Is it "tacky" to comment in your own stories?

[lovecraft68]

When someone leaves a public comment on a story it can obviously be seen by anyone looking at the comments. As I have left comments on other stories I have sometimes seen the author's themselves chime in. Usually they are defending themselves with what they feel was an inaccurate comment and sometimes replying with a "If you liked that wait until the next chapter." I once saw a story that had an impressive number of comments and as I was scrolling through saw that the author was at least a third of them. "Commenting on almost every remark. I don't know to me this seems a bit "tacky" if the person has a user handle send them something through lit. I personally have decided that I wouldn't do this however I received a comment yesterday on my newest chapter that was very flattering. the person posted anon. as they always do.

It is one of those things that although always anon. I know by wording and style this is the same person. They have commented on many of my chapters and always are very flattering and supportive. In this last comment he "argued" with a previous commenter defending something I had written so this shows they actually look at the other comments as well. Iwas thinking of posting on my own story (same one) and thanking them not so much for defending me because the other poster was pissed at my character and I don;t mind any reaction my characters get it means people are into them. I would like to thank them for being there from Chapter One and being one of my biggest supporters. Would this be "unethical" to post in my own comments?

 

[oggbashan]

Generally I would suggest that you don't comment on your own stories.

If you are responding to a PC, the person who posted it will probably not return to read what you say. If the PC is abusive, or irrelevant, then delete it.

However there are some reasonable uses for commenting on your own work:

1. If you intend to revise and/or edit the story.

2. If the story has been changed from the originally posted version. (I have left a PC when several people noticed that I had changed the character's name towards the end of the story. I edited it and then deleted the PCs that were just about the name, leaving my own PC to say what I had done.)

3. If you promised a sequel, and it didn't happen, or the story went on a different track e.g. a prequel.

Og

 

[LettersFromTatyana]

Sometimes it's tacky, sometimes it's not.

If the story is the last in the series, and the author has received a lot of comments or emails throughout and wants to thank people for support, sticking with the story, etc, then I don't think it is tacky.

I also don't think it is tacky if the author has received a number of comments that all pose a similar question or concern, and the author wants to assure readers/tell them there will or won't be an epilogue or spinoff/correct a whacky or wrong interpretation that seems to be common/whatever. I definitely enjoy reading these types of responses from authors.

I'm sure there are other non-tacky instances as well (I don't tend to read comments on other stories, unless I am specifically looking for the type of author comment I mentioned above), but that is all I can think of at the moment.

I do think it is tacky if the author responds to an individual comment (though I'm sure there are exceptions I can't think of at the moment), or accounts for one-third of all responses.

In the former case, I don't think that the comments section is the appropriate place for an individual response, and in your case since the comment is from anonymous, chances are he/she isn't really looking for a response from you. I think I would only say something if you end up with a war of some sort in the comments section between your two commentators.

In the latter case, it isn't quite the same as voting for your own story to drive up the rating, but it is analogous in that this type of behavior might drive a story up the "most commented" list on the public feedback site. And, like voting on your own story, that is not cool.

 

[sr71plt]

If you are commenting on what a reader has put in public comments on your story, you aren't commenting on the story. If it's there in public comments, I see no reason why the author can't respond to the public comment with a public comment.