Meaning of Kudos

[littlemousling]

Poll #10088 Meaning of Kudos

This poll is anonymous.
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 369

When I click the Kudos button, it most often means (one or more of) the following:

View Answers

Good job!
261 (70.7%)

I liked this!
339 (91.9%)

I finished this and didn't hate it!
60 (16.3%)

I ADORED this!
204 (55.3%)

I like clicking buttons and assign no meaning!
4 (1.1%)

None of these options apply
6 (1.6%)

This is a sort of follow-up to bethbethbeth's great Kudos/Comments poll here. There are a number of comments there discussing the various reasons people click the Kudos button, some of which may be more common reasons than others.

Feel free to expand on your answer!

Comments

[northern]

I pressed Good job! and I liked this. When it's I ADORED this, I press kudos plus leave a comment.

[shinetheway]

I don't use Kudos. I tell the author exactly what I think in a comment, or I don't tell them because a) it sucked, or b) life is super busy/crazy/horrible and I can't physically/mentally drag a comment out of me, then I feel horribly guilty, then I try to comment on the 2nd/11th/5483925743th time I read it and meanwhile I write stories that I know people read but don't comment on for pretty much exactly the same reasons and the world goes around.

Even feeling guilty, though, it never occurs to me to use the Kudos button. I'm honestly not sure I've ever done it. I love seeing people write long, detailed flaily comments, I love thinking about the author's glee when they get those long detailed flaily comments, and if I can't bring them that glee then I don't feel right doing anything else for what personally feels like my own convenience. Comments SHOULD require sacrifice, in my opinion, something to acknowledge the writer bringing something new into the world. Plus, fandom is a gift economy: the writer made a gift of their story to me, and I make a gift of my appreciation to them. A Kudo just doesn't feel like I'm giving them back anything that shows how much I valued their work.

I am myself. Your mileage may vary. [shrugs]

[melusina]

I'll click the Kudos button if I enjoyed the story overall, even if there were elements I found flawed or it didn't absolutely blow me away, but I also click it when I adored everything about the story. In the past, I tended to either click the Kudos button or leave a comment, but not both; recently I've started clicking the Kudos button for ALL fic I enjoyed and also commenting when I have something to say (which is not always - I can seriously love a fic and still feel totally tongue-tied!).

One reason I've started clicking Kudos even when I leave comments is that I think people are starting to use the number of Kudos to determine whether a story is worth reading, it's like a mini-rec for me.

[melannen]

Well, give a comment I just got in that post, I should probably clarify: there is no "I finished it, and I didn't hate it" as separate from "I liked it". If I didn't actively like it, I probably didn't finish it.

[littlemousling]

Thank you! That's very helpful. I thought there were some assumptions being made, so a poll might help (hence ticky boxes and not radio buttons).

[clachnaben]

I leave kudos on about every story I read but leave comments on the ones I really liked or loved. I think kudos is a nice way for a writer to get a ballpark figure on how many people have read/finished their fic, as the hit count can sometimes be misleading. Most of the time I comment too, but commenting takes me much longer (usually several days to think it over) so I like to leave kudos as a kind of "I liked it, comment to come!" promise.

[elizaria]

This is pretty much me

[dangerous_47]

I'm just awful at leaving comments and stuff. Usually don't know what to say and such, so I do the kudos thing because I liked it but usually don't know what to say.

[cesy]

Sometimes it means "I liked this", sometimes it means "Oh wow, this is the best story ever and I am so blown away I cannot possibly put it into words", sometimes it means "I finished this and didn't hate it and want more people to write fic in this fandom/with these characters/tropes so will press the button to encourage you".

[jelazakazone]

Sometimes I just can't formulate a reply because something is so awesome and so I give it kudos. Other times, I just like it and don't have anything beyond, "I liked this" to say.

I am trying to get better about leaving comments in addition to kudos.

[jelazakazone]

I should have read your comment before I commented. This is me too:D

[jelazakazone]

While I love comments because of the ability to interact and get specific feedback, I love kudos too. When I get kudos on something I've written, it's like a little "ping" that someone liked something I did. It's kind of a like a secret admirer note, in my mind:D

[girlpearl]

I will totally also use kudos to mean "I liked the hell out of this but no way am I putting my name on a werewolf watersports bdsm [insert shameful kink here] epic." Sometimes anything I would say in a comment feels a little too id-revealing for a stranger, and a generic "thumbs-up!" is a lot safer.

[elizaria]

When I get kudos on something I've written, it's like a little "ping" that someone liked something I did. It's kind of a like a secret admirer note, in my mind:D

I'll happily subscribe to this definition :D I don't have much of any fic up on AO3 (not very prolific, nor think the fic is interesting enough for much anyone else but my brain to bother putting it up), but the few times I've gotten kudos it's made me :DD

[liseuse]

I use the kudos button for fic that either I liked, but don't really have a comment for, or fic that I really liked but can't think of a comment for right now because it is still busy blowing my mind, or (and this happens a lot) fic written by someone who is awesome and big in a fandom and I am scared of commenting because hi, I have pointless social anxiety on the internet, so I like the kudos button for giving me a way out of keeping the fic open in a tab for three months but never actually commenting.

[elf]

I love receiving kudos. I get that wonderful "yay people are paying attention to meee!" feeling without the obligation of "eep I'm supposed to respond to this and apparently she loved the side detail that kinda showed up by accident; do I tell her I almost cut that part or let her believe it was always crucial to the story in my head?" Kudos are always low-stress interactions.

[eevilalice]

Ditto.

[littlemousling]

Hey bb! I totally get what you mean, but do you think you could reword that a bit? The author generally puts hir name on those fics, and I don't think you meant to imply that they should be ashamed about [whatever kink], but it's reading that way to me.

[dangerous_47]

That last bit. I've so been there. /o\

[eevilalice]

I think there are many people who don't comment on stories as a matter of inconvenience but as a matter of genuine shyness/insecurity/what have you. Kudos is a great alternative way to show the author appreciation. As a writer, I'd rather receive kudos than nothing at all. It's just a different kind of gift.

[girlpearl]

Hrm, sorry, was being tongue-in-cheek but I see what you mean. I don't even mean necessarily kinks that I am embarrassed about--let alone that someone else should feel ashamed of--just stuff I don't, for whatever reason, feel comfortable talking about with strangers.

[littlemousling]

<333 I figured it was something like that. Thanks for explaining, I appreciate it.

[radondoran]

I usually try to remember to click the Kudos button if a fic made me happy in some way--like, maybe there was one part I really liked, or maybe I loved it but would feel weird talking about why (I loved the other poll's option about kudos'ing anon "because of REASONS"). Or maybe it was completely amazing, and I just can't think of anything to say/don't have time/don't feel like stressing over writing a good comment right now/whatever. The point is, I try to click Kudos when I read a fic I enjoy.

That's why I absolutely love getting Kudos notifications--I always interpret it to mean that I wrote something that made somebody else happy, even in a very small way. And that's awesome! :D

[girlpearl]

No, thanks for pointing out what I said; I went back and read it and was HORRIFIED. That's not what I meant at all!

No more comments before coffee...

[unjapanologist]

Besides "I liked this!", I picked "I like clicking buttons" because while that's definitely not anywhere near the main reason why I'd kudos a story, it is kind of a factor. You finally reach the bottom of the page, and there's this button that you can click in a "YES FINISH LINE I READ THIS ALL THE WAY THROUGH HURRAY FOR YOU AND ME" kind of way... It's like a victory celebration? Of sorts? All right, I don't know how to explain why, but I just really like clicking a button at the end.