Generationally, I've noticed that younger readers tend to leave downright derogatory or at least disheartening comments -- like, I'll work hard on a long angsty hurt/comfort chapter, and the only comment I'll get will be from a 19-year-old saying "lol" and making fun of some small element. Crushing!
Oh god, same! In my experience it's not necessarily young people exclusively, but it is typically people who (I would consider) newer to fandom. I often get comments that I find incredibly rude, either because they're insulting or like... damning with faint praise?? Like "Oh, huh, I don't get why he kissed him. I don't ship this :( But I guess maybe it makes sense with what happens later on in this story..." Not a word for word quote, but something almost identical to something somebody said to me on a multi chapter where the thing they didn't ship was tagged.
Again, I think people are increasingly seeing fanworks as Content™ and comments as being similar to reviews or even live reactions, as opposed to something that somebody they share a community with created and might be insulted by. Like being given a scratchy sweater that's too tight around the neck, with lumpy stitches and a horrible colour, and yelling the person who made it "Huh, not really my thing. Thanks though :(" They see it more like... buying a shitty sweater on ASOS and giving it a one star review on the site, because it wasn't what you wanted and you thought it was an Inferior Product. Which, honestly, is part of the reason I roll my eyes so much at the "You have to comment! It is very rude not to!" crowd, because I think not commenting is neutral, but leaving comments like that is actively rude.
And then, of course, there's the people who express enthusiasm for your work by hyperbolic pretend-anger and insulting language, which... often just reads as insulting, because a) the person reading it can't always guess the intended tone and b) the person reading it has no preexisting relationship with them and this kind of joking is, at best, an overstep in familiarity when communicating with strangers
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Date: 2023-03-13 06:41 pm (UTC)Oh god, same! In my experience it's not necessarily young people exclusively, but it is typically people who (I would consider) newer to fandom. I often get comments that I find incredibly rude, either because they're insulting or like... damning with faint praise?? Like "Oh, huh, I don't get why he kissed him. I don't ship this :( But I guess maybe it makes sense with what happens later on in this story..." Not a word for word quote, but something almost identical to something somebody said to me on a multi chapter where the thing they didn't ship was tagged.
Again, I think people are increasingly seeing fanworks as Content™ and comments as being similar to reviews or even live reactions, as opposed to something that somebody they share a community with created and might be insulted by. Like being given a scratchy sweater that's too tight around the neck, with lumpy stitches and a horrible colour, and yelling the person who made it "Huh, not really my thing. Thanks though :(" They see it more like... buying a shitty sweater on ASOS and giving it a one star review on the site, because it wasn't what you wanted and you thought it was an Inferior Product. Which, honestly, is part of the reason I roll my eyes so much at the "You have to comment! It is very rude not to!" crowd, because I think not commenting is neutral, but leaving comments like that is actively rude.
And then, of course, there's the people who express enthusiasm for your work by hyperbolic pretend-anger and insulting language, which... often just reads as insulting, because a) the person reading it can't always guess the intended tone and b) the person reading it has no preexisting relationship with them and this kind of joking is, at best, an overstep in familiarity when communicating with strangers