I stumbled across the weirdest... weirdness in the world & I had to come here to ask. A bunch of fanfic writers were all bashing writers who reply to comments. Is this actually the norm? Are writers who reply to comments viewed as attention seekers, and waaay more importantly, do they make their readers regret commenting in the first place? I'm just flabbergasted! A comment, short or long, detailed or just "Love", deserves a thank you at the very least in my book. Am I weirding out my readers?
o.O
I very much doubt it. I haven’t seen this discussion and can’t comment on the specifics, but I find that a very odd notion.
I know that different readers and authors have different attitudes about comments, kudos, and other feedback. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some fans out there that judge some writers as attention seeking in their responses to readers. But on the whole, I think that authors responding to reader feedback with thanks is a completely reasonable behavior – and, in fact, is usually a generous and kind gesture. Given the number of authors responding to comments on AO3, and the lack of author shaming I’ve witnessed there, my impression is that on that platform, at least, most fans agree with me. However, it’s also possible there are some contexts or platforms where author responses are not the norm, and I’m not aware of those. But I wouldn’t fret.