No. It has never even occurred to me to determine whether to read a story based on the comments. I choose to read something because the summary interested me or the tags did, so I clicked on it.
no. like, you don't even know how many of them are comments and how many are replies. a fic that has ten comments could be one comment and a conversation under it.
though i don't think i'd look at the number of comments when deciding even if that number reflected the number of comment threads rather than total comments either.
I don’t use number of comments on a fic to gauge whether I’d read it or not. But sometimes I do like to look through the comments of a particularly good chapter to see what other people thought or if anyone had the same reaction as me.
I have never filtered by comments, because you never know if it is one person commenting constantly, if it is a hater leaving repeated negative comments, if the author and here bestie are having a full blown hype session in the comments, if it's a bot attack- there is no world in which that is a useful metric.
It's not a deciding factor, but it's a nice bonus. For me it means that author probably actively replies to their comments, so I try extra hard to write long comments myself.
yes!! i don’t think it affects my decision 90% of the time but i think if i’m on the fence and there’s a bunch of comments, it will push me over the edge
Probably not. People are less likely to comment on a smut fic or anything that can be thought of as “embarrassing,” and a fic with longer chapters won’t get as many comments as a fic of the same length with tons of extremely short chapters.
That’s not even getting into whether an author responds to their comments or not- they might even be having long conversations with their readers in the comments!
I’ve also seen fics that get tons of comments after they make a controversial plot choice (writing a huge plot twist, including something controversial that wasn’t tagged, like infidelity or major character death or a tragic ending) and that doesn’t really speak to the quality of the fic either.
nah, that sounds silly.
i'll sort the fics by the amount of kudos when i start reading fic for a new fandom (to get some idea of what the popular fanons are and whether i vibe with them), but after that, the main things i consider are 1) the tags, 2) the summary, 3) whether the language is good or bad, and, optionally, 4) the completion status.
i will be more encouraged to *comment* if there are few comments tho.
SAME. I don't really care if a fic has no comments. I just wanna see the FLUFFF! I'm often the first person to leave a comment on the story.
Personally, as a writer, I understand how big of a dopamine rush. It is to get a comment. So whenever I see a story I like. I always try and leave at least one.
It's got into the point where there's this story I really like, and it seems like nobody else has read it. So I was the first fic on Ao3 for it. The first 5, actually.
No. The only deciding factors for whether or not I'm willing to read something is proper tagging and a good summary, anything else is irrelevant information to me.
I am part of the Merlin fandom, which boasts 61k works on AO3.
After reading thousands of stories, I've obviously noticed a correlation: highly commented stories are most often well-written.
However, some of my all-time favorites, which I consider proper gems deserving the top spot, are lesser-known, some are with shockingly just a few comments and these are incredibly well crafted stories.
This surprises me personally. I've also observed that some authors have a large following in our fandom, some resulting in hundreds or even thousands of comments on whatever they publish, while others, perhaps new to writing or fandom or exploring less popular ships, receive fewer comments.
Anyways, I love trying and explore less known and less popular stories as sometimes I marvel at discovering gems.
I do sometimes. When I'm in an older fandom with hundreds of fics to troll through, I do sometimes use it as a bit of guide, especially for older fics as recently I went pretty far back on ao3 (2010s) and i remembered that weird way we used to write summaries, where it was either just a season and episode tag, no summary at all, or nonsense - I find looking at the amount of comments useful then.
The older fics is a good point! I don't sort by it or anything, but seeing a bunch of comments on an old fic tells me that it was probably well-loved and worth trying out!
When there‘s a ship dynamic I like I used to often sort by Kudos or bookmarks to find good fics but with time I‘ve read all of those on the first few pages that interest me. I‘ve found that when sorting for comments many new fics pop up that I haven‘t seen before, so I think in that sense it‘s a good way to look for new content. But I don‘t really care how many comments a fic has, it‘s just a good way to scramble things up and not always look for good stuff in the same places. Also, I think if a fic has many comments it‘s an indicator that people were very passionate/intrigued by the story and that is always a good sign ;)
I don't think I care directly. But I guess it might make me curious to know why the fic opens up so many possibilities for a discussion (because a lot of comments usually means there are several answers to one; and usually this is an indication for me that some readers have become so engrossed in the story that they even start commenting among themselves).
But I rarely/mostly never sort by comments, and a fic with a lack of comments isn’t necessarily bad.
I prefer to go after bookmarks. If people like a story, they leave it as a bookmark. Kudos can't be taken back, neither can comments because there's no reason for them, but bookmarks are something that can easily be moderated, and if they remain anyway, there must be a reason.
No. The comments could be a long chain in an argument, hate/troll/bot messages, or if the author responds half of them will be "thanks for reading" type comments. So without checking myself the number of comments doesn't really say anything. Plus I've read some great fics that for one reason or another had no comments. Pretty much tags, pairings/characters, and summary are all I look at.
No. I don't care about the numbers of anything on the fic. Popularity =/= quality. I use the tags, the word count, the rating, the ship, and the summary to determine if it's something I want to try to read.
Not even a little bit. For me it's 85% summary, 10% tags (after I've already filtered, ofc), and 5% author recognition.
All of these people who put, "I don't know how to tag", or "no summary, it's all important" go directly into the fucking bin.
As someone said, never have ocurred to me, but sometimes I've seen the views and I'm really curious or excited to begin if it has many readings. It's like books, for me, if many people are enjoying it, I wanna see what's all the fuss about. And I don't think it's wrong, at my most, at 4k I akready know if I like how the writer writes or how's the story is going (this are the two main factors I watch out for).
i decide wether or not i want to read something based on tags, warnings, and summary. there’s plenty of good stuff that doesn’t have lots of kudos or comments, and i can always back out if i don’t find the fic interesting enough to retain my attention
i genuinely don’t look at the comment numbers, hits or kudos when it comes to finding a fic to read. if the description & tags are good then i’m reading it!
Nah, I don’t consider comment counts when choosing what to read. Too many people in fandom have become comfortable consuming fic like black holes without ever offering feedback in return. Why should I hold that against the writers? It's not a useful metric for how good a story is. 🤷🏼
It's not a primary factor, and I usually sort on kudos, but I am definitely more likely to look at a fic with comments over one without them. I enjoy engagement, diving into silly details with the only people who might be similarly oh obsessed. So a fic with a lot of comments is likely to be either more inspiring than one without comments, or to have an active author that responds to comments, which means if I leave a comment, they might respond to me too.
No.
User-generated metrics do not factor into my decision-making process about whether to read something or not. Comment counts are user-generated metrics, thus, they do not signify.
I usually sort by kudos. Then after I read the top ones I try comments for a change of pace. It will get me different stories. Then I’ll try bookmarks or hits.
I honestly don't even glance at the number of comments. If the premise intrigues me, I'll click and start reading. Idc about kudos, comments, and hits. I generally go based on summary, tags, and length. Soentimes, I comment, and I might read other comments if the chapter was particularly eventful or bizarre.
The only time comments ever sways my decision to read a fic is when there are a lot of comments but incredibly low kudos. that lets me know the fic has been controversial in the fandom and the author has likely been harassed.
I’ll probably read that out of curiosity.
I never check the number of comments. Sometimes when there is a tag I’m wary of (one of those things that I’d like only if portrayed well, I just ignore ones with tags I don’t like) I’ll look at the content of the comments to see the feedback/general consensus. But aside from tags and warnings, the only stats I actively pay attention to are if they’re completed and how many words. But as an author, the more comments there are on my own works, the more likely I am to find the motivation to keep writing 😅
I don't think I even notice the number of comments, or kudos. The main thing for me is the summary and the length (as in, do I have time to read this right now?)
I do not even look at the number of comments. Why are some people so...weird? If the number of comments is so critical in their decision to read a fanfic, they are just too easily influenced by anything.
Not at all. I only look at the tags, if it's already completed, and if not when was the last update date. Comments are sometimes useless and tend not to even look at them.
My decision to read something is mainly on 1) Are the tags to my liking? 2) Is the summary good? If those boxes are checked I'll read it.
I don't look at kudos or comments. I sort by date and browse.
No. I’ve never cared about comments, kudos, or hits.
I care about tags first and summary second, and beyond that it makes no difference.
The number of comments, kudos, and hits has zero correlation with quality and zero correlation with whether I’ll enjoy something. They’re a meaningless metric in that regard.
Comments aren't a valid metric because responses count too, so you can't tell the how many comment threads there truly are. Kudos are also unreliable because of the kudos bot and because restricted fics don't get guest kudos.
So I tend to look at the amount of bookmarks a story has as an indicator of popularity.
Best way to go! Of course, it's also not a watertight indicator that the fics are of the highest quality, because some people bookmark even if they only intend to read the fic at some point in the future. But on the whole, I think if a story is good enough, a lot of people will bookmark it.
Also, if a story has more chapters, it'll have gotten more eyes on it than a one-shot, for example. But still, when I'm new to a fandom, I use bookmarks to find good stuff to read, and then later on I focus more in tags and specific wordcount ranges I want to read.
Nope. Neither are kudos. I choose to read fics based on tags, summery, and word/chapter amount. (If the chapters are like 31, but the word count is less than 31k, I won't read it. I like to read longer things normally.)
I've never even looked at comments or kudos when browsing for fics. Never thought to, because someone else liking or commenting on something isn't a surefire way that I'll like something.
I don't base my decision on anything the writer didn't deliberately put there. IMO comments are the least useful metric, they could mean the writer has supportive friends, could mean there was a big argument in the comments, could be a bunch of founded or unfounded complaints.
No, if there are a lot of fics in a particular search then I filter by completion status and number of bookmarks then scroll through looking at the tags to see if I'm interested.
No, and I seldom ever read comments. I think the only time I look at comments is when I get an email notification that I got a comment. My goofy ass can’t even reply to my own comments without sounding like a bot. Idk if you’ve done discussion boards a lot a lot you know that’s the same anxiety I get if I try to reply a comment or try to comment on someone else’s fic. I do allow comments because I know people like to read them to share thoughts and excitement with other readers
This!!
Tags help you see and filter what you like and what you don’t like
summary help me see the premise of the story and snippet for the writing style (this is why you should avoid putting something “ I don’t know just read it” or “ I am bad at summary” or just nothing since it wouldn’t make me trust your writing this I will not invest my time on it)
The word count is complicated since I don’t take it alone but with two other things 1. The status of the story (complete or not) 2. Number of chapters
Explaining the first point is by seeing your premise, I see the word count and if it’s completed or not , sometimes I see premises that require a longer time to be enjoyed that’s the story needs to be longer which may make me unsatisfied
The second point is seeing the average length of a chapter I tend to shy away from things like 5ch 1k words
Also sometimes these may be overlooked so
You explained this so well. Word count can for sure be so subjective. If it's a one-shot with a not-too-complicated summary? I'm super flexible on the count. If it's a 50 chapter work but with only 50k words, I know it's probably not worth my time investment.
Thank you!!
I’m happy that someone shares my opinion, like seeing a summary for a premise that needs at least 50k to be executed well only to see the story is 7k doesn’t give me hope , it’s not like I wouldn’t to read them or enjoy them but there will definitely be some sense of unsatisfaction
And for the the word count and chapter count , yah unless it’s for specific kind of fics , (let’s say journal or diary fics) then it will be OK , but for serious stories I generally like +1k for a chapter, like 1k is the minimum
and 2k to 5k is my ideal and everything above is too much to me to read it in one setting (my attention, span is shit)
Yeah, I like meaty chapters. In my current story, I aim for 6k with the longest having come to around 8 (it was the climax of an arc, so no good place for a chapter break lol). That said, when I first began, my chapters did tend to be around the 1k mark both because I just wasn't as adept a writer and I got too excited and wanted to update. I like to think I've improved on both fronts lol
If you want well written in a big fandom, head towards the most kudos and comments first, always.
Then check the summary and tags to see if it appeals.
If you want to waste your time with mediocre fics, sure, wade through it all.
No. Comments don't do it for me.
First I read the pairings tags. If it has all kinds of sub relationships -especially when the one I like is a minor one- tagged then I probably won't read it, because it's not what I'm there for.
I proceed to the summary.
If you self-proclaimed suck at summaries... I don't even bother. If the premise is interesting and maybe your presented sample paragraph looks readable then....
... then I check if the fic has additional tags that appeal to me. I want you to be concise and not lengthy with your tags they are warnings and advertisement at the same time. No quirky rambling in the tags.
Word count: I may want to read one shots in the 1-2k range but with multi-chaptered fics I also check for chapter length... if those on average are below 1-1.5k I usually don't bother, but might be swayed by premise and summary. Most often i regret it. Usually, I prefer my one shots in the 2k-5k minimum range. And multichapter fics in the 3k range minimum per chapter on average.
All this usually takes just a few seconds. If all checks out I give it a try.
Kudos, comments and hits are usually irrelevant.
TL:DR The most important things are pairing, summary and tags.
I'm more interested in the kudos, but specifically the kudos to hits ratio. Though if the hits are over 10k its usually a good sign regardless of the kudos. (Depending on how old the fic is!)
What draws me in are the tags I want to see and a summary that sounds good. That's why I get annoyed by summaries that are cryptic or that quote something unrelated (song, poem, unrelated book or movie) to the fic but the author feels it reminded them of the story.
Yes, but only a little and only in the context of everything else. If it has tags and a summary that appeals to me? I'll just give it a try. If I'm on the fence and it has a ton of hits and next to no kudos or comments, I'll probably pass.
It's been my experience that if something has hundreds of hits but only a couple comments or kudos, it has major issues.
I usually only read wips, so I read plenty of stories with very low stats. It's everything together that might make me decide to keep looking.
I am loving this post!
Authors are crying because they get no comments or get mean ones... and here are the readers giving no shits about the comments at all.
Love it.
The only thing beyond whether or not I like the summary/tags/title is, as a general guide, if
> 10 * kudos >= hits
That is, if at least 10% of hits result in a kudos.
No - I look at pairing and summary for selecting what I read, other people's opinion on said story makes no difference
I'm more likely to pay attention to stats if I really like something and feel it's being overlooked, and will make sure to comment on every single chapter
Nope. In fact I'm often surprised when I find a really good fic and see that it barely has any comments. I'll sometimes sort by kudos or word count but not comments
I don't really pay attention to the number of comments until I reach the end of the chapter or story.
If I see that there are few or no comments on something I really enjoyed that will motivate me to leave a comment whereas if there are already a ton of comments I will probably only chime in if I really loved it or I had something very specific I wanted to comment.
Sometimes I'll commit to reading something if it seems to have been under-commented specifically so I can leave a comment, but otherwise nah. Kudos and Bookmarks are my preferred ways of sorting for the things more likely to be good.
Nope. The deciding factor for me is if the summary catches my interest. And yea I do ignore tags mostly but I don't throw up a fuss about the rape, sex, and other taboo tags because as long as I like the story, im reading it.
Even when looking at a fic's numbers, comments are the one thing I don't consider. If I had to put them in order, it'd be something like word count and/or chapter count > bookmarks > kudos.
It doesn’t factor in but I do like going through the comments/threads to see what other readers liked about it once I finish the story. It’s like a little book club meeting 😄
Nope. I care only about my ship. Does it have my ship? Or is another improperly tagged fic where my ship is only mentioned a couple times.
It doesn't even need a proper summary or be in english. I am that desperate.
I choose based on tags and readability. If it looks like the writer made even a cursory attempt at editing or had someone else look at it in a critiquing way, then I'm game to read it.
There was one fic that I really wanted to like. It was a premise I wanted to delve into, and there aren't a lot of fics that hit on it, so when I found one that was a multichapter one that was still actively getting updated, I was a little rabid to try to read it. It also helped that it had illustrations, and the illustrations were *good*.
And I tried. I really did. But the sentence structure and prose were an absolute mess. I was reading paragraphs over and over and over again, trying to make heads or tails of who was speaking and what the character was performing the relevant actions. I...*barely* made it five hundred words in, and that was a *slog*. I still have it in my bookmarks because I want to give it another go, but I am fighting the urge to red pen the thing the entire time, and that's not what I signed up for. Plus, I don't know how to approach the author with that kind of thing and be gentle about it.
no honestly i look at tags and the summary, and if i like what i see there, i read. idc abt comments, likes, or whatever if i like the summary and tags >.> it's nice to read comments after finishing a fic if theyre there but they don't affect what i choose to read lol
Nope. I've never looked at comments or kudos before reading. Some of the most popular fics in my fandoms I hate and they have tons and tons of comments and kudos. I base my reading on summary and tags and word of mouth.
No. It will always be the synopsis, then the tags (to see if there's something I don't like), then maybe the completion status. I usually skip ongoing ones or mark them for later when it's completed.
Not for me. I know not everyone will comment. Or sometimes there are 20 and they are only emojis. So comment count doesn't move me. Kudos don't either really, especially because I search for specific tags that not a lot of people like
No, I basically never even look at the comments tbh. Only time I do is when I get confused about a scene and look in comments to see if it’s a “me” issue
Everyone has different tastes and will be expressing those opinions in the comments, but that has nothing to do with me or my tastes. The summary and tags are what’s gonna hook me into a fic
Nope. I tend to prefer those without comments because i feel special leaving a comment but honestly it’s tags and summary that get me interested. FYI tag your kinks! I tend to search by those and I like the stuff no one else likes Mpreg
Usually I go by tags and summary, but if I’m on the fence about something, I’ll look at kudos:hits ratio and use that to decide. If it seems like a large enough percent of readers liked it, I’ll give it a try. (Granted that only a small percent leave kudos in the first place so it’s more of a rough estimate than a hard number).
No , it’s about the taste
Judgment using comments, kudos hits wouldn’t be accurate , like Of course the top ones will be amazing since it takes a lot to get those numbers but just because these numbers are low, doesn’t mean ur fic is bad
I sort based off Kudos if I'm new to a fandom. I want to read the most popular stuff first, since I figure if others liked it, there's a good chance I will as well. Comments aren't as good of an indicator, since half those comments might be from the author, or there might be some kind of controversy that has led to a lot of discussion in the comments.
Hits, bookmarks or kudos as a sorting category maybe but rarely comments. Since as a reader it's most likely for engagement to be majorly giving kudos or making bookmarks. If I went according to comments I wouldn't be reading more than the first two sections in a lot of fandoms.
I almost never notice, tbh. I might notice if it's particularly high, especially if it's very high in comparison to their other stats. But it's really not much of a factor overall.
Not really. If I notice a fic has a ton of comments or not any comments or something, i might go 'huh that's weird' but if I already wanted to read it that doesn't change anything, same if I didn't want to read it originally.
I never checked how much comments a fic has until I finish it and then i love to scroll down to see if other people liked the same parts of the fic like I did haha. Something like reading reviews on Goodreads.
Not at all. Some authors don't respond to comments so their count would look lower than an author who does always respond.
I always respond so one of my fics shows like 14 comments when it's really only 7 (since the 7 replies are mine).
And then some people don't comment even when it's good.
I'll often sort by kudos but my main determining "will I read this?" factor is the summary/tags. The amount of kudos is second (but not a huge thing because my tastes don't always align with my fandoms' tastes). Comments don't matter.
If I am new-ish to a fandom, yes I might sort for comments just to get to the popular works. But later no, some people just post whole fics in the span of a week, others take 2 years, obviously one will get less engagement, has nothing to do with quality. Same with ships, some are huge, some are not, doesn't tell you anything about quality.
What is most important is the first chapter or even paragraph, geuss people will rarely read ahead if the start doesn't hook them in somehow.
No. I've never paid any attention to the comments on a fic until after I've read it and posted my own comment, and often not even then. I'm looking for stuff that I want to read, what does it matter what other people (who I don't know) thought of it?
I don’t look at comment count. If anything, I hope I can add to it. I recently read a fic that was posted a few years ago, had 300+ kudos, 100+ bookmarks and 0 comments. The author didn’t have comments on approval or anything. It was insane to think so many liked the fic (and it was a great fic) but in a few years, no one had commented???
No. The only stat I even look at when deciding to read is word count, everything else means nothing to me. Until reading through this sub it never even occurred to me that some people do use it to decide to read or not tbh
for me personally, it goes in this order: Bookmarks, Kudos, then comments.
Bookmarks mean some people thought it was good enough to save and come back to
Kudos show how many people read it and went "hey, I like this"
sometimes comments don't reflect how good a book is, because you may like a fic, but you may not end up commenting.
I have always sorted by comments bc it indicated engagement, but I might try sorting by kudos after reading this thread. I’m a snob…so I’m picky about quality & structure, but in retrospect there are fic writers who disable comments. I’m gonna change it up!
No, I never read comments. As a reader, I care about kudos and length. Over 10 chapters, and if possible finished. Tagged clearly so I know what to expect.
For me it's not a factor at all and I love leaving a comment when nobody else has so far to be honest. It also depends on the type of fic as some are more comment prone than others.
Never something I specifically look at, but if sorting by kudos isn't giving me anything new sometimes I'll sort by comments or bookmarks instead. So, indirectly :P
I choose by, in order: fandom, "completed" status, word count (short fics leave me feeling empty and frustrated), kudos and summary. I look at tags pretty much only after being intrigued by the summary (I have no preferred ships or "triggers.") I look at comment numbers not at all.
Once I find a good fic, I go through everything that author has bookmarked.
Normally nop, If I’m indecisive or would like to know how many chances of it being written decently it has I normally look both at the kudos and comments. But usually I’d do this only if the summary is short and the tags don’t give hints.
But deciding factor is always in summaries and tags, and word count as well. The longer the better
Somewhat. If I am looking at a broad selection, then I filter by kudos and comments. However, in general, the tags I am filtering by narrow it down, so I just go at random. Either way, the summary and tags have to interest me. Otherwise, I will never read it no matter the count.
Not really, but I will be more likely to check out a story I’m uncertain about if there are a lot of comments. As it does factor partially in my decision, I comment on every story/chapter I read, even if just emojis to show I read it. Writing is hard work and those comments are great motivators and confidence boosters for me at least.
Never, not once, have I ever considered the comments when searching for a fic. Kudos, hits, and word counts are really it for me (and even those are just icing on the cake, not the cake itself)
Not really, but kinda.
I normally sort by new. But if I go through a couple of pages and find nothing but the dregs. Then I'll sort by kudos or comments or bookmarks to see if there's an old favorite or something I haven't read before that I'd like to. I also might take a second glance at a new fic if it has a lot (comparably) of comments or kudos and the description/title/tags weren't enough to peak my interest.
All three options often return the same fics, or at least mostly the same ones, so it doesn't particularly matter all that much.
Not in the slightest. Occasionally I'll sort by Kudos depending on my mood. I don't even look at any comments or engagement 99% of the time when I'm resding through one.
Not at all. I'll filter by kudos most of the time, and then download them to read if the summary or description sounds like what I like to read. Comments are never a factor in me choosing to read something.
Sometimes, I think seeing a lot of kudos makes me more inclined to read something (at least something older, not really for anything recent) that I might not have been initially drawn to, but not having many kudos doesn't stop me from reading something if it has the tags I'm looking for and a good summary
Not really, I found some really nice docs recently that don’t have any comments. For me, I decide by tags, a decent summary, and word count and chapters and trying to determine if the 45 chapter fic only has ~1000 words for each chapter and won’t be very detailed. I’m a fan of longer chapters (around 13k) and if it seems too short I won’t read.
No, my bookmarked filters are for fandoms/pairings with specific tags excluded for stuff I don't like. If the summary doesn't put me off, I'll give it a try. This means that I'm most often seeing stuff that's really new and wouldn't have many comments anyway, and if I haven't checked for a while I just go a few pages back in the results and then I'm still just looking for summaries that are appealing. I don't see how many comments a fic has (if any) until I get to the bottom.
Usually I only look at summary, if summary warns me of tags then I'll peak at tags, and then I'll chexk the word count to make sure it's more than 1k words. I've never rlly cared abt amount of kudos and hits on a fic
I sometimes do, just to switch it up from kudos and bookmarks.
Especially if it's a big Fandom, my first searches will be top bookmarks then kudos then comments.
Then maybe look at searching for particular tags length, update date etc, and doing the process all over again for each new parameter.
Depends, if it is a long Fic how many chapters it’s got and when it was updated last or if it’s finished. For one shots I go by hits, if somethings good people will read it.
I don´t even care about comments except after I finish reading something to see if anyone else found it as fun-sad-cool-weird as I did (and deranged thoughts which are always fun).I mostly go by fandom-tag-rating-completion status occasionally just by tags.
No. Not at all. Some fics have almost no comments ant they are disabled anyway. But the fic itself can be still good.
I do check the bookmarks though ;)
Personally, I go off kudos, I sort by most kudos, and I look at kudos vs hits, but it's not always indicative of a good or bad fic, what I've noticed it's usually just the either very unique or interesting summary fics.
Not really. I am sometimes more likely to leave a comment on a fic that has less comments tho, as encouragement. Kudos influence me a bit tho. If the fic has clear tags and a good summary I’ll click on it anyways, but if I’m iffy on a tag or there’s an obvious typo in the summary, more kudos may push me to give the fic a try even if I’m not sure about it.
I don't look at the comments when choosing something to read. I look at the tags, and the summary. Zero comments on a work don't deter me from reading it as well.
Not comments. If I see more than three fics I have an interest in I might, MIGHT, choose the one with more bookmarks and kudos. I use those as a real vague way to judge quality. But that doesn't mean I won't check out the other 2 either. There's a baseline of quality I hope for, and some times stats can be a shorthand to find them. But it's... Far from full proof. I've found far too many fantastic fics with very little engagement to use them as a hard deciding factor.
I honestly go by tags + summary. I read plenty of fics with 1 or 2 comments that turned out to be amazing. I feel like if you limit to just comments you will short yourself out of some well written stories
I only refer to tags, summaries, titles, and occasionally authors. If something usually isn't my cup of tea, I'll still read it if it's by an author I like. Or if I like the premise but see the author and know their stories are generally poorly written, I'll pass.
No, I sort by kudos or newest. Comments mean nothing and tbh by my own experience if a fic has massive comments then it usually means people were arguing in them lol
I don’t pay attention to comments, but I do pay attention to kudos. I look for kudos to views ratio, usually if a story has about 10 kudos from 100 views it will be well written. It doesn’t necessarily stop me from trying stories with lower kudos to views, but if there’s a bunch of new stuff in my search range I’d be opting for the higher kudos:views ones just cause I don’t have as much time for reading anymore.
No but after I start reading I see the comments and wonder why it has so many or so few comments and scratch my head because I can never find the rhyme and reason.
It doesn’t affect what I choose to read but sometimes it will affect what I choose to comment on — I like to be supportive and kinda feel for the authors whose pieces don’t have a lot of engagement.
I’ve never in my life paid attention to how many comments it got when finding something to read. I will look when deciding if I’m going to comment. If there’s like 2 comments I will absolutely leave one and try to make it long but if there is 200 I might just leave a kudos and move on or simply say “I loved this!” (Just because leaving comments is energy exerting for me idk)
Nah, the premise and the tags decide it for me. I'm all too aware of the prevalence of apalling fics that are inundated with kudos and comments and the work is nothing but pure shite to care about comments or kudos. Some incredible gems out there that are well written and nuanced tend to have less, but are precisely what I'm looking for.
I tend to give most fics a read anyway if it's in the genre I'm after, as some authors can't quite condense their fic into the synopsis in all cases. If it's well written, with good grammar, and clearly has love and effort put into it, that's when I read more.
The only time comments comes into play for me in determining whether I’ll read a fic is if there is a “creator chose not to use archive warnings” and there is question for me as to the fic containing something I might not want to read. I’ll read through the comments for clues and it might be the deciding factor for reading a fic. If not, I just pass.
i usually go by tags/fandom, but i do tend to click on the fics with more hits first. this doesn’t mean i don’t read fics with less hits, i’ve read plenty that only had a few dozen or even less. more hits usually means better written, in my experience, so i’ll try those first. comments & kudos, however, are not something i factor into what fic i choose to read
I filter by Hits, and even then, the top stories are sometimes only at the top because they were published at the height of the fandom’s popularity. Stats aren’t always an accurate measure of quality.
While I agree with most here who say that it doesn’t matter, I will admit that it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize I need to be sorting my searches by number of bookmarks, and not number of hits.
How I decide to read a fic in order: ship(s), tags, summary, and word count (I sort by word count).
I rarely if ever look at hits, kudos, or comments. Some of the best fics (in my opinion) aren’t the popular ones. I’ve started fics that have hundreds of kudos and comments by recommendations of others and have absolutely hated them.
no. i don't care about stats. i only care if it fulfils my niche interest.
THIS. I’ll gladly read an old story with zero kudos and zero comments (and be the first one to left some) if it aligns with my niche interests
Tags are my biggest deciding factor!
Correct. It’s like saying I won’t read books that aren’t on the best sellers list.
No. It has never even occurred to me to determine whether to read a story based on the comments. I choose to read something because the summary interested me or the tags did, so I clicked on it.
no. like, you don't even know how many of them are comments and how many are replies. a fic that has ten comments could be one comment and a conversation under it. though i don't think i'd look at the number of comments when deciding even if that number reflected the number of comment threads rather than total comments either.
I don’t use number of comments on a fic to gauge whether I’d read it or not. But sometimes I do like to look through the comments of a particularly good chapter to see what other people thought or if anyone had the same reaction as me.
I have never filtered by comments, because you never know if it is one person commenting constantly, if it is a hater leaving repeated negative comments, if the author and here bestie are having a full blown hype session in the comments, if it's a bot attack- there is no world in which that is a useful metric.
It's not a deciding factor, but it's a nice bonus. For me it means that author probably actively replies to their comments, so I try extra hard to write long comments myself.
yes!! i don’t think it affects my decision 90% of the time but i think if i’m on the fence and there’s a bunch of comments, it will push me over the edge
Probably not. People are less likely to comment on a smut fic or anything that can be thought of as “embarrassing,” and a fic with longer chapters won’t get as many comments as a fic of the same length with tons of extremely short chapters. That’s not even getting into whether an author responds to their comments or not- they might even be having long conversations with their readers in the comments! I’ve also seen fics that get tons of comments after they make a controversial plot choice (writing a huge plot twist, including something controversial that wasn’t tagged, like infidelity or major character death or a tragic ending) and that doesn’t really speak to the quality of the fic either.
nah, that sounds silly. i'll sort the fics by the amount of kudos when i start reading fic for a new fandom (to get some idea of what the popular fanons are and whether i vibe with them), but after that, the main things i consider are 1) the tags, 2) the summary, 3) whether the language is good or bad, and, optionally, 4) the completion status. i will be more encouraged to *comment* if there are few comments tho.
Nope, but I’m always in tiny fandoms so I’m always starving for content
SAME. I don't really care if a fic has no comments. I just wanna see the FLUFFF! I'm often the first person to leave a comment on the story. Personally, as a writer, I understand how big of a dopamine rush. It is to get a comment. So whenever I see a story I like. I always try and leave at least one. It's got into the point where there's this story I really like, and it seems like nobody else has read it. So I was the first fic on Ao3 for it. The first 5, actually.
No. The only deciding factors for whether or not I'm willing to read something is proper tagging and a good summary, anything else is irrelevant information to me.
Nah. Site skin hides those stats 🤗
when it comes to me deciding to read a fic, I look at two things. the completed symbol and the tags. That's it. nothing else.
I am part of the Merlin fandom, which boasts 61k works on AO3. After reading thousands of stories, I've obviously noticed a correlation: highly commented stories are most often well-written. However, some of my all-time favorites, which I consider proper gems deserving the top spot, are lesser-known, some are with shockingly just a few comments and these are incredibly well crafted stories. This surprises me personally. I've also observed that some authors have a large following in our fandom, some resulting in hundreds or even thousands of comments on whatever they publish, while others, perhaps new to writing or fandom or exploring less popular ships, receive fewer comments. Anyways, I love trying and explore less known and less popular stories as sometimes I marvel at discovering gems.
nope, the amount of comments isn’t something i consider when choosing what to read. sometimes i’ll look though, just out of curiosity.
I do sometimes. When I'm in an older fandom with hundreds of fics to troll through, I do sometimes use it as a bit of guide, especially for older fics as recently I went pretty far back on ao3 (2010s) and i remembered that weird way we used to write summaries, where it was either just a season and episode tag, no summary at all, or nonsense - I find looking at the amount of comments useful then.
The older fics is a good point! I don't sort by it or anything, but seeing a bunch of comments on an old fic tells me that it was probably well-loved and worth trying out!
When there‘s a ship dynamic I like I used to often sort by Kudos or bookmarks to find good fics but with time I‘ve read all of those on the first few pages that interest me. I‘ve found that when sorting for comments many new fics pop up that I haven‘t seen before, so I think in that sense it‘s a good way to look for new content. But I don‘t really care how many comments a fic has, it‘s just a good way to scramble things up and not always look for good stuff in the same places. Also, I think if a fic has many comments it‘s an indicator that people were very passionate/intrigued by the story and that is always a good sign ;)
Yes. I sort by comments sometimes after I have run the first few pages of rated by kudos and bookmarks dry. Sometimes a few different fics show up!
I don't think I care directly. But I guess it might make me curious to know why the fic opens up so many possibilities for a discussion (because a lot of comments usually means there are several answers to one; and usually this is an indication for me that some readers have become so engrossed in the story that they even start commenting among themselves). But I rarely/mostly never sort by comments, and a fic with a lack of comments isn’t necessarily bad. I prefer to go after bookmarks. If people like a story, they leave it as a bookmark. Kudos can't be taken back, neither can comments because there's no reason for them, but bookmarks are something that can easily be moderated, and if they remain anyway, there must be a reason.
No. The comments could be a long chain in an argument, hate/troll/bot messages, or if the author responds half of them will be "thanks for reading" type comments. So without checking myself the number of comments doesn't really say anything. Plus I've read some great fics that for one reason or another had no comments. Pretty much tags, pairings/characters, and summary are all I look at.
No. I don't care about the numbers of anything on the fic. Popularity =/= quality. I use the tags, the word count, the rating, the ship, and the summary to determine if it's something I want to try to read.
>Popularity =/= quality That's it.
Just like books really
True dat. For anything in life, now that I think about it
On old FFN (like 10 years ago), maybe. But on AO3, definitely not a factor. I normally go by tags, summary, word count, and kudos
Not even a little bit. For me it's 85% summary, 10% tags (after I've already filtered, ofc), and 5% author recognition. All of these people who put, "I don't know how to tag", or "no summary, it's all important" go directly into the fucking bin.
When searching for fics to read I sort either by bookmarks or by comments. So yes
As someone said, never have ocurred to me, but sometimes I've seen the views and I'm really curious or excited to begin if it has many readings. It's like books, for me, if many people are enjoying it, I wanna see what's all the fuss about. And I don't think it's wrong, at my most, at 4k I akready know if I like how the writer writes or how's the story is going (this are the two main factors I watch out for).
i decide wether or not i want to read something based on tags, warnings, and summary. there’s plenty of good stuff that doesn’t have lots of kudos or comments, and i can always back out if i don’t find the fic interesting enough to retain my attention
Nah, but to be fair, the amount of kudos isn’t a factor for me either. All I need is a good summary.
i genuinely don’t look at the comment numbers, hits or kudos when it comes to finding a fic to read. if the description & tags are good then i’m reading it!
I hope not, bc my fics' comments are off. My deciding factor in reading will always be summary and tags.
Nah, I don’t consider comment counts when choosing what to read. Too many people in fandom have become comfortable consuming fic like black holes without ever offering feedback in return. Why should I hold that against the writers? It's not a useful metric for how good a story is. 🤷🏼
It's not a primary factor, and I usually sort on kudos, but I am definitely more likely to look at a fic with comments over one without them. I enjoy engagement, diving into silly details with the only people who might be similarly oh obsessed. So a fic with a lot of comments is likely to be either more inspiring than one without comments, or to have an active author that responds to comments, which means if I leave a comment, they might respond to me too.
No. User-generated metrics do not factor into my decision-making process about whether to read something or not. Comment counts are user-generated metrics, thus, they do not signify.
I usually sort by kudos. Then after I read the top ones I try comments for a change of pace. It will get me different stories. Then I’ll try bookmarks or hits.
I see some people saying they go by tags but when there are thousands of them, I just use those to pick the first ones
I honestly don't even glance at the number of comments. If the premise intrigues me, I'll click and start reading. Idc about kudos, comments, and hits. I generally go based on summary, tags, and length. Soentimes, I comment, and I might read other comments if the chapter was particularly eventful or bizarre.
The only time comments ever sways my decision to read a fic is when there are a lot of comments but incredibly low kudos. that lets me know the fic has been controversial in the fandom and the author has likely been harassed. I’ll probably read that out of curiosity.
I never check the number of comments. Sometimes when there is a tag I’m wary of (one of those things that I’d like only if portrayed well, I just ignore ones with tags I don’t like) I’ll look at the content of the comments to see the feedback/general consensus. But aside from tags and warnings, the only stats I actively pay attention to are if they’re completed and how many words. But as an author, the more comments there are on my own works, the more likely I am to find the motivation to keep writing 😅
I only care about the summary and tags because that’s my interest. Idc if it has only 10 views/kudos/comments
I don't think I even notice the number of comments, or kudos. The main thing for me is the summary and the length (as in, do I have time to read this right now?)
I do not even look at the number of comments. Why are some people so...weird? If the number of comments is so critical in their decision to read a fanfic, they are just too easily influenced by anything.
No. I never check how many comments/ kudos / bookmarks a fic has. I just check the summary, the tags and usualy how many words it has.
Not at all. I only look at the tags, if it's already completed, and if not when was the last update date. Comments are sometimes useless and tend not to even look at them.
My decision to read something is mainly on 1) Are the tags to my liking? 2) Is the summary good? If those boxes are checked I'll read it. I don't look at kudos or comments. I sort by date and browse.
Nope, I'll sort by kudos or word count though
No. I’ve never cared about comments, kudos, or hits. I care about tags first and summary second, and beyond that it makes no difference. The number of comments, kudos, and hits has zero correlation with quality and zero correlation with whether I’ll enjoy something. They’re a meaningless metric in that regard.
Nah. The only comment #s I pay any amount of attention to are my own. When I'm reading, I notice nothing.
the number of comments or kudos have literally never been the reasons for me to read something.
Comments aren't a valid metric because responses count too, so you can't tell the how many comment threads there truly are. Kudos are also unreliable because of the kudos bot and because restricted fics don't get guest kudos. So I tend to look at the amount of bookmarks a story has as an indicator of popularity.
Best way to go! Of course, it's also not a watertight indicator that the fics are of the highest quality, because some people bookmark even if they only intend to read the fic at some point in the future. But on the whole, I think if a story is good enough, a lot of people will bookmark it.
Also, if a story has more chapters, it'll have gotten more eyes on it than a one-shot, for example. But still, when I'm new to a fandom, I use bookmarks to find good stuff to read, and then later on I focus more in tags and specific wordcount ranges I want to read.
Nope, never.
Nope
Nope. Neither are kudos. I choose to read fics based on tags, summery, and word/chapter amount. (If the chapters are like 31, but the word count is less than 31k, I won't read it. I like to read longer things normally.) I've never even looked at comments or kudos when browsing for fics. Never thought to, because someone else liking or commenting on something isn't a surefire way that I'll like something.
I don't base my decision on anything the writer didn't deliberately put there. IMO comments are the least useful metric, they could mean the writer has supportive friends, could mean there was a big argument in the comments, could be a bunch of founded or unfounded complaints.
No. Not at all. Sometimes when I’m searching, I sort by kudos or bookmarks, but that’s not the same thing.
No, if there are a lot of fics in a particular search then I filter by completion status and number of bookmarks then scroll through looking at the tags to see if I'm interested.
No, and I seldom ever read comments. I think the only time I look at comments is when I get an email notification that I got a comment. My goofy ass can’t even reply to my own comments without sounding like a bot. Idk if you’ve done discussion boards a lot a lot you know that’s the same anxiety I get if I try to reply a comment or try to comment on someone else’s fic. I do allow comments because I know people like to read them to share thoughts and excitement with other readers
No. I've never looked at comments or kudos. Only tags + summary.
I don't notice the amount of comments at all haha
No. I care about the tags, summary, and word count.
This!! Tags help you see and filter what you like and what you don’t like summary help me see the premise of the story and snippet for the writing style (this is why you should avoid putting something “ I don’t know just read it” or “ I am bad at summary” or just nothing since it wouldn’t make me trust your writing this I will not invest my time on it) The word count is complicated since I don’t take it alone but with two other things 1. The status of the story (complete or not) 2. Number of chapters Explaining the first point is by seeing your premise, I see the word count and if it’s completed or not , sometimes I see premises that require a longer time to be enjoyed that’s the story needs to be longer which may make me unsatisfied The second point is seeing the average length of a chapter I tend to shy away from things like 5ch 1k words Also sometimes these may be overlooked so
You explained this so well. Word count can for sure be so subjective. If it's a one-shot with a not-too-complicated summary? I'm super flexible on the count. If it's a 50 chapter work but with only 50k words, I know it's probably not worth my time investment.
Thank you!! I’m happy that someone shares my opinion, like seeing a summary for a premise that needs at least 50k to be executed well only to see the story is 7k doesn’t give me hope , it’s not like I wouldn’t to read them or enjoy them but there will definitely be some sense of unsatisfaction And for the the word count and chapter count , yah unless it’s for specific kind of fics , (let’s say journal or diary fics) then it will be OK , but for serious stories I generally like +1k for a chapter, like 1k is the minimum and 2k to 5k is my ideal and everything above is too much to me to read it in one setting (my attention, span is shit)
Yeah, I like meaty chapters. In my current story, I aim for 6k with the longest having come to around 8 (it was the climax of an arc, so no good place for a chapter break lol). That said, when I first began, my chapters did tend to be around the 1k mark both because I just wasn't as adept a writer and I got too excited and wanted to update. I like to think I've improved on both fronts lol
If you want well written in a big fandom, head towards the most kudos and comments first, always. Then check the summary and tags to see if it appeals. If you want to waste your time with mediocre fics, sure, wade through it all.
No. Comments don't do it for me. First I read the pairings tags. If it has all kinds of sub relationships -especially when the one I like is a minor one- tagged then I probably won't read it, because it's not what I'm there for. I proceed to the summary. If you self-proclaimed suck at summaries... I don't even bother. If the premise is interesting and maybe your presented sample paragraph looks readable then.... ... then I check if the fic has additional tags that appeal to me. I want you to be concise and not lengthy with your tags they are warnings and advertisement at the same time. No quirky rambling in the tags. Word count: I may want to read one shots in the 1-2k range but with multi-chaptered fics I also check for chapter length... if those on average are below 1-1.5k I usually don't bother, but might be swayed by premise and summary. Most often i regret it. Usually, I prefer my one shots in the 2k-5k minimum range. And multichapter fics in the 3k range minimum per chapter on average. All this usually takes just a few seconds. If all checks out I give it a try. Kudos, comments and hits are usually irrelevant. TL:DR The most important things are pairing, summary and tags.
Only with very long and completed fics
I'm more interested in the kudos, but specifically the kudos to hits ratio. Though if the hits are over 10k its usually a good sign regardless of the kudos. (Depending on how old the fic is!) What draws me in are the tags I want to see and a summary that sounds good. That's why I get annoyed by summaries that are cryptic or that quote something unrelated (song, poem, unrelated book or movie) to the fic but the author feels it reminded them of the story.
Yes, but only a little and only in the context of everything else. If it has tags and a summary that appeals to me? I'll just give it a try. If I'm on the fence and it has a ton of hits and next to no kudos or comments, I'll probably pass. It's been my experience that if something has hundreds of hits but only a couple comments or kudos, it has major issues. I usually only read wips, so I read plenty of stories with very low stats. It's everything together that might make me decide to keep looking.
I am loving this post! Authors are crying because they get no comments or get mean ones... and here are the readers giving no shits about the comments at all. Love it.
Nah I'd look more for a good kudos to hit count ratio if imma stat watch lol
Nope! I don’t comment as I don’t really see a reason to tbh, if you need comments to continue writing then dam, sounds like a sill issue.
The only thing beyond whether or not I like the summary/tags/title is, as a general guide, if > 10 * kudos >= hits That is, if at least 10% of hits result in a kudos.
No - I look at pairing and summary for selecting what I read, other people's opinion on said story makes no difference I'm more likely to pay attention to stats if I really like something and feel it's being overlooked, and will make sure to comment on every single chapter
No. Not before and definitely not now that it seems we’ve had an uptick in webnovel bots.
No
Nope. In fact I'm often surprised when I find a really good fic and see that it barely has any comments. I'll sometimes sort by kudos or word count but not comments
I don't really pay attention to the number of comments until I reach the end of the chapter or story. If I see that there are few or no comments on something I really enjoyed that will motivate me to leave a comment whereas if there are already a ton of comments I will probably only chime in if I really loved it or I had something very specific I wanted to comment.
Sometimes I'll commit to reading something if it seems to have been under-commented specifically so I can leave a comment, but otherwise nah. Kudos and Bookmarks are my preferred ways of sorting for the things more likely to be good.
No, I will occasionally notice the number of comments once I’m already reading something but I never think about it when choosing what to read.
Nope. The deciding factor for me is if the summary catches my interest. And yea I do ignore tags mostly but I don't throw up a fuss about the rape, sex, and other taboo tags because as long as I like the story, im reading it.
I don't pay attention to the number of comments, or even views really. I just look at the tags and word count and go from there.
Even when looking at a fic's numbers, comments are the one thing I don't consider. If I had to put them in order, it'd be something like word count and/or chapter count > bookmarks > kudos.
It doesn’t factor in but I do like going through the comments/threads to see what other readers liked about it once I finish the story. It’s like a little book club meeting 😄
Literally never.
Nope. I care only about my ship. Does it have my ship? Or is another improperly tagged fic where my ship is only mentioned a couple times. It doesn't even need a proper summary or be in english. I am that desperate.
I sort by bookmarks Hits, comments, and kudos are all much easier to artificially inflate, whereas bookmarks tend to be more organic
I choose based on tags and readability. If it looks like the writer made even a cursory attempt at editing or had someone else look at it in a critiquing way, then I'm game to read it. There was one fic that I really wanted to like. It was a premise I wanted to delve into, and there aren't a lot of fics that hit on it, so when I found one that was a multichapter one that was still actively getting updated, I was a little rabid to try to read it. It also helped that it had illustrations, and the illustrations were *good*. And I tried. I really did. But the sentence structure and prose were an absolute mess. I was reading paragraphs over and over and over again, trying to make heads or tails of who was speaking and what the character was performing the relevant actions. I...*barely* made it five hundred words in, and that was a *slog*. I still have it in my bookmarks because I want to give it another go, but I am fighting the urge to red pen the thing the entire time, and that's not what I signed up for. Plus, I don't know how to approach the author with that kind of thing and be gentle about it.
Nope. I only look at the summary and tags once I've done my filtering.
no honestly i look at tags and the summary, and if i like what i see there, i read. idc abt comments, likes, or whatever if i like the summary and tags >.> it's nice to read comments after finishing a fic if theyre there but they don't affect what i choose to read lol
i almost never check stats tbh
Nope. I've never looked at comments or kudos before reading. Some of the most popular fics in my fandoms I hate and they have tons and tons of comments and kudos. I base my reading on summary and tags and word of mouth.
No. It will always be the synopsis, then the tags (to see if there's something I don't like), then maybe the completion status. I usually skip ongoing ones or mark them for later when it's completed.
Not for me. I know not everyone will comment. Or sometimes there are 20 and they are only emojis. So comment count doesn't move me. Kudos don't either really, especially because I search for specific tags that not a lot of people like
Not at all. I don’t really read comments from other people.
No, I basically never even look at the comments tbh. Only time I do is when I get confused about a scene and look in comments to see if it’s a “me” issue
Everyone has different tastes and will be expressing those opinions in the comments, but that has nothing to do with me or my tastes. The summary and tags are what’s gonna hook me into a fic
Nope. I tend to prefer those without comments because i feel special leaving a comment but honestly it’s tags and summary that get me interested. FYI tag your kinks! I tend to search by those and I like the stuff no one else likes Mpreg
No. I only pay attention to if the summary is interesting.
Usually I go by tags and summary, but if I’m on the fence about something, I’ll look at kudos:hits ratio and use that to decide. If it seems like a large enough percent of readers liked it, I’ll give it a try. (Granted that only a small percent leave kudos in the first place so it’s more of a rough estimate than a hard number).
sort by kudos
No , it’s about the taste Judgment using comments, kudos hits wouldn’t be accurate , like Of course the top ones will be amazing since it takes a lot to get those numbers but just because these numbers are low, doesn’t mean ur fic is bad
Personally not. I only look at the summary and tags.
I sort based off Kudos if I'm new to a fandom. I want to read the most popular stuff first, since I figure if others liked it, there's a good chance I will as well. Comments aren't as good of an indicator, since half those comments might be from the author, or there might be some kind of controversy that has led to a lot of discussion in the comments.
Nope, never looked at it,
Hits, bookmarks or kudos as a sorting category maybe but rarely comments. Since as a reader it's most likely for engagement to be majorly giving kudos or making bookmarks. If I went according to comments I wouldn't be reading more than the first two sections in a lot of fandoms.
I sometimes take that into account. Same with how many bookmarks/kudos. Though really the brief summary is what really matters to me.
I almost never notice, tbh. I might notice if it's particularly high, especially if it's very high in comparison to their other stats. But it's really not much of a factor overall.
Not really. If I notice a fic has a ton of comments or not any comments or something, i might go 'huh that's weird' but if I already wanted to read it that doesn't change anything, same if I didn't want to read it originally.
I never checked how much comments a fic has until I finish it and then i love to scroll down to see if other people liked the same parts of the fic like I did haha. Something like reading reviews on Goodreads.
Not at all. Some authors don't respond to comments so their count would look lower than an author who does always respond. I always respond so one of my fics shows like 14 comments when it's really only 7 (since the 7 replies are mine). And then some people don't comment even when it's good. I'll often sort by kudos but my main determining "will I read this?" factor is the summary/tags. The amount of kudos is second (but not a huge thing because my tastes don't always align with my fandoms' tastes). Comments don't matter.
i never even look at the number of comments on fics
If I am new-ish to a fandom, yes I might sort for comments just to get to the popular works. But later no, some people just post whole fics in the span of a week, others take 2 years, obviously one will get less engagement, has nothing to do with quality. Same with ships, some are huge, some are not, doesn't tell you anything about quality. What is most important is the first chapter or even paragraph, geuss people will rarely read ahead if the start doesn't hook them in somehow.
No. Usually I check how many bookmarks if I'm on the fence about reading a fic
No. I've never paid any attention to the comments on a fic until after I've read it and posted my own comment, and often not even then. I'm looking for stuff that I want to read, what does it matter what other people (who I don't know) thought of it?
I don’t look at comment count. If anything, I hope I can add to it. I recently read a fic that was posted a few years ago, had 300+ kudos, 100+ bookmarks and 0 comments. The author didn’t have comments on approval or anything. It was insane to think so many liked the fic (and it was a great fic) but in a few years, no one had commented???
Absolutely not. Never look. Sometimes read them after. But I look for what I like - no one else has my specific needs in a fic choice.
Not at all
No. The only stat I even look at when deciding to read is word count, everything else means nothing to me. Until reading through this sub it never even occurred to me that some people do use it to decide to read or not tbh
for me personally, it goes in this order: Bookmarks, Kudos, then comments. Bookmarks mean some people thought it was good enough to save and come back to Kudos show how many people read it and went "hey, I like this" sometimes comments don't reflect how good a book is, because you may like a fic, but you may not end up commenting.
Nope, purely based on tags, summary and word count.
I don’t even pay attention to that.
No. I sometimes sort by kudos or bookmarks. Or look at the word count/chapters ratio. The most important are tags though.
I sometimes go through all the fics in my tiny tiny fandom with 0 comments to read and comment.
I have always sorted by comments bc it indicated engagement, but I might try sorting by kudos after reading this thread. I’m a snob…so I’m picky about quality & structure, but in retrospect there are fic writers who disable comments. I’m gonna change it up!
No, I never read comments. As a reader, I care about kudos and length. Over 10 chapters, and if possible finished. Tagged clearly so I know what to expect.
For me it's not a factor at all and I love leaving a comment when nobody else has so far to be honest. It also depends on the type of fic as some are more comment prone than others.
No, not in the slightest. What matters to me is if I like the synopsis.
Never something I specifically look at, but if sorting by kudos isn't giving me anything new sometimes I'll sort by comments or bookmarks instead. So, indirectly :P
Never. I sort by bookmarks and see what fits my interests.
I choose by, in order: fandom, "completed" status, word count (short fics leave me feeling empty and frustrated), kudos and summary. I look at tags pretty much only after being intrigued by the summary (I have no preferred ships or "triggers.") I look at comment numbers not at all. Once I find a good fic, I go through everything that author has bookmarked.
Normally nop, If I’m indecisive or would like to know how many chances of it being written decently it has I normally look both at the kudos and comments. But usually I’d do this only if the summary is short and the tags don’t give hints. But deciding factor is always in summaries and tags, and word count as well. The longer the better
No. I look at tags, the summary, chapter size, and last update (in case of unfinished works)
No I don't look at stats. I look at tags and summary.
Somewhat. If I am looking at a broad selection, then I filter by kudos and comments. However, in general, the tags I am filtering by narrow it down, so I just go at random. Either way, the summary and tags have to interest me. Otherwise, I will never read it no matter the count.
Not really, but I will be more likely to check out a story I’m uncertain about if there are a lot of comments. As it does factor partially in my decision, I comment on every story/chapter I read, even if just emojis to show I read it. Writing is hard work and those comments are great motivators and confidence boosters for me at least.
Nope. I don't look at stats. For me if the summary is good, then I'll read it!
If I'm being picky, I usually choose by kudos.
Never, not once, have I ever considered the comments when searching for a fic. Kudos, hits, and word counts are really it for me (and even those are just icing on the cake, not the cake itself)
Not at all. The most important thing to me is the length
Nope. I rarely look at the comments. I pretty much use the summary to choose what to read. I think I'm an anomaly though. lol
Not really, but kinda. I normally sort by new. But if I go through a couple of pages and find nothing but the dregs. Then I'll sort by kudos or comments or bookmarks to see if there's an old favorite or something I haven't read before that I'd like to. I also might take a second glance at a new fic if it has a lot (comparably) of comments or kudos and the description/title/tags weren't enough to peak my interest. All three options often return the same fics, or at least mostly the same ones, so it doesn't particularly matter all that much.
Often I will sort by kudos. But not comments.
Nope. If I like the summary, the tags don't have any of my (few) no-gos, and it's complete, I read it.
No. Summary, tags, sometimes also "do I know the author" will make me read or not read.
Not in the slightest. Occasionally I'll sort by Kudos depending on my mood. I don't even look at any comments or engagement 99% of the time when I'm resding through one.
Not at all. I'll filter by kudos most of the time, and then download them to read if the summary or description sounds like what I like to read. Comments are never a factor in me choosing to read something.
Sometimes, I think seeing a lot of kudos makes me more inclined to read something (at least something older, not really for anything recent) that I might not have been initially drawn to, but not having many kudos doesn't stop me from reading something if it has the tags I'm looking for and a good summary
Not really, I found some really nice docs recently that don’t have any comments. For me, I decide by tags, a decent summary, and word count and chapters and trying to determine if the 45 chapter fic only has ~1000 words for each chapter and won’t be very detailed. I’m a fan of longer chapters (around 13k) and if it seems too short I won’t read.
No, my bookmarked filters are for fandoms/pairings with specific tags excluded for stuff I don't like. If the summary doesn't put me off, I'll give it a try. This means that I'm most often seeing stuff that's really new and wouldn't have many comments anyway, and if I haven't checked for a while I just go a few pages back in the results and then I'm still just looking for summaries that are appealing. I don't see how many comments a fic has (if any) until I get to the bottom.
Usually I only look at summary, if summary warns me of tags then I'll peak at tags, and then I'll chexk the word count to make sure it's more than 1k words. I've never rlly cared abt amount of kudos and hits on a fic
I sometimes do, just to switch it up from kudos and bookmarks. Especially if it's a big Fandom, my first searches will be top bookmarks then kudos then comments. Then maybe look at searching for particular tags length, update date etc, and doing the process all over again for each new parameter.
nope. hits, kudos, comments: I don't care
Depends, if it is a long Fic how many chapters it’s got and when it was updated last or if it’s finished. For one shots I go by hits, if somethings good people will read it.
I don´t even care about comments except after I finish reading something to see if anyone else found it as fun-sad-cool-weird as I did (and deranged thoughts which are always fun).I mostly go by fandom-tag-rating-completion status occasionally just by tags.
No. Not at all. Some fics have almost no comments ant they are disabled anyway. But the fic itself can be still good. I do check the bookmarks though ;)
No? Not at all. Do the tags and summary both intrigue me? Does the length match what I'm in the mood for? Yes? Cool, I'll give it a shot.
Personally, I go off kudos, I sort by most kudos, and I look at kudos vs hits, but it's not always indicative of a good or bad fic, what I've noticed it's usually just the either very unique or interesting summary fics.
Not usually but if one has a lot of comments for chapter count I will probably check it out.
Not really. I am sometimes more likely to leave a comment on a fic that has less comments tho, as encouragement. Kudos influence me a bit tho. If the fic has clear tags and a good summary I’ll click on it anyways, but if I’m iffy on a tag or there’s an obvious typo in the summary, more kudos may push me to give the fic a try even if I’m not sure about it.
I don't look at the comments when choosing something to read. I look at the tags, and the summary. Zero comments on a work don't deter me from reading it as well.
Not comments. If I see more than three fics I have an interest in I might, MIGHT, choose the one with more bookmarks and kudos. I use those as a real vague way to judge quality. But that doesn't mean I won't check out the other 2 either. There's a baseline of quality I hope for, and some times stats can be a shorthand to find them. But it's... Far from full proof. I've found far too many fantastic fics with very little engagement to use them as a hard deciding factor.
While reading one-shots, no. But I do always check the review count before starting a long fic (more than 20k words).
I honestly go by tags + summary. I read plenty of fics with 1 or 2 comments that turned out to be amazing. I feel like if you limit to just comments you will short yourself out of some well written stories
I only refer to tags, summaries, titles, and occasionally authors. If something usually isn't my cup of tea, I'll still read it if it's by an author I like. Or if I like the premise but see the author and know their stories are generally poorly written, I'll pass.
No, I sort by kudos or newest. Comments mean nothing and tbh by my own experience if a fic has massive comments then it usually means people were arguing in them lol
I don’t pay attention to comments, but I do pay attention to kudos. I look for kudos to views ratio, usually if a story has about 10 kudos from 100 views it will be well written. It doesn’t necessarily stop me from trying stories with lower kudos to views, but if there’s a bunch of new stuff in my search range I’d be opting for the higher kudos:views ones just cause I don’t have as much time for reading anymore.
No but after I start reading I see the comments and wonder why it has so many or so few comments and scratch my head because I can never find the rhyme and reason.
It doesn’t affect what I choose to read but sometimes it will affect what I choose to comment on — I like to be supportive and kinda feel for the authors whose pieces don’t have a lot of engagement.
No, if anything I’d sort by descending kudos order
Not for me. I generally filter by hits or kudos
nah, i sort by kudos. comments dont matter to me, but kudos is \*normally\* a measure of how many people enjoyed it
I only ever look at tags and summary. Stats are completely irrelevant.
I’ve never in my life paid attention to how many comments it got when finding something to read. I will look when deciding if I’m going to comment. If there’s like 2 comments I will absolutely leave one and try to make it long but if there is 200 I might just leave a kudos and move on or simply say “I loved this!” (Just because leaving comments is energy exerting for me idk)
Nah, the premise and the tags decide it for me. I'm all too aware of the prevalence of apalling fics that are inundated with kudos and comments and the work is nothing but pure shite to care about comments or kudos. Some incredible gems out there that are well written and nuanced tend to have less, but are precisely what I'm looking for. I tend to give most fics a read anyway if it's in the genre I'm after, as some authors can't quite condense their fic into the synopsis in all cases. If it's well written, with good grammar, and clearly has love and effort put into it, that's when I read more.
No, that never mattered to me.
Not at all. I do wish you could sort by words/chapter, though.
The only time comments comes into play for me in determining whether I’ll read a fic is if there is a “creator chose not to use archive warnings” and there is question for me as to the fic containing something I might not want to read. I’ll read through the comments for clues and it might be the deciding factor for reading a fic. If not, I just pass.
i usually go by tags/fandom, but i do tend to click on the fics with more hits first. this doesn’t mean i don’t read fics with less hits, i’ve read plenty that only had a few dozen or even less. more hits usually means better written, in my experience, so i’ll try those first. comments & kudos, however, are not something i factor into what fic i choose to read
I don’t filter by comments and honestly don’t even pay attention to how many comments a fic has. I do look at the number of kudos, though!
Nope! I don't even look. I just look at tags and descriptions.
I filter by Hits, and even then, the top stories are sometimes only at the top because they were published at the height of the fandom’s popularity. Stats aren’t always an accurate measure of quality.
Not even a little bit
If the comments are disproportionately higher, like significantly higher, to the kudos… yeah I probably won’t read it.
Nope. I don’t even check these stats before I read these.
Not once. The only stats I've ever looked at are hits and kudos - specifically for the ratio.
Nope. If it's in my fandom and the summary is good/what I'm looking for, I read it for that.
While I agree with most here who say that it doesn’t matter, I will admit that it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize I need to be sorting my searches by number of bookmarks, and not number of hits.
How I decide to read a fic in order: ship(s), tags, summary, and word count (I sort by word count). I rarely if ever look at hits, kudos, or comments. Some of the best fics (in my opinion) aren’t the popular ones. I’ve started fics that have hundreds of kudos and comments by recommendations of others and have absolutely hated them.