't have to reply. That's the best part, for me... I don't have to shove my antisocial, moody and sometimes creepy self back into its little cage and bring up my I'm-Going-To-Be-Cheeful face (and I *am* cheerful when I get comments; I just don't always feel like expressing it directly). Kudos are no-pressure appreciation.

One kudos, two kudoi? Kudoses? Kudea? (Yes, I know they're technically singular and should be kudoses. I think I like kudea better.) A cluster of kudos? A kiss of kudoi? No, that's silly. (And besides, it's "a kiss of vampires.") A sparkle of kudoses?

I think of them as something like tribbles, only with little sparkly-bits in their fur so when they wobble around (they can't go very far on their own; they have to be carried), they shed a trail of little gold and silver stars. And their fur is very warm and silky so you can skin them and make a nice comfy blanket to keep you warm instead of the money you're not making because fanfic is mostly unmarketable cuddle them close and enjoy them either individually or in big swarms.

As a reader, I like seeing kudos. Kudos counts are simple and honest... there's no question whether half of them are the author herself, or a back-and-forth exchange between the author and a friend or two. 25 Kudos? 25 people enjoyed this. 25 comments? Maybe 4 people enjoyed this, and just *love* talking with the author. (And good on them; yay for actual conversations in comments. But that doesn't tell me how widely-liked the story is.)

Kudos don't, specifically, help me grow as a writer. They don't tell me what amazing insights readers had about a story, neither mine nor anyone else's. Kudos give me that warm fuzzy feeling that makes the dark days worth putting up with, and without any anxiety about how I'm supposed to react. Kudos are someone telling me "you did good," without caveats, without reservations.

I don't care if they're kudosing me for one good line and they think the rest of the story is junk, or if I've written their new favorite fic that they'll re-read every three weeks and love it forever but they don't want to tell a total stranger that I've pegged their deepest id-infected kinks exactly. With kudos, they don't have to feel obligated to explain, and I don't have to drag on my game face to thank them. I ♥ all the kudos.

Comments

[jelazakazone]

Interesting. I like kudos too, especially as a writer. But I don't like how they are conversation stoppers. One of the reasons I like writing fic is that I few it as a way of having a conversation or connecting with people. Kudos don't allow me to do that.

I have other thoughts about kudos (and hit counts, for that matter), but they are not surfacing. Maybe after I've eaten dinner and my brain comes back on line.

Interesting post though!

[amaresu]

I think kudos do allow connections, just not the traditional kind. There are a couple of people that I know from following their kudos trail through my fic. I've never talked to these people, but I know that they like some of my more obscure fandoms. It's a more distant connection, a lurker connection if you will.

[jelazakazone]

That is an excellent point. I can see that there are a couple people who have given me kudos on more than one piece. I feel like the majority of people who leave kudos on my works are "guests".

It is very interesting to think about all this stuff. This just got me thinking about anonymity and how, on LJ/DW, people can leave anon comments, but we can still reply to them. I have a relationship with a woman who won't get an LJ account to talk fannish stuff, but we have connected and I love interacting with her.

One of the best things about being a fan for me is the people I've connected with. I have a post brewing about why I rarely flock entries.

(I don't think I said this before, but I'm relatively new to being a fan. I've been aware of fandom for years, but was never a fan. There are all kinds of fun things to think about now that I am one.)

Thanks for the post. I love thinking about meta:D

[amaresu]

Ah, guests. Sometimes I'm at a computer I don't want to log in at and I'm a guest.

Not all non-writers necessarily want to get accounts. I've run across a number of people who appear to have accounts just so they have a name to go with their comments/kudos/bookmarks. I think if the AO3 is ever able to move away from the invite system we'll probably see an increase in these types of people. But the invite system is something of a barrier to people who just want to read.

[jelazakazone]

Yeah. I got logged out the other day and left kudos as a guest.

And that's an excellent point. I have a friend who got an account just to be able to leave comments/kudos (ha, that's how she got on LJ too and then I met her and completely corrupted her;)), but I feel like she's more conscientious about that sort of thing than most readers.

[musyc]

Not all non-writers necessarily want to get accounts.

*nod* This. Most of my kudos come from readers that know me from other sites. They don't necessarily want to go through the wait of the invite process since they're "just" reading. The ability for them to leave kudos without needing a login is awesome. It's something that I've wanted for years on other sites. The ability to leave feedback without needing an account (because sweet green fishies, I do not need to remember more login info for a site I'll only visit once a year) is wonderful to me and my readers.

[amaresu]

Exactly. There are sites, Twisting the Hellmouth comes to mind, where I just don't want an account. I go there a couple times a year to check on the progress of a few WiPs and that's about it. I don't need yet another login to remember.

I'm hopeful that other sites will catch on. They probably won't or the coding will be too much, but I can hope.

[musyc]

*laugh* And in the twenty minutes between my first comment and this comment, I just received notifs for six "guest" kudos. Proof in action! XD

[lunabee34]

Yes! When I read fic on an archive that requires me to join to leave feedback, I don't leave feedback. I like that people can anon comment on lj/dw/ao3 (unless turned off on the journaling sites, of course).

[melannen]

Yes! There are also people I've never said a word to, but I feel like I know them through following their kudos trail through other folks' fic - if I keep seeing the same name over and over again on fic I'm kudosing (especially if there are only a few names on that list) I start to get warm fuzzy feelings toward my fellow kudos-er, too. There are some people I've never seen *anywhere* except right before my name on a list of kudos (I suspect they may lurk in every other way) but if they did suddenly appear on DW I suspect I would treat them like old friends.

[amaresu]

Oh, yes, I've done that before. I've even followed some kudos-ers back to their dashboards to see what fic they have in their bookmarks. If they use their bookmarks.

To be honest there are a couple of people who are dedicated kudos-ers that I kinda want to find a way to say thank you to. If I post fic in certain fandoms they are the first people to hit the kudos button. They are lovely people. Much like you I think I'd feel a connection to them if I encountered them elsewhere.

[elf]

Yeah, kudos *instead of* comments are problematic. But I usually think of them as "feedback that wouldn't have existed otherwise" or "feedback from a commenter who would've fretted and worried about the right way to say 'thank you for this fic.'"

I definitely wouldn't want to deal with a site that had only kudos and no comments. Comments are a way to connect, and I love that. (Even when I'm too stressed to deal with it, I love that it's there.)

[unjapanologist]

usually think of them as "feedback that wouldn't have existed otherwise"

*nod* I think that's a lot closer to the truth than "kudos let people be lazy and not comment". That sort of thing always reminds me of the music industry claiming that everyone who downloads a song would have bought it for money as well but chose to be a nasty pirate. Just like most downloads are not lost sales, I think most kudos are not "lost comments" or somesuch.