Questions Regarding Confounding Information and Sharing of Tidbits

Okay, so it's been roughly a day since I posted the most recent chapter of Unraveling a Rainbow, and going back through the comments and demographic sections of my story, I've come across a trend that has plagued me since day one of trying to write this story as well an issue that I've had for a very long time.

Clarity.

So the issue is that I have a problem of trusting myself with giving information out or I am overestimating my reader's memory, probably the former. I try to walk a fine line of description not giving too much away to spoil something while also trying to give just enough to shed slightly more light on what is going on. I know what is going on and I am struggling to reach that happy balance of the readers on the same page as I am while just far enough behind to not know everything that is going on, and apparently I'm really bad at it. Like really, really bad.

I go back in my comments section and the bulk of them are "what the heck?" or "I don't get it..." which at first I was like "Yes! I've got their attention and they want to know more!" which, more recently, has spiraled down to "I think I've totally lost them on what's going on..." Admittedly, the second and seventh chapters have been on me as I try to tease what's going on in the next chapter with a cliffhanger, but just wind up confusing everyone. However, these can be and hopefully are corrected now. Grr... writing for a visual medium is so much easier!

For all my formal education and resources, I think I'm missing the mark too much to figure this one out without an open call for help. So my first question to you, as readers and fellow authors of FimFiction: Where do you find the happy balance of sharing information? Am I overestimating what nuggets of information I give right now that may spoil something down the road? How do you try to formulate hints and set-ups for pay-offs down the line?

My second question: Are you lost? If so, is it a hunger for more information or just a mediocre lost with confounding information? I am very careful to not contradict myself when writing this alternate universe, but are there some bits of information that just seem too contradictory to believe? Keep in mind, some things are designed to be contradictory to your perceptions as you should be surprised when the expectation isn't met or reversed, but if it's not something I've planned, then it's something I need to keep in mind for the future.

A note about all of this: Do not ask me to post clarifying statements OUTSIDE of the story. I am a firm believer that a published work should be able stand on its own legs without its author going back to defend it. As a writer, if I need to explain things outside the bounds of the net-novel, then I am failing my job of communicating effectively and I need to go back and rework it.