What drives you to delete a comment on your own story?

[MelissaBaby]

Only 6 or 8 show me your tits comments? I'm disappointed in the readers. But you do write mostly romance.

Post once in the fetish forum/playground and you'll get that in an hour.

I have a big glasses fetish, so you do just fine by me.

I responded to one 'factual error' comment because they had the audacity to question my knowledge of horror comics. I can deal with all manner of abuse, even death threats, but you do not question my geekdom.

Most of the "show me your tits" come in PMs.

Are you saying you have a big fetish for glasses or a fetish for big glasses? I've got both covered.

 

[lovecraft68]

Most of the "show me your tits" come in PMs.

Are you saying you have a big fetish for glasses or a fetish for big glasses? I've got both covered.

PM's? Now I'm more surprised.

Being friends with several women here over the years has gotten me the dirt on who the creepers are, so either they're behaving because its you, or they're slacking these days.

Glasses are glasses, including sunglasses and they are free to be left on at all times.

My wife has 20/10 vision but has a few pairs of cheap readers for role plays.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I've never deleted any comment, and I can't think of anything that would make me delete them. Maybe I am not imaginative enough, dunno.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I liked the sunglasses one a few weeks ago better.

 

[THBGato]

I've deleted two comments. One was gushing praise for a story. The other was the same person commenting again and saying the praise was meant for a different story.

I could've just deleted the one admitting to the mistake and kept the praise, but it wasn't my praise to have, so I deleted it, too.

Obviously that commenter wasn't aware that they can delete their own comments!

 

[Erozetta]

Obviously that commenter wasn't aware that they can delete their own comments!

That's ultimately why I decided to delete them, lol

 

[MelissaBaby]

I liked the sunglasses one a few weeks ago better.

Thanks. But I had it up for a long time and was kind of tired of looking at it.

 

[MelissaBaby]

PM's? Now I'm more surprised.

Being friends with several women here over the years has gotten me the dirt on who the creepers are, so either they're behaving because its you, or they're slacking these days.

Glasses are glasses, including sunglasses and they are free to be left on at all times.

My wife has 20/10 vision but has a few pairs of cheap readers for role plays.

It may be because my stories are mostly in Romance, Novels and Lesbian, so I don't get those kind of comments on my stories as much.

 

[TheLobster]

Obviously that commenter wasn't aware that they can delete their own comments!

You can, but it's a race against the author. You don't know when your comment gets out of moderation, so chances are high the author will see it before you do. And then when you remove it, they'll be not only disappointed but also confused.

So, arguably, what Erozetta's commenter did is probably for the best, actually. Moral is, of course, to double check if you're commenting on the correct story

 

[lovecraft68]

It may be because my stories are mostly in Romance, Novels and Lesbian, so I don't get those kind of comments on my stories as much.

Probably. You don't run around here acting like a bimbo and flirting.

You're just no fun Melissa.

But thanks for the new role play idea. "Hey, babe, here's one. You're this author on lit who doesn't get perved on enough, but we're going to fix that.

 

[RawSilhouette]

They come back and see its gone, that gives them a win "I got under their skin" I won't give them that

I never thought about it like this before, but you make perfect sense. The only comment I’ve ever deleted was one I got from an angry anon about writing erotic stories about extramarital affairs when I’m a married woman. The hypocrisy was so foul that I couldn’t stand it. I understand now that this reader had no understanding of my marriage (I am in a polyamorous marriage that allows online relationships, and we have swung with other couples in the past, will potentially again). But I didn’t realize I was giving anon power by deleting this comment, letting he/she know that he got under my skin. Very wise .

 

[Rob_Royale]

I have deleted only two comments to date both from The Colonel's Wife which is about a military couple who open their marriage when he is deploying. After he retires, they continue seeing other people rather happily.

Both commenters were completely furious with me and were incredibly insulting. Cheating is very common among military members and their spouses as I can remember from my own time in the service. Deployment's can be devastating. So the idea of a wife seeing other men when her husband is in a warzone really set these two folks off.
Truly, you can't blame them for being triggered, especially if they were vets, but still the comments went way further than just wishing the fleas of a thousand camels upon me.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

The only ones I delete are personal attacks. The only exception to that rule was when I deleted a series of increasingly shrill objections to one story of mine having been entered in a comment. It just got boring and, he continuing even after I'd checked with Laurel, I tossed the lot.

 

[Bramblethorn]

TL,DR: why do you delete a comment on one of your stories? What is it about a comment that says 'This needs deleting'?

The main reasons for me: assorted bigotry (never actually had to delete for this one), people trying to hijack the space for something other than commentary on the story. But Lit permits authors to moderate their comments as they like and people aren't obliged to keep them up there.

As I've freely admitted since I created this account, I get wordy (see: this post), and my comments follow that philosophy - these weren't two-word, drive-by comments.

There were several times the writer used the wrong words in places (still noted in other remaining comments), but his personal bete noire seemed to be your/you’re.

Typos happen. I get it. We all do it. Done it plenty of times myself. In some cases, it can get so bad that I can't not remark upon it.

I posted a rather negative comment (but left no vote, this time) on it. A few days later, I checked the comments on the story (after the sometimes-snarky follow-up comments regarding my first-ever comment, elsewhere, I like to see if anyone refers to it – it’s entirely possible that I may be a masochist) and my comment was gone.

With this kind of thing, it's worth considering whether one's goal is to help the writer improve or to make them look bad/oneself look clever.

If the object is to help them improve their grammar, a public negative comment may not be a great way to do that. People tend to get defensive when they're told off in public. A private message, where permitted, is more likely to get a productive response.

But if you really want to help them...after the story's been published is not a good time to do that. You'll do a lot more good offering your services as a volunteer editor and helping people before their story ever goes live. And whether they leave the comment up shouldn't matter; if they delete it, presumably they've read it and made up their mind whether to act on it.

On the first page of this particular story, your/you’re was used, IIRC, eighteen times. Twelve of which (I suppose it might only have been eleven) were the wrong choice. For me, shit like that is like stepping on a Lego in the middle of the night. It doesn’t matter that I might be heading for the bathroom, I stop to bitch and moan loudly about it right there.

Since you are somebody who cares about correctness, I'm gonna mention that "LEGO" is properly written in all caps (I often forget this myself), and that one steps on "a LEGO brick" or "a LEGO element", not "a Lego" or "Legos". https://www.lego.com/cdn/cs/set/ass...US_PLAY_Trademark_Guidelines_version_2017.pdf

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Comments are just that. Truth is, they belong to the person leaving them. I can keep whatever value I find and ignore the rest. Positive, negative, there's usually something I can keep from most of them.

I'm pretty sure the only comments I've deleted where when commenters got into a political debate over the 'real' meaning of the term socialist in the comments of one of my stories.

 

[Erozetta]

You can, but it's a race against the author. You don't know when your comment gets out of moderation, so chances are high the author will see it before you do. And then when you remove it, they'll be not only disappointed but also confused.

So, arguably, what Erozetta's commenter did is probably for the best, actually. Moral is, of course, to double check if you're commenting on the correct story

Best would probably have been to delete their comment then Shoot me a message (or some random author, whatever floats their boat) and just drop a quick "Hey, I clicked the wrong story for my comment, so sorry about that but didn't want you to see the comment then have it gone randomly."

But I've got no issue with what they did, it genuinely amused me.

 

[Britva415]

Since you are somebody who cares about correctness, I'm gonna mention that "LEGO" is properly written in all caps (I often forget this myself), and that one steps on "a LEGO brick" or "a LEGO element", not "a Lego" or "Legos". https://www.lego.com/cdn/cs/set/ass...US_PLAY_Trademark_Guidelines_version_2017.pdf

Only if one cares more about the trademark guidelines of a corporation one has no beholdence to, than about just talking like a regular person

"Mummy, can I play with my legos after Billy goes home?"
"If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times! Not until you learn to capitalize them properly and call them bricks!"

On second thought, "regular people" will say all kinds of grating things. But is on-accident vs. by-accident even a matter of "correctness" at all?

Cue prescriptive vs. descriptive debate

 

[designatedvictim]

I don't delete any comments and here's my thought process with that.

I agree on this. I haven't needed to resort to it on anything of mine, yet.

My question wasn't because I wanted to delete a comment, but because I had one of my rare (1 of only 2) comments deleted. I wanted to get some idea of the group's boundaries.

One of the sections of my on-going piece got a comment from a registered user who took issue with my writing. Specifically, speaker-tagging.

My initial thoughts were, obviously, the context is clear, there are only two people, how can you not know who's speaking?

So, that night, I re-read it from the beginning with his comment in mind.

Almost immediately, I saw it. This must be what he was talking about.

A couple paragraphs later, there it is again.

A couple more paragraphs, Goddammit! There it is again!

I replied in the comments and he saw it. Good.

I also owned up to the issue in the comments (this was on the third piece of six posted in that story) and left them all up because his comments were pretty much the only writing critique I got and he was right. I think there are five comments on that piece. Two from him, three replies from me. The only comments on that section.

I did edit and re-upload the existing parts, easing the most egregious examples.

 

[Paul_Chance]

I've only deleted one comment. I deleted it after reading it several times and being unable to figure out what the comment was about. It was, to me at least, just an inanity dump.

 

[designatedvictim]

Incidentally, when did you submit your comment?

The comment was made back on 7/30 and was visible for several days before it... went away.

 

[SmilingLez]

Negative comments (excluding structure, grammar, spelling, etc.), to me, show an engaged reader. My work struck a chord (good or bad) and that is a turn on.

Resisting the urge to comment on a story's structure, grammar, spelling, etc. is another story. To me it's just laziness.

 

[designatedvictim]

With this kind of thing, it's worth considering whether one's goal is to help the writer improve or to make them look bad/oneself look clever.

I suppose my main purpose was to say something along the lines of: You keep doing something that's totally kicking me out of the story. I don't care how good it is, I can't keep reading it. This is what you keep doing wrong.

It was telling him that before the first page ended, I'd stopped reading the story and was now reading for mistakes. All I could see was the same errors, ad infinitum.

I was not the only commenter to remark upon it, just the longest-winded. A remaining comment mentions the same - and other - errors, but in a much more concise form.

Since you are somebody who cares about correctness, I'm gonna mention that "LEGO" is properly written in all caps (I often forget this myself), and that one steps on "a LEGO brick" or "a LEGO element", not "a Lego" or "Legos".

I stand corrected.

 

[designatedvictim]

>>> General comment to anyone still reading! <<<

I owe the (not named) author of that first piece I commented upon an apology.

In my initial post, I claimed that they'd passively-dismissed or only alluded to my earlier critical commentary about the unlikeable characters.

I just reviewed the comment chain and don't see anything from the author since my comment.

I suppose, I could claim that they deleted their own comment, but that would be unsubstantiated.

I'll take the "L" on that point. And, to their credit, my comment is still there.

The only allusions were made my other commenters.

 

[Comshaw]

I don't delete comments and the reasons have been covered by others in this thread.

1) I believe in freedom of speech even if I disagree with it. I also believe you must give what you demand. I demand to speak freely, so I MUST by my own rules return the same to others.

2) Even the really deranged ones stay. Why? Because they are entertaining. Way back, I used to get all aflutter about ones like that. Now, it gives me a chuckle and I assume it would do the same for other readers of the comment.

3) If one of the comments happens to point out a legitimate problem with my story, I consider those gold. I ain't gunna' get better if I never know or understand where my writing went off the rails. So they stay as a reminder to me and as good advice to anyone else reading them.

I would delete (or edit) a comment if someone left one, without my permission, pointing to their own works. I have no problem with helping others and if posting a link to their works helps them, I'm all for it, (posting such a link in association with one of my stories probably ain't gunna' help much though) as long as they ask first.

Comshaw

 

[Djmac1031]

Only comments I would delete would be ones containing hate speech and / or threats of violence.

Ive had commenters complain about all kinds of stuff. some legit. Most, just ridiculous. Some, pretty funny actually. Especially the Good Christian who threatened me with the idea that I was going to Hell for blasphemy in my story.

Meanwhile Im sure Jesus wept at his browser history...