Comment etiquette

[Clementine_Danger]

So I just got my first comment on a story (a very nice one, yay!) and I was wondering what the comment etiquette is around here. My instinct is to post a thank you, but I know some places discourage it because it artificially inflates... some number or other. Is there anything I should know about commenting on the site? Thanks!

 

[8letters]

So I just got my first comment on a story (a very nice one, yay!) and I was wondering what the comment etiquette is around here. My instinct is to post a thank you, but I know some places discourage it because it artificially inflates... some number or other. Is there anything I should know about commenting on the site? Thanks!

Do what you want. If you get more enjoyment out of writing by responding to comments, go for it. Who cares if it artificially inflates some number? The pay is the same whether you respond to comments or not.

That being said, I'd advise against arguing with your commenters. If someone doesn't like your story, there's nothing you can say to make them like it.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

There is one very respected author in Lit who apparently responds to very favourable comment.

 

[KeithD]

Do what you want. If you get more enjoyment out of writing by responding to comments, go for it. Who cares if it artificially inflates some number? The pay is the same whether you respond to comments or not.

That being said, I'd advise against arguing with your commenters. If someone doesn't like your story, there's nothing you can say to make them like it.

Agree with this. I don't think there's a concern here about inflating comment numbers.

 

[SimonDoom]

What 8Letters said. By all means, don't hesitate to respond to commenters if they say something nice. Don't worry for a minute that it might seem like your trying to puff things up.

You're under no obligation to respond to commenters. But if you want to do so, do so.

 

[Manu]

Lit has no policies or preferences about authors replying to comments, that's 100% up to the author.

The new Story Page has two features meant to improve communication between authors and readers in the comments section:

1. Any comment by the author of a story on that story shows formatting around the username to make it more clear that you're the one who wrote the story that the reader is viewing.

2. We are preparing a simple threading feature that would allow replies to an original comment to appear below that comment. This has been requested by many authors and readers to make it easier to follow responses in the comments. This is not released yet, but it's built into the way that comments work on the new story page.