yuletide_coal | Rudolph the red-nosed dentist

Rudolph the red-nosed dentist

Writing post : http://yuletide-coal.dreamwidth.org/6728.html

Other useful links:
2016 Timeline : https://yuletide-admin.dreamwidth.org/28822.html
Collection: http://archiveofourown.org/collections/yuletide2016

Letters post: http://yuletide.livejournal.com/1274815.html
Letters DB: http://www.dennis-sellers.com/yuletide/index.html
Treat spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10Bv9vJXykH9BUgn6q5DIBliBgMWzlVpXiB9d1lNoub4/edit?usp=sharing

Yuleporn: http://yuletide.livejournal.com/1276881.html
Crueltide: http://yuletide.livejournal.com/1274987.html
Two for One: http://yuletide.livejournal.com/1278973.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

AYRT

Of course feedback that spans multiple comments is "long". But I balk at the idea that a comment only starts being long at 4k words.

That's like saying fic is only long when it's over 20k. You might feel that way, and you're perfectly entitled to do so, but others will consider a 5k story longfic. The same goes for comments.

No one is going to contest that a three word reply is short and that a "full comment" is long, in the same way that no one's going to contest that a 1001 word Yuletide fic is short and a 50k epic is long, but most things in-between are open to interpretation, and just because you say there is "no subjectivity" doesn't make it true.

Personally I o.O when someone requests a fandom of one and all they can say is a line or two.

I don't feel like someone needs to be effusive in order to convey their thanks. I mean, it's okay if they want to ramble on about their love for the ship or the fandom for a while, but I certainly don't side-eye anyone for not wanting to engage in that, especially not with an anonymous author.

But I balk at the idea that a comment only starts being long at 4k words.

People are talking about 4k characters, i.e. one AO3 comment. Not 4k words.

About your last paragraph, do you need to be effusive to say thank you? No, but I still find a short thank you a bit disappointing when I spent a long time writing a fic and trying very hard to tailor it to my recip's requests. And frankly, if you leave the same kind of comment on 1001 half-assed words as you do on 10k tailored to your likes, I probably won't bother writing 10k tailored to your likes for you. I'll keep my lovingly crafted 10k for someone who actually shows me they appreciate them.

AYRT

Someone (you?) above said: "4.3k word and multiple length comments exist. those are long." So unless that was a typo, yes, they're talking about words.

And frankly, if you leave the same kind of comment on 1001 half-assed words as you do on 10k tailored to your likes, I probably won't bother writing 10k tailored to your likes for you. I'll keep my lovingly crafted 10k for someone who actually shows me they appreciate them.

I see you apply the same attitude to fic length as to comment length. Shortly over 1000 words doesn't necessarily mean it's half-assed, and it doesn't necessarily mean it's worse or less tailored to my likes than a 10k epic. Of course I'll make a difference in commenting on a half-assed fic and one that is beautifully crafted, but that difference is about whether I love the fic and not about word count.

If my recip comments with what feels like genuine enthusiasm, I honestly don't care if their feedback is two sentences long. There's nothing disappointing in it for me. But we clearly approach Yuletide very differently.

I'm pretty sure that was a typo because AO3 comments are maximum 4300 characters. 4300 words would be a pretty random, arbitrary cut-off point.

Of course a 1k fic can be amazing, but I'd still be surprised if you don't have more to say about a good 10k fic than you do about a good 1k fic. And that's just the thing - two sentences don't feel like genuine enthusiasm to me. Because if they were really enthusiastic, I'd assume they'd take more than two minutes out of their day to thank me for a fic that I put a ton of work into. It's not exactly a secret that lof of writers love long comments, so unless I know for sure that someone wrote for me who doesn't like them, I will leave a long comment to make them as happy as their fic made me.

And that's just the thing - two sentences don't feel like genuine enthusiasm to me. Because if they were really enthusiastic, I'd assume they'd take more than two minutes out of their day to thank me for a fic that I put a ton of work into.

Two minutes?

It often takes me half an hour to waffle over a comment of several sentences because I get worried about every word. (It's easy enough on an anon meme, but in namespace? It's a nightmare!)

If I could write two sentences of (genuine) feedback in two minutes, I'd probably also write multiple comments....

Surprisingly your writer does not in fact know how much time you spent on your comment, and will think it more likely that you wrote your two sentences in two minutes than that you spent half an hour on it and couldn't say more than that.

DA

Correct. They don't know so they shouldn't assume. If they do, that is their problem.

Actually, for most people I know writing feedback is incredibly hard, so yes, unless the comment is "yay, thank you!" I kinda assume that they spent some time composing it.

I've received a lot of comments that were 2-3 sentences but still incredibly generic. "I liked this fic. You write beautifully, Bob and John are so cute together! Thank you!" That does not seem like a comment that someone angsted about for half an hour because you could put that comment on literally every not horrible Bob/John fic.

I'm not one of those people who expect super long comments, but I tend not to be happy when a gift recipient can't even pick out a couple of things specific to my fic. Like quote a line they loved and say why they liked it or mention a specific scene they thought was particularly cute or funny or sexy. Especially in a longer fic.

They corrected the word typo right here, dude http://yuletide-coal.dreamwidth.org/7582.html?thread=27063966#cmt27063966

DA thinks the suggestion that comments are inadequate unless they fill an entire box is bizarre. Some of us are grateful and excited and concise.

DA

No one is going to contest that a three word reply is short and that a "full comment" is long, in the same way that no one's going to contest that a 1001 word Yuletide fic is short and a 50k epic is long, but most things in-between are open to interpretation, and just because you say there is "no subjectivity" doesn't make it true.

So are you agreeing with them that long and short aren't hard to tell apart but the middle ground is? Because that's what it sounds like so I'm not sure what you're arguing.

The bit where (referring to a 500 word comment), they said "even though it's long *for you*, there really isn't any subjectivity. That's why you had to qualify your statement as "for you". For someone who never comments at all a single comment = super long. That doesn't make it long." and the implication that anything below a full comment is not long by some sort of arbitrary 'objective' measure.

+4.3k

AYRT The the short-commenter-anon agreed that a full comment was long and a single sentence was short. It says right there in their comment that the middle ground is what is hard to define which is what the long-comment-is-full-length-anon said in their comment too. If you get around the 4,300 character limit (probably within a 500ish word range?) then you've hit long.

I agree with the line between short and medium being objective but that's because I agree with the base claim of One Sentence = Short Baseline and One Full Comment = Long Baseline.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rudolph the red-nosed dentist

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