Not a Single Comment

[sirhugs]

I'm puzzled why Funions, Onions, Bunions landed with a thud. It has a decent score - not great, but okay, but almost nobody read it, and zero comments, which is unusual for me.

This story I wrote in one morning, as a "palate cleanser" after the controversy stirred up by my Loving Wives entry Not Another Loving Wives Tale! Now THAT one got comments. More than any other story I've posted. I thought a short simple stroker would find a decent audience.

If curious, some of the process is documented in my Story Ideas thread, A Side Piece.


Now I'm wondering if I need a palate cleanser from my palate cleanser or if I'm just losing my touch.

Funions is in Erotic Couplings.

 

[DanDraper]

Don't think its because of the story. Some people just don't feel like commenting. I have stories that I am excited about that but don't get any responses, most writers here feel the same way. It may have nothing to do with the story itself, just who is reading it at the moment.

Also, I feel that some people comment only after seeing other comments. Like they feel better to make a response if they see other people doing it as well.

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

I was talking to another author, someone who has been posting stories long before I started, and they said there's just not that many readers knocking around any more. Most stories don't get that much reaction (views, ratings and comments), apart perhaps from a handful of incredibly popular writers.

I don't know if other people agree; is this place just not what it used to be?

 

[KeithD]

Lots of my stories have no comments on them, including ones that score very well. I've learned to live with that.

 

[SimonDoom]

Comments are pretty far and few between for my stories, even for the popular ones, so you're not alone.

A couple reasons it might not have caught more attention:

The title. It's not erotic. It doesn't suggest any particular kink that attracts readers. "Onions" and "bunions" in particular are not in any way erotic, and they don't say anything attractive about the story.

The category. Some Erotic Couplings stories do well, but it's a blah, default category, where you put stories because you can't figure out where else to put them. In general stories in that category don't attract a great number of readers.

The tagline. You say what it's not, not what it is. You don't say anything to attract readers.

 

[lovecraft68]

Its possible the site might still be glitching
Also comments being few and far between as Simon mentioned could be as simple as the site has decided to censor them-um, I mean, screen them-and between deciding what they think flies and probably being behind, I wouldn't expect many.

This site is as attractive as ever for readers, but its glory days for authors are a thing of the past, they have screwed with every stat that applies to authors on a site where their only payment is stats.

But the site makes coin on advertising and only because those stories exist.

Awesome, isn't it?

 

[DanDraper]

Also, I sometimes find I would get a comment weeks or months later. It could still come over time.

 

[NotWise]

I posted three stories in April. The first two have no comments, but I didn't expect much from those. They were just the end of an ancient and long-forgotten series that should never have been written.

The most recent was my first venture into Group Sex and the two comments came from my beta-reader and a friend.

Maybe there are other people like me who had a hard time figuring out how to post a comment on the new story page.

 

[gunhilltrain]

4.40 is a very good score, by my standards. (Maybe my standards are too low!) See what it's like getting a 2.76. That stings.

I'm on three different sites and it's hard to get comments on anything. People just seem to have other priorities. Stories that are in contests usually get the most comments. And I've already mentioned Loving Wives.

So don't sweat it, you're not losing your touch.

 

[sirhugs]

Thanks for all the supportive comments.
I needed that.

 

[sirhugs]

4.40 is a very good score, by my standards. (Maybe my standards are too low!) See what it's like getting a 2.76. That stings.

I'm on three different sites and it's hard to get comments on anything. People just seem to have other priorities. Stories that are in contests usually get the most comments. And I've already mentioned Loving Wives.

So don't sweat it, you're not losing your touch.

oh, my recent Loving Wives tale is sitting there at a nice 2.61. But I wrote that for myself, not for the readers. And as noted above, it got LOTS of comments. Some were even supportive.

 

[Wifetheif]

I'm puzzled why Funions, Onions, Bunions landed with a thud. It has a decent score - not great, but okay, but almost nobody read it, and zero comments, which is unusual for me.

This story I wrote in one morning, as a "palate cleanser" after the controversy stirred up by my Loving Wives entry Not Another Loving Wives Tale! Now THAT one got comments. More than any other story I've posted. I thought a short simple stroker would find a decent audience.

If curious, some of the process is documented in my Story Ideas thread, A Side Piece.


Now I'm wondering if I need a palate cleanser from my palate cleanser or if I'm just losing my touch.

Funions is in Erotic Couplings.

I have a Hot red story with ZERO comments. I didn't think that was possible but apparently it is.

 

[KeithD]

I have a Hot red story with ZERO comments. I didn't think that was possible but apparently it is.

This had me checking the file under this account name. I have 52 stories rated Hot but with no comment.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have a Hot red story with ZERO comments. I didn't think that was possible but apparently it is.

People vote but don't comment. Across my story file I see roughly one comment per thousand views, which I think is better than many - some categories are more responsive than others.

 

[RetroFan]

I have a Hot red story with ZERO comments. I didn't think that was possible but apparently it is.

I've got a story like that, one of my Fetish stories. Published in late 2019, its always had the Red H against it, but never once any comments.

As I mentioned in another thread, sometimes you're more surprized when readers don't comment than when they do. For example, also in 2019 I published an Incest/Taboo fantasy series about a nerdy brother swapping bodies with his twin sister's dumb jock boyfriend. Many IT readers hated it and seemed to think I wrote it just to annoy them, and left many angry comments against all of the first 6 chapters. One comment since deleted told me to go and kill myself. When I published the last of the 7 chapter series I braced myself for an avalanche of vitriol not only about this chapter but the series in general and how much my stories and I personally sucked. A few hours went by then a day, a week, a month and a year and now over 18 months later the last story in the series has not a single comment.

Today I've got my first Loving Wives story called 'Sister-In-Law Surveillance' going up, and it will be interesting to see the results. I'm expecting some interesting feedback, but who knows, they might be indifferent to it and not comment at all. But from what I've seen with stories in that section and what happens in the story, that's probably unlikely.

 

[BarracudaSwordfish]

I have a Hot red story with ZERO comments. I didn't think that was possible but apparently it is.

A red H is gained for a minimum of ten votes and a rating of 4.5 or greater.

I believe comments are a factor in Hall of Fame entries, with a minimum 100 ratings.

I have some in the Mature HoF with 100+ ratings and some comments, but ones with higher averages, more votes but no comments are not included.

 

[gunhilltrain]

oh, my recent Loving Wives tale is sitting there at a nice 2.61. But I wrote that for myself, not for the readers. And as noted above, it got LOTS of comments. Some were even supportive.

Loving Wives is a strange place. My scores were't that terrible, a 3.2 and a 3.46 - as I said, I'll take what I can get. The comments were indeed a mixture of the supportive and the absolutely vicious. There wasn't much in the middle. One guy waited well over a year before he finally attacked. (I don't think there are many female readers over there.)

Older stories will collect comments, but it may take a while. What usually happens is that somebody likes a new story, and that inspires them to read your older work.

 

[DanDraper]

I just got my first comment on a story that has been up for three months and has a good rating. And it was a short comment, nothing spectacular. So it could happen over time, and whey you do get a comment don't expect them all to be positive, there will be bad comments because there's always that one person who does that. And when you do get a good comment, some may be great comments, but some will be simple, so don't expect a lot from commentators.

 

[des911]

I've been reading stories here for years, but rarely comment. Why? Good question.

If I like the story (content and writing), it's not difficult to just say thanks for the story. Beyond that, it is more difficult and takes a lot more effort. It is so easy to be misunderstood in a short comment, and so difficult to write good, constructive, useful comments. I rarely critique out of fear of offending and/or encouraging the trolling idiots who post stupid comments.

Do authors want comments that critique their writing? Their style? The story line? Do they want comments on editing problems? Inconsistencies, misspellings, disjointed text? Etc.

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

I've been reading stories here for years, but rarely comment. Why? Good question.

If I like the story (content and writing), it's not difficult to just say thanks for the story. Beyond that, it is more difficult and takes a lot more effort. It is so easy to be misunderstood in a short comment, and so difficult to write good, constructive, useful comments. I rarely critique out of fear of offending and/or encouraging the trolling idiots who post stupid comments.

Do authors want comments that critique their writing? Their style? The story line? Do they want comments on editing problems? Inconsistencies, misspellings, disjointed text? Etc.

To be honest, I just want to be lavished with praise.

 

[KeithD]

To be honest, I just want to be lavished with praise.

Different folks want a different thing (or two or three) from posting stories here, but I would agree that this is probably the top-most want.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Do authors want comments that critique their writing? Their style? The story line? Do they want comments on editing problems? Inconsistencies, misspellings, disjointed text? Etc.

If authors explicitly want that kind of technical feedback, they should bring their story to this Feedback Forum and ask for it. Otherwise, they get whatever readers want to comment on, which often includes those things, because... the stories haven't been written very well.

If a story is very good or very bad, the comment count will generally be higher. If a writer is okay technically but their content is so so, it's more likely to be tumbleweeds. If authors get repeated comments about the technical aspects of their story telling (which is what most 'complaints' about comments seem to be about), they should probably pay attention.

If, on the other hand, the comments are coming from someone who doesn't like the content and wants to punish you for writing it, then they're a clown and deserve no oxygen. If people don't like stories, back-click, don't read them. It's not hard to do that.

 

[KeithD]

I think the category is what results in the most comments (and probably votes too).

 

[Emirus]

To be honest, I just want to be lavished with praise.

It’s nice to get a short comment “best story I’ve ever read” but not nice to get one which says “worst story I’ve ever read” or words to that effect.

The comments I appreciate most are the ones which say why they liked it or why they didn’t like it. Those comments give me food for thought and may help me improve which is what I believe most writers, including myself, desire.

Having said which being told you are a fantastic storyteller does make you a happy bunny.

 

[LAHomedog]

I have a Hot red story with ZERO comments. I didn't think that was possible but apparently it is.

I have a few of those. A lot of folks vote. Few comment.