A personal response to bad fic comments
So I’m in fandom spaces basically all the time, this is not news if you know me at all. It’s probably why you follow me.
In the past 6 months - 1 year, my friends and I have been noticing a bit of an uptick on Bad Comments to our fanfics. We’ve noticed this on our fics. We’ve noticed this on other’s fics.
We don’t have statistics - that’d be near impossible to collect, anyway, but it seems they’re on the rise. As I’m starting to publish more fic lately, I want to share my personal policy on this - and that is the fact that I’m not going to tolerate bad comments on my fanfic.
(I will happily also step in for other fanauthors, as well - though I do only do this with permission of the fic’s author.)
My stock reply to bad comments is below. You may borrow and use it freely, no credit needed.
Dear Human,
You have left the type of comment that falls into a category we fanauthors call entitled. If you would like an explanation on how your comment qualifies, please press 1. If you require advice on how to leave better comments, please press 2. If you would like to argue that your comment does not qualify, please hang up and never call back. Rude or entitled responses from you in the future may lead you to be blocked. This is your only warning. Have a nice day!
If the comment isn’t “entitled” but falls into another bad category, it’s usually outright harassment and will get both an immediate block and a report to AO3, or whoever the hostsite winds up being.
I have three questions I ask before sending this message:
1. Did they say anything at all about the fic they’re commenting on, and was it nice?
For a bad comment, the answer to this is “no”.
2. Does the comment ask or demand something of me, as a fanauthor.
For a bad comment, the answer is “yes”.
Comments that are entitled will have both qualifications. They will get the stock reply above. If they only fit one of the questions, I will consider a more mollified report.
I already know what people are going to argue when they read this -
But Chroma! What if the commenter doesn’t know any better and is young/new/neurodivergent!
Okay first of all, I am autistic myself and am perfectly capable of fucking manners and learning social norms, so I resent the automatic implication some of y’all have that all neurospicy people are inherently rude or vice versa.
Secondly, that is why I left the phone options. If the commenter wants to be better they can use them as a jumping off point for the future conversation. If they legitimately want to learn how to not be a dick in fandom they can reach out.
But Chroma! What if the commenter didn’t realize what they were doing wrong?
They they can politely go “oh shit, my bad,” apologize to me, and leave a real fucking meaningful comment.
If you want to use this policy, go ahead. If you don’t, that’s fine too. If you think that this is a piece of shit policy then feel free to ignore this post and, in the future, everything I say and write.
In the meantime, I’ve been in fandom for over two decades now. So this Fandom Old is gonna enforce etiquette in her spaces and live her best fandom life.
Have a good evening, everyone.