My friend Jewell (MusicChibi) suggested this, and I think it's a good idea. Call it a project, if you will.

In order to counteract at all of the pointless rants and hateful comments that do nothing but degrade writers, we should try to encourage our fellow authors.

Here's how it works:

Every Monday (Monday's a good day since it starts off the week, but really, any day is fine), try to find a random author you don't know--any author at all, even if that person doesn't write the genres or idols you like--spend a minute to read some of that person's writing, and leave a compliment on the story. You don't have to read the entire story, and you don't have to sing odes glorifying the author's writing. Just leave a single, simple sentence stating something you think the author did well. That's it.

Maybe, if we can get this going on a larger scale, people won't feel so demotivated by AFF. Even though we can't change the competitive nature of this site, we can at least help make AFF an environment of friendly competition rather than bloody warfare.

Please help out by spreading the word about this project and encouraging others to do the same.