OK I’m biting the bait. 

As a regrettably argumentative person, probably since a child (or maybe a goddamn baby), and doesn’t-admit-I-enjoy-friendly-debates, I’ve learned through experience that (1) Don’t waste your time arguing with people who has strong opinions/feelings about a subject. (2) NEVER EVER argue with people who has strong feelings/opinion online.

It’s never worth one’s time and energy, at least for me. Butwhatamidoing

Before continuing, you may have a different interpretation of the word ‘argue’, but my mine is completely harmless. When I argue, my innate goal is not to start a fight, but to open a conversation about a subject that both person is open to learn. 

With that said, on my first point. Don’t waste your time arguing with people who has strong opinions/feelings about a subject. 

I’m not saying they have the potential to be close minded, but I tend not to engage (esp online) if I feel like they have strong feelings/emotions about it. First, I have to respect their side. Because I have this trait, that though I understand the other side, I sometimes counter/oppose it…just to open a conversation XD. But through experience, I’ve learned to shut up and respect their side. (But I’d still love a harmless intellectual conversation.)  And two, I would look the bad guy and I just don’t want them to feel they’re being hostile, I only want the conversation to end with our minds a little bit more open. 

And two. NEVER EVER argue with people who has strong feelings/opinion online.

Because IT IS SO MUCH DIFFERENT so much different than arguing/conversing in person. Online, you are cancelling out facial expressions, body language, and tone of voice, and even personality which is very VERY significant when trying to voice out opinion or something effectively. You are only using words. You have to compensate for these things for people to understand you or if you want to be effective, but most people forget to compensate these things and just directly voice out their opinion, sometimes, sadly based on their feelings.

Ok for the sake of argument, let’s say they voice it out through a video. Nope. Still an N.O. Because you’re only hearing one side, no one will counter the argument—the person would still keep talking and talking. And mostly likely the responses they’ll get are comments—which are words! So if you notice when a couple/two (intellectual) people voice out their opinions together on a video, they don’t get much hate than the solo one.

(edit) Also, what youve written online will stay there until you delete it, or there's like a database error lol. So you really have to be careful with what you say, and some/many people will only judge you through your words. And maybe one day you've learned something, and you're now a different person than yesterday but your post is still there. So... Aint worth. 

Hng. If I may speak so frankly. In college, I was actually one of the best public speakers in class or in our batch LOL! And it always surprises me when it gets recognized. I use a lot of hand gestures, my face is very expressive, my voice is (sadly) usually dominant but not hostile

And can I just lowkey flex that my boss in internship gave me this feedback T_________T It suddenly occurred to me that this exists T_______T im crying. 

(should I change switch careers T_T Should I be a director LOL JK)

Contrary to the popular belief, I try my best not to argue much online because first and foremost, I’m a lazy typer--typing on keyboard esp on phone. Just lazy. So lazy that my wOrdS may come off very differently. When my responses are short, some might think I’m unfriendly—but maybe, really, I’m just goddamn lazy. And two, sometimes I don’t like when people think I talk too much HAHA becauseitendtolikerightnow. And three, there are better things to do. Also PS: sometimes my word “lazy” equates to the word “busy” or “really busy”.

So finally, let’s dive in to the topic. And also the reason why I’m engaging to this topic is bc I have to agree about one user—AFF is my escape, and I also don’t want some bullcrap happening, I’m already fed up with different things. I actually unfollowed some feeds when this was happening bc it’s getting my attention when I should be doing better things. And the fastest way to stay away from it is to unfollow it, not engage. But obv I failed. I was almost proud of myself, you have no idea.

When I first read it, not gonna lie, I upvoted it. It was interesting. And I LOVE how thick-faced they, the person who advertised, were. [I'll refer to them as they/their/them] And I like thick-faced people haha. And they have some points, but you gotta LOL about—it goes something like “Authors who block people should be the one applauded”. It’s not the exact words but that’s how I interpreted it. But I was skeptic about it, and then later realize it was lol-able (aka laughable). Maybe that’s how they handle things or that’s how they think. Hmm. Okay, give them benefit of the doubt. 

And I also like this initiative, it may be a bad one, but still an initiative. It made people think. 

From an insensitive person to an insensitive person, I didn’t think much about the names they used. Never really realized how much it affected readers/authors in a way. Then I realized—I was never really a reader so the words has no effect on me. Actually, you know what, reader or not, all the words they used didn’t affect me. And it shouldn't affect you too. Let's be rational. They may not be, but you should be. Those are just words—just words, probably just empty words to offend people or they were just frustrated. But I understood what they are trying to tell, I understood the bottomline. But yeah I agree, the delivery is very questionable.

This is the author’s problem, it’s your choice to take it seriously or not. You always have a choice. 

They said you have no right to question why they block you? So what? Keep them questions coming. 

They have problems with language barrier? Well, idk what to say—that was downright rude, I agree. 

Just because they voiced an opinion out and won the bid and use the wOrdS “Harsh truth” doesn’t necessarily mean they are true. And my words doesn’t necessarily mean mine are true.

It’s sad that we live in a hypersensitive generation right now. But one successful person once said that, you gotta be thick faced if you want to be successful. But some probably dont seek success so… we also gotta respect that. 

But I still try to be sensitive because 2020 is such a different time from the simpler times of 1960s. 

If people say “You are different”, “You are unique”, “Each individual is different”. Do not single out authors, they are still people, this also applies to them. 

Some authors do this for fun, some take it seriously, some do it for experience, some to kill time. All different reason. 

One perspective might be. They’re just happy they could write and couldn’t care less about feedback. 

Another might be. “I have 2000 subscribers on one story, I get 500-700 views and at least 40 bookmarks each update. I get only less than 10 comments.” 

This is where I fall under. I dont have the numbers, but I’m roughly under the same perspective. And it’s just sad, very disheartening. Some of these authors write tens of hours, some do tons of research to give you a good story, some work hard to improve, but—*sighs deeply*.

It blows my mind that featured authors still advertise their stories that has already been featured. And I can only come up of one thing why they do that—they’re not happy. And when I saw that advertisement (the featured one), it gave me so much more perspective about a lot of things. 

I think all authors feel the same, no matter what achievements you may have achieved in writing… but that goddamn “New story comments” makes us excited all the time. 

So please support your authors. Verify your account if you have to, upvote their story. Leave comments, let them know you’re reading it.

I’m sorry I cannot speak for readers, I do not have enough perspective about it. I wish I could say something about it, but I’d rather not bc whatdoiknow. But I’m 100% sure there are differences. Say for example, the language they pointed out. I’ve also received comments that they don’t leave much bc they can’t speak the language well. And I understand completely. English is only my second language. But what do we do? Just let it be? Of course not, if you want to do something about the feedback—you also have to do something about it. Find a solution (btw i’m talking to authors haha). 

One natural solution I can suggest is make a good story. It’s so good that they can’t help but to leave comments. 

Another one encourage them to leave comments on their native language. Authors can always use google translate and have a mere idea what they said. Btw google translate now is better. 

But seriously, AFF is very different now from the last time I was active here. The author is right. This is such an amazing community. So, let’s all help each other! And stay safe! :D

(Comments are disabled bc I gotta work and I get so distracted easily XD and i dont really want to engage back and forth online (bc lazy typer. id prefer using this effort on stories lol))