So, roughly a week ago, I posted a blog titled "Features vs Recommendations | Experiment Challenge" where at the bottom of said blog, I joking said that maybe we authors should simply make polls with general comments to receive feedback on our chapters.

So, I gave it a shot.

As someone that's been talking about and trying to get more reader and writer interaction as AFF once was, i.e more comments, real earned upvotes etc, I was disheartened by the results.

I'm not sure if it were mere coincidence, but the results seem to unfortunately yet accurately coincide with the significant increase of silent readers and discouraged writers that I spoke of before in other blogs as well as conversations with others here.

To ensure for "best results" given my personal circumstances, I tested the joke challenge out on my more "popular" story, Be Mine, on my second account.

1. I gave no warnings about the experiment prior to posting up the poll. I did post a link to my blog and said some things but not much.
2. I acted normal, i.e wrote a long author's note and posted the updates with my usual rough edits. I didn't better my writing or focus on editing. (Not only did I update the fic, but I posted three chapters to give leeway and lots of possible content for readers to comment on.)

After about one week, I had over 100 views on the chapter with the posted poll and on the chapters without the poll.

I recieved: a single comment and only 4 votes on the poll.

Mind you, for this fic, every chapter I tend to get about 5 comments, more or less. However during this experiment, that was my results.

With nearly 600 subscribers and ~400 views total on 3 chapters - that ratio is pretty sad, and that's exactly what's happening to many authors here, so I did this to really open not only my eyes but everyone else around.

I wasn't exaggerating about the significant drop of comments nor how authors are quitting because of the lack of feedback, and the numbers show it.

In my past blog of "Lack of Appreciation for Stories/Authors," I made a point that a simple comment on their stories could assure them, cheer them up, that some days that's all they look forward to, etc. During this week (and even til today) I haven't been the most cheery person and I'm sure even the smallest story comment or something could have uplifted me a bit.

So, I didn't mean to but I did feel what it was like to be in those authors' shoes. It was quite depressing honestly.

Though writing is generally for leisure, authors take the time and effort to put stories out there. Personally, for me to have updated with 3 chapters in one night and only get back 1 comment and 3 poll votes of how I did and how readers felt - that kinda struck me with an arrow, which is saying something considering I'm not the person to care too much over numbers and comments. I write for my own enjoyment nothing more. But after this hard week, that was a bit of a low blow.

Like other authors, I felt wary of my writing. I questioned if my writing worsened, if the chapters outright , if they were too angsty or maybe not enough, if the chapters were not what readers wanted, if the chapters made readers want to quit reading, if readers were getting tired of my story, etc.

So, all in all, things are really guys to put it bluntly.

I'm sure I speak for a handful of writers out there when I say we aren't looking for readers to review our writing and rate it like we're competing gourmet dishes or 5 star hotels.. We don't need a comment to be paragraphs long. We just need some honesty or feelings so we aren't basically sitting ducks on some stage reading out a script to an empty auditorium.

I will be continuing my experiment as well as my mini project and my shop to work towards bettering the community and make it more friendlier again. I'll post another blog another time with my results or propositions for how to get more communication between readers and writers.

My only say is something personal to conclude this report.

In my opinion and preferences for my stories, I rather you say something than not at all.

Like hey if you didn't really like something, let me know so I can keep it in mind. If you want to spam my comment section by smashing your keyboard because you're crying profusely and can't see the letters, be my guest. Even if you don't know much English and you're embarrassed by that or something, leave me a comment the best you can. I honestly will try to understand you and I will still reply to you all the same as I do to everyone and 99% of comments I get. Hell if you want to leave me a comment in another language that isn't English just to tell me how you feel about a chapter or oneshot, do it lol It won't be accurate but we have Google Translate xD it's not a problem at all. Or if you just need to ask like 500 questions or have all these crazy theories about the plot ending or something or about what a character said, go for it, comment that thought.

I don't know about other authors, but I personally enjoy conversing with readers and also seeing the array of personalities and thoughts about the same topic.

Alright so end note, let's keep the flow going of writing, reading, and sharing? ♡