Fewer Comments Than Usual?

[crookedletter]

Two comments from readers, two replies by me.

You should see this one (also half reader comments and half my replies):

View attachment 2592779

Just curious, do you ever get follow-up comments to your replies? As in the original commenter returning to respond to your reply?

Just wondering how often people actually go back to stories they've already read and commented. It seems to me that isn't how the commenting feature is really set up to work, but I haven't done much in the way of responding to comments.

 

[dirk2024]

I haven't received an online comment in a long time, but I did receive a nice email last week.

 

[StillStunned]

Just curious, do you ever get follow-up comments to your replies? As in the original commenter returning to respond to your reply?

Just wondering how often people actually go back to stories they've already read and commented. It seems to me that isn't how the commenting feature is really set up to work, but I haven't done much in the way of responding to comments.

A few times, yes. Sometimes if the commenter has a question, or highlights a shortcoming, and I explain what I was trying to do, I'll get another comment from them. More often, new comments will show that the commenter has read my reply.

It's not an ideal system, but I've noticed a clear uptick in engagement, and more comments from the same readers commenting on other stories. I mean, we all want more readers to comment, don't we? The least we can do is let them know we're reading what they say. I think they appreciate the interaction, so they feel their not shouting into a void.

 

[Actingup]

A few times, yes. Sometimes if the commenter has a question, or highlights a shortcoming, and I explain what I was trying to do, I'll get another comment from them. More often, new comments will show that the commenter has read my reply.

It's not an ideal system, but I've noticed a clear uptick in engagement, and more comments from the same readers commenting on other stories. I mean, we all want more readers to comment, don't we? The least we can do is let them know we're reading what they say. I think they appreciate the interaction, so they feel their not shouting into a void.

Same here. It's just occasional, but the reasons that I reply sometimes to comments are to a) explain where really needed, b) assure other readers that I'm reading their feedback and c) convery also that I'm (usually) a reasonable peson. And sometimes to celebrate milestones.

 

[RocketGrunt]

Each story section had a "recently commented on" tab that would highlight which stories were getting comments. Readers would see snippets of comments as well as numbers indicating how many comments were accumulating on stories that had recently been commented on. Due to a glitch, you could click on the "more commented stories" button and see how many comments were pending moderation.

They broke it with the November Update, and all the "recently talked about" stories were just the stories that had comments on them go up in a few hour period of October 18th. And that carried on for a few months and now the tab has been removed entirely.

So yeah, there was a system to encourage people to comment by alerting them that comments were happening. They broke it, then then eliminated it entirely. And wholly predictably, there are a lot less comments now. And especially less comments where commenters are reacting to other comments.

 

[StillStunned]

Each story section had a "recently commented on" tab that would highlight which stories were getting comments. Readers would see snippets of comments as well as numbers indicating how many comments were accumulating on stories that had recently been commented on. Due to a glitch, you could click on the "more commented stories" button and see how many comments were pending moderation.

They broke it with the November Update, and all the "recently talked about" stories were just the stories that had comments on them go up in a few hour period of October 18th. And that carried on for a few months and now the tab has been removed entirely.

So yeah, there was a system to encourage people to comment by alerting them that comments were happening. They broke it, then then eliminated it entirely. And wholly predictably, there are a lot less comments now. And especially less comments where commenters are reacting to other comments.

Are you looking in Classic view? Because the "Recent Comments" sidebar is up to date nowadays. And I don't see that sidebar in the new view anyway.

 

[Ianus4]

Each story section had a "recently commented on" tab that would highlight which stories were getting comments. Readers would see snippets of comments as well as numbers indicating how many comments were accumulating on stories that had recently been commented on. Due to a glitch, you could click on the "more commented stories" button and see how many comments were pending moderation.

They broke it with the November Update, and all the "recently talked about" stories were just the stories that had comments on them go up in a few hour period of October 18th. And that carried on for a few months and now the tab has been removed entirely.

So yeah, there was a system to encourage people to comment by alerting them that comments were happening. They broke it, then then eliminated it entirely. And wholly predictably, there are a lot less comments now. And especially less comments where commenters are reacting to other comments.

I have noticed that the processing time for comments has increased to nearly 48 hours. I think this is the real obstacle to back-and-forth comments.

 

[THBGato]

Also though, these things come in cycles. I was reading this story recently from 2014. Red H on every chapter. Look at how few comments! Kind of sad really.


Over a decade on this site and some chapters didn't have a single comment until I added one? Don't be too quick to say "people used to comment more in the past".

 

[THBGato]

Just curious, do you ever get follow-up comments to your replies? As in the original commenter returning to respond to your reply?

I have. I don't reply to all comments (though will sometimes send a message via feedback thanking people who have commented a lot) but if somebody raises something in the comments that I feel warrants a public answer, I will. A couple of times the original commenter has come back to me to reply.

here: https://www.literotica.com/s/eve-and-lucy-ch-01-the-audition/comments
and here: https://www.literotica.com/s/four-weddings-and-a-leaving-do/comments
if you're really interested.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Also though, these things come in cycles. I was reading this story recently from 2014. Red H on every chapter. Look at how few comments! Kind of sad really.
View attachment 2592829

Over a decade on this site and some chapters didn't have a single comment until I added one? Don't be too quick to say "people used to comment more in the past".

Well, that's just one series. It really isn't proof of anything.

But it's important to emphasize that all we have been discussing here is based on impressions, nothing else. No one has any real data to show.

 

[RocketGrunt]

Are you looking in Classic view? Because the "Recent Comments" sidebar is up to date nowadays. And I don't see that sidebar in the new view anyway.

Yes exactly. It was there in the new view, but didn't work from November. Now they've taken it out entirely.

Most people who log into the site or view it anonymously see the new view, and the entire mechanism for alerting people that conversations might be happening in comment sections is gone. If you're asking why the commenting seems to be down, that's the reason.

 

[THBGato]

Well, that's just one series. It really isn't proof of anything.

But it's important to emphasize that all we have been discussing here is based on impressions, nothing else. No one has any real data to show.

It's a pattern I've seen a lot, in the lesbian section. I've got about 2,000 data points!

 

[AwkwardlySet]

It's a pattern I've seen a lot, in the lesbian section. I've got about 2,000 data points!

I don't know what to tell you.

I remember when I posted my first story here, chapter one of the A New Beginning series. The chapter you see now is a repost of that series - the first post was in July 2022. Anyway, within several hours, I had 6-7 comments on the story and like 5 emails from readers.

Geez, I remember the state of panic that immediately followed. When I saw the emails, my first thought was: "Fuck, I'm busted!"

Who knows. Impressions are tricky bastards.

 

[THBGato]

I remember when I posted my first story here, chapter one of the A New Beginning series. The chapter you see now is a repost of that series - the first post was in July 2022. Anyway, within several hours, I had 6-7 comments on the story and like 5 emails from readers.

Geez, I remember the state of panic that immediately followed. When I saw the emails, my first thought was: "Fuck, I'm busted!"

Who knows. Impressions are tricky bastards.

I think Covid had a lot to do with it. I can imagine lots of people, stuck at home, reaching out anyway they could, and comments/feedback was a form of that. I'm sure for many that then just became a habit that carried on after lock downs ended.

 

[RocketGrunt]

Oh, also if you switch to Classic, the "Recent Comments" tab shows you leads on five recent comments (though "recent" is doing a heavy lift here, since the third most recent one being shown to me as I'm typing this is something on one of my own works that I can confirm went live 13 hours ago). If you click on "More [Category] Comments" it no longer takes you to the longer list at all.

So even if you manually switch views to the thing that shows you comments at all, it updates like once a day and the link to see the larger list is completely broken and shows you zero extra comments.

So the answer is: YES. The site's system to encourage commenting is broken on several levels, and predictably the amount of comments that are actually appearing on stories is reduced because of it.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I think Covid had a lot to do with it. I can imagine lots of people, stuck at home, reaching out anyway they could, and comments/feedback was a form of that. I'm sure for many that then just became a habit that carried on after lock downs ended.

It could be that there were periods of varying activity during Lit's long history. I remember long-time AH-ers saying that, years ago, comments used to be instant for everyone, and then, to fight the spam, Laurel started moderating them, so they weren't instant anymore. It could be that from that time on, comments weren't as abundant as before.

And you could be right about Covid. Maybe the lack of social interaction prompted more commenting. Maybe at the time when I started writing, Lit was still riding on that wave.

 

[lovecraft68]

I wonder if seeing the comments are moderated if they're getting lost in the same way stories are and submitted but don't see the light of day

 

[BobbyBrandt]

That comment-to-view ratio is pretty amazing.

This one is now 3 years old and hadn't had a new comment in 2 years until about 5 months ago, but the views and votes keep coming:

 

[Ianus4]

Just curious, do you ever get follow-up comments to your replies? As in the original commenter returning to respond to your reply?

Just wondering how often people actually go back to stories they've already read and commented. It seems to me that isn't how the commenting feature is really set up to work, but I haven't done much in the way of responding to comments.

I try very hard to see if there are any new comments on a story I have commented on, but it's not that easy. The system only shows me if any comments have been posted since my own comment. But it's impossible to mark them as "already read." Only a change in the number of comments indicates a new comment, and it's impossible to keep track of this for every story.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

This one is now 3 years old and hadn't had a new comment in 2 years until about 5 months ago, but the views and votes keep coming:
View attachment 2592840

I suspect plenty of those are bot views. And the same goes for everyone's stories.

Go to the top of the page, for example, and click on Members -> Current visitors.
Browse a bit, and you'll see how many bots are present on Lit at every moment.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I wonder if seeing the comments are moderated if they're getting lost in the same way stories are and submitted but don't see the light of day

I doubt it, considering that the AH tends to report every little thing that happens. We would have seen a panicked "My comments aren't posting!" thread by now.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I wonder if seeing the comments are moderated if they're getting lost in the same way stories are and submitted but don't see the light of day

I don't know if comments are that heavily moderated, at least not for everyone. Maybe they are moderated for anonymous users, but I typically see mine get posted almost immediately after submitting them.

I also think that an author's comments on their own stories go through pretty quickly.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I suspect plenty of those are bot views. And the same goes for everyone's stories.

Go to the top of the page, for example, and click on Members -> Current visitors.
Browse a bit, and you'll see how many bots are present on Lit at every moment.

If so, I have a new found admiration for bots.

Only 1,400 views in 3 years, but of those, 682 of them voted. If bots are generating those numbers, bring 'em on.

 

[Ianus4]

I don't know if comments are that heavily moderated, at least not for everyone. Maybe they are moderated for anonymous users, but I typically see mine get posted almost immediately after submitting them.

I also think that an author's comments on their own stories go through pretty quickly.

As far as I know, they only filter advertisements in comments, but they also do this for members' comments, except for those who are on some alleged shortlist. With nearly 100 comments of my own, my comments (as I wrote earlier) currently appear after nearly 48 hours.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have noticed that the processing time for comments has increased to nearly 48 hours. I think this is the real obstacle to back-and-forth comments.

That depends on the commenter. My comments post immediately, for example, and have done for a couple of years now.