Subject Line of Comments and Revealing the Story Content.
Sometimes the subject line of a comment can give away an important element of the story.
The latest chapter of Anistasia Allread's the "Princess and the Plague" was just posted. Within a few minutes of her posting, several of her avid readers, had already read the story, and posted their comments. In the Subject Line of the comment, which also appears on the front page, they unintentionally gave away, one of the most important happenings in the chapter.
Often when I come to BCTS or is it TSBC, I look at the comment section before I look at the stories. Sometimes, the subject of the comment gives away what is occurring in a story I want to read.
Luckily, for me at least, in this case, I read the story, before those comments were posted. I would have been disappointed, if I had seen them, and knew what was going to happen before I read it.
Perhaps, in posting a comment, we should try and be careful not to give away what is happening.
Perhaps the first line of the comment can be what you wanted to put in the Subject.
I am sure that I have been guilty of this myself, so this is not an attack or accusation.
If you have any thoughts on this that would be great.
RAMI
Comments
Subject Line of Comments
I use the "new this week" link to look for new stories before catching up on the comments. That way I can read the stories without "comment subject spoilers" :-)
M
Martina
It's been a problem in the past, too
And we (the admin) try to stay on top of that. It annoys me, too, as I don't like spoilers of any kind, even the "minor" ones.
Tough call
I agree, don't give away the story in the subject line of a comment. From there it gets harder. Writers may want different things. I know some authors that expect, even demand that a comment discuss the story, and that is hard to do without revealing plot details. Others are content to be told you liked their story. I have posted generic praise for a story, only to have the author PM me and ask that I leave more specific comments. And I have read author blogs and comments that say, in effect 'if all you can say is "I liked your story", then don't bother commenting'.
On the flipside of that, sometimes I just don't feel like dissecting a story and analyzing the contents. I'm not in Lit. class in high school anymore, and many times all I want to say is "Thanks for the story, I enjoyed it".
Some on here would be disappointed if I didn't comment on the fine points of their latest chapter. I have had one author actually contact me and ask why I wasn't commenting on his latest story. On the other hand, a couple of authors probably prepare for the worst, figuratively-speaking, when they see my name attached to a comment on their stories.
So, anyway, there is not a one-size-fits-all rule for comments, especially if the author is new to BC and you don't have a clue what they are looking for in story comments. In the end, all you can do is try and be considerate of both the author and the other readers.
KJT
“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” - Turkish Proverb
I try to, if it wasn't already revealed in previous chapter ...
to type in a BIG font , *PLOT SPOILER* or something like that. If it is a really big spoiler I put it in the title. I do *F* up on occasion, sorry.
If what I am commenting on was several chapters ago for the most part, I am not spoiling the plot, usually. Often I am speculating and later check to see how close or how way *F*ing far off I was.
I think reader feedback is much of the fun of stories here, so long as we don’t reveal too much of the upcoming plot, I feel it’s no harm, no foul.
When we do *F* up, smack us hard, okay?
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa