I admit I used to believe uploading my fic to AO3 would lead to NO MORE COMMENTS EVER, because sometimes I use kudos as "the easy way out". The fact is that I think I'm a pretty good feedbacker, generally, and I tend to comment on most things I read on LJ/DW, even if to say "Hey I liked this, thanks for writing," or "this was hot, well done!" But those are the comments that I replace with kudos on AO3. When a fic blows my mind or really hits a kink/trope/button for me, I will leave a comment, no matter if it's on AO3 or on journals.
I still upload my fic to journals FIRST though, to get that first flush of comments. Then I upload to AO3, and it's true that fics on AO3 get many more kudos than comments. But that might be a self-fulfilling thing, since people most likely to comment - my friends and people who know me - might have read the fic already.
It's really interesting to read this poll because I had no idea how differently people interpret their Kudos. To me, as an author, they were always taken as "thanks for writing" / "I liked this but didn't love it". I can understand why this uncertainty as regards the "intensity" of feedback intended in Kudos might make some people dislike them. I wouldn't interpret Kudos as "heyyy clicky" or "I hated this" or whatever, and there's a consensus from the poll that Kudos express something positive. But there's no way of knowing HOW positive it is. Depending on the person it could be "I read this, thanks!" or "I liked this" or "I adored this" and you have no way of knowing.
Then it becomes a matter of knowing whether you as an author prefer knowing people have generally (but vague) positive feelings towards your story, or if you'd rather hear nothing from people who read but don't want to/can't comment for whatever reason.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2012-04-08 07:32 pm (UTC)I still upload my fic to journals FIRST though, to get that first flush of comments. Then I upload to AO3, and it's true that fics on AO3 get many more kudos than comments. But that might be a self-fulfilling thing, since people most likely to comment - my friends and people who know me - might have read the fic already.
It's really interesting to read this poll because I had no idea how differently people interpret their Kudos. To me, as an author, they were always taken as "thanks for writing" / "I liked this but didn't love it". I can understand why this uncertainty as regards the "intensity" of feedback intended in Kudos might make some people dislike them. I wouldn't interpret Kudos as "heyyy clicky" or "I hated this" or whatever, and there's a consensus from the poll that Kudos express something positive. But there's no way of knowing HOW positive it is. Depending on the person it could be "I read this, thanks!" or "I liked this" or "I adored this" and you have no way of knowing.
Then it becomes a matter of knowing whether you as an author prefer knowing people have generally (but vague) positive feelings towards your story, or if you'd rather hear nothing from people who read but don't want to/can't comment for whatever reason.