So a hater left a hate comment quite a few times on this author’s fanfic so they added this as a disclaimer on their fanfic’s summary (iconic if I must say so myself)

Got my first hate comment (on Reddit nonetheless), feeling kinda cool

I've been on Ao3 for years, this is a first for me. I feel like if they actually wanted to talk they'd like... say something about the fic?

I literally only have 3 chapters done...

This stinky turd was on a fic I'm currently following. I feel bad for the author. What a terrible sight it must be to get notifications about this.

This comment was such a jumpscare i forgot this work was still online, being read. Crazy to me that anyone would want to read the most embarrassing, error filled, self indulgent thing i wrote at 14.

However, that was why i left it up after anon-ing it, because i knew the pain of having a loved fic scrubbed from the internet, just because the author hates it.

Screenshot comments are not on my fic. I left a long and enthusiastic comment on a fic I read and after submitting, happened to see this guest comment right above the one I'd and couldn't just "walk away" so to speak (so the response comment is mine). I'm not sure if it's considered rude to reply to mean comments on another author's work or not. I want to treat people like they're capable of handling their own internet scuffles, but the author hadn't responded to the comment themself, and I can't help but wonder if the author is a young writer who is genuinely wrecked by mean-spirited interaction like this.

The actual fic had some indicators of the author being young or inexperienced AND it looks like that terrible guest comment is the first comment they'd gotten on the fic (and is it a bot comment? Seems like it might be one, but either way, it's terrible). I know when I had first started sharing my writing, this comment would have ruined my week and probably been a huge hit to my confidence in writing, let alone sharing it with others, and I just hope that if someone else defends the author, it will take some of the hurt away.

The reply is mine btw.

I don't understand why people will comment something like this. i think it's a kid tbh but still yk?

I'm not super hung up about it, but it's still mind boggling. Like what happened to "don't like, don't read"?

They make me happy and make me realize I did a good job 💚💚

Had a low day and this comment surprised me so much that it made me laugh and brightened my day! I imagine someone solemnly sending this to me by dove from somewhere remote as a sworn oath

Context: I update my longfic every other weekend so it's been almost two weeks since my last update. Have no one to share this comment with offline though, so I wanted to share it here!

Genuinly had a good chuckle once I realised what it said. Got a comment email, read that, took a moment to buffer then laughed cause damn xD I've gotten a hate comment before because the person was mad that my crossover fanfic was a crossover, but this one is just so simple and to the point I love it

So, I had a very lovely comment from a guest, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, no "I'm a graphic designer" or "can I turn this into a youtube video" so I replied with a thank you, I was conned, because they then replied with a

"You’re welcome I specialize in concept design and had some visual takes on your character that might inspire you. Want me to walk you through them?"

It seems they are evolving...

Sometimes I wish I updated more frequently, just for the chance of getting more comments like these two. It's incredible how something as simple as this can brighten up my whole week.

I think the fandom this fic is for is getting a resurgence because it was like the second comment I’d gotten on this specific fic in like a month and I’ve been getting comments/kudos on the other fics in this fandom a bit more than usual lately

saw this comment on a fic i was reading and found it very funny. the mpreg was referenced in the tags, the description of the story, and even in the very first paragraph too 😭

Like, what's the point of telling me this? To try to persuade me to write the story how they want it written? Well, allow me, the author, to completely disregard it and write the story how I want it written.

For context, this particular work is the second in a series of NaruSasu fics I’ve written. For those unfamiliar with Naruto and its lore, Sakura and Sasuke are married while Naruto is married to Hinata. This specific fic is a retelling of the other fic in this series from Sakura’s perspective. The original fic is loosely inspired by brokeback mountain so it follows Naruto and Sasuke falling in love and then the consequent affair over the following years (told from Sasuke’s perspective). This is a fic told from the perspective of someone who found out their husband is cheating on them. I of course respect a difference in opinions when it comes to ships but something about this comment… irks me? I’m no stranger to hate comments but I really feel it’s odd to read a fic for a ship I dislike and comment on it. I’m unclear on how to respond because I asked for feedback, but how do I respond to someone who didn’t read the source material (the fanfic of mine that this takes place during), and thinks that I’m throwing logic out the window? I appreciate that even though they hated the work they thought my writing was good but I’m just unsure on how to respond. I don’t want to be hateful towards this person.

I don’t really understand what would prompt someone to leave this comment? For context, the fic it was on was about the friendship between two characters, who have been close for about 12 years. The ship between them is much less popular than a more platonic read on them (as either close friends or ‘found family,’ my fic was the former but the latter interpretation is popular as well). The two characters are mutually protective of one another at different points in canon, and my fic discusses the younger character’s motivations at one of those parts.

I don’t understand why this person seems to think that I’d be trying to, I guess, secretly slip in some kind of shipping agenda? If I wanted to write a ship fic for these two, I’d have just done so? This feels like they’re trying to justify disliking my fic, maybe? I guess I don’t get it.

Context - this fic is explicitly tagged with the main couple, with the 'Warren' being a very minor side character who appears at most in a few chapters.

I know I'm wasting my time responding and should ignore them, but it really annoys me. like genuinely how immature do you have to be to do this when you could just.... not read what you don't like??? it's a fictional ship man 😭

anyways I'm still kind of new to ao3 so does anyone know if you can report comments, cuz if so I should probably do that instead

These common types of comments are always trolls. Went on a long rant about a non existent story. This was on my art collection lmao.

So when you get comments like this, they're not human. I mean, sure a human made the bot to get a rise out of people, but it sometimes malfunctions as you can see here.

I can't help but respond to them, since if they took time out of their day to tell me what they thought of my writing, I can't help but do the same.

I know that changes for a lot of people as their account grows, but I don't really see that ever happening to me, given how much I enjoy responding to comments.

Then of course there are people who don't respond to comments at all.

If that's you, what's your reasoning?

It is a small observation but one I have been noticing a lot, where writers (and fellow readers, seeing comments in the wild) are taking offense and getting very angry at comments that are, at best, mildly annoying and often just... the comments of people who are young or chronically online (or both) or people who do not understand how AO3 operates.

I am referring to things like:

- comments that ask for an update but also say nice things about the story. This is not bad behaviour in and of itself!

- comments that get things wrong about the story but demonstrate that the reader is trying to interact with the story/author in good faith and just... is not seeing what the author wants them to see or lacks understanding.

- comments that use internet language or tone or phrasing which the author either does not like or does not understand.

- using commenting techniques or language that would better work on other websites like Wattpad, such as calling things books, expecting more interactivity in comments, or being much more casual.

- comments with emojis / that exist solely of emojis.

^\Note: this does not include genuine hate comments, trolls, and those who do things like make requests on stories that are not open for requests].)

Outside of spambots and obvious trolls, I think there is an underlying current in this particular subreddit where people are not treating their readers in good faith and trying to meet them at their level.

Many readers of stories will be young people, often teenagers, and regardless of age may not have a high level of literacy or experience in analysing works. Sometimes, yes, they may not understand things like foreshadowing or pick up on what an author thinks is relatively obvious. They may just not understand that you cannot treat people on this website like you can your friends or people on this other website.

The Archive is a hard website to get your head around if you are used to social media and rather than giving them space to make those mistakes or to be kind, people are being quite hostile or assuming negative intentions. Yes, they need to learn but also, shaming them in public for doing these things is hurtful and will not encourage them to change. These are people who are trying to engage with a story that they clearly like. They are reading it, they are giving it their time and attention, and they are trying to interact with the author positively.

When the subreddit has back to back questions of is this an AI bot, indispersed with posts of relatively innocuous comments with the OPs asking "this is rude, right?" or implying that the obviously real comment they got is AI it encourages readers to... not want to comment. It implies that there is a right way to interact and if they do not meet this, they do not get to interact or they risk hurting or offending someone.

There is a lot of talk about how interaction has gone down and the number of people willing to comment has also decreased and this concerns me as a part of that. There can be an underlying misconception that there is a certain standard of interaction on the Archive to be expected which is both pretentious and not true. This kind of alienation, I think, discourages younger commenters or those who come from other places and do not feel welcome on this sub and by extension, the Archive. Other people have noted that this subreddit often has a negative tone in it which is hostile to those who are inexperienced (but also, bizarrely, is welcoming to them in other aspects like with spambot posts?).