Feel a obligation to give the VIP treatment so you'll be more memorable even though you're a small-time author who doesn't have a mass of followers? Under the belief that you need to respond and thank the person who fave'd your story? Need someone to stroke your ego so you leave a "thank you" note hoping you'll receive a pat on the head like a good dog?

They better wait before leaving that thank you note because that person may not like the rest of the stories and then won't read the rest of them. Especially when they don't add anything else and ask a question or try to strike a conversation. Whenever I see a plain "thank you" note I don't see the purpose of that. Send the "thank you" notes to my PM box, don't spam my comments section. I'll see if leaving a notice saying to PM all "thank you" notes will work. Time to experiment...

Meh, my brain cells were bored enough to move this topic to the top of my query list. Humor my brain cells please (don't do et, they're slacking off!).

Note: My response further down the page

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You favourite a story if you think it was good enough to deserve it. The author thanks you to let you know they appreciate the compliment. It's not that complicated, unless you're some kind of internet autist who doesn't "get" courtesy and shit.

Well, unless you're like me and have your shelves on private. Then nobody can tell anyway.

4564267 I've only ever done it once. He added my story to a bookshelf called awesomeness and when I checked it was the only listed story!

4564267 People thank others for liking their stories because it's polite and it shows that they're paying attention to those who are interested in what they're writing, not because they feel inadequate. This entire post came across as a bit condescending, especially since you've never written anything.

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I used to do this myself until recently.

However, I wouldn't just leave a "thank you" post with a link to the story, I would link to funny images, tell a joke or two, and depending on the story, have characters from said story give a unique dialogue in appreciation to the person who liked my stuff. To be honest, I do it because I like it when I see that little notification telling me that someone enjoyed the work I spent a lot of time making.

However, I don't do that now. It just doesn't feel personal or sincere enough for me. It seems like an underhanded way of promoting yourself on another user's page.

What I do now is PM. I thank the person for liking the story, tell them a little bit of info about it (facts, current progress, etc.) and then ask them what they liked about it. The PM method has gotten me a much warmer response and I feel like I'm actually leaving a warmer response with my readers.

4564285 I just say thank you for liking my story. I don't link it or say the title of it or anything, I just leave a thank you to show I appreciate the fave.

I did think about opening a public shelf titled "Completely and irredeemably horrible trash," but then I realized I can already use groups for that and not actually be doing anything that can be reported.

4564267 They Do It Because They Are Greedy Attention Whores Who Are With The Illuminati! DON'T BELIEVE THEIR LIES!!!

4564267 why not? They like the story and I belief it's for the best.

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While it is true I haven't made any stories on this site, I have published fanfics over the years on many other websites that I have either forgotten about or have shut down with the exception of one site still alive and thriving after many years. At first I held the same, or similar, excitement and gratitude for people who liked my stories (in whatever quality they were) so much as to add them to their favorite's. I did the same thing and more such as statistics and such just as Lost Marbles said. However, I rarely got a reply so I stopped messaging people. I hardly saw that kind of interaction and simplifying my message to a simple "thank you" note felt meaningless if that's all I was going to say. It's like sending a holiday card to a relative or friend you never see and hardly talk to over the phone. I wasn't popular, but I was slowly gaining fans of one or two of my stories. Some time later people started messaging each other for the sole purpose of shameless self-promotion, flaunting their fics especially to struggling authors to make them quit and other pathetic actions.

At one point I just forgot about fanfiction all together.

I come back a couple years later, start up a new profile and got back to reading. Felt inspired to brush up on my authorship, published two fics as pet projects, became a brony and noticed so many "thank you" notes on a lot of people's profiles-hardly any of them with the intention of having a conversation. I don't know about anyone else, but posting simple "thank you" notes and honestly meaning it made this site seem like a niche to me. It's not hard for me to understand, I'm not some "internet autist" (lol), I am just inquiring for myself if this site is the exception to the rule I have learned over the years. On the other hand a "thank you" note is easy to just paste-and-go especially when one has too many followers to leave personalized messages expressing gratitude.

I'm not disagreeing with any of you. In fact I was hoping Wlam, MartianMan and other similar minds would respond and give me a no-nonsense, cut-the-bullshit answer. I'm satisfied now, thank you everyone (dunno bout Corey, lol) for replying to my query.

Now I must resist the impulse to reply to Corey and derail my own thread (again [again], again).

...

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DAMN IT COREY

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