I'll match every story of people "driven away" because of expectations about them actually responding in a shared community with another of someone who gave up posting for lack of encouragement or a feeling that they weren't part of "the in-crowd who get replies".

Why else would anybody bother to write about a rather bizarre group of mostly derivative characters in a micro-genre such as the Parodyverse except for the fun of interacting with others?

In fact, the few times I've posted "serious" non-Parodyverse works here they've had consistently less response. People tend to go elsewhere to do their general fiction reading. They come here because they like the setting and know the characters, and because they like interaction with the posters - at leas that's my assumption.

> I don't think what you said is fair to L!. And I don't think what L! said is fair to AG. People should reply because hey, here's something they want to read and enjoy... not out of a sense of duty. Not because someone is giving them a guilt trip. It takes away a lot of the pleasure.

What pleasure is there in being part of a community of writers and not contributing? And how can such a community endure without that feedback?

I saw your post on the top of the board about only 7 replies to your latest story. (And like I said that was a good number for me) You should ask yourself whether you're writing PVB stories because you sincerely enjoy it or if its just for the immediate satisfaction and affirmation from someone complimenting you.

Well, perhaps I'm so selfish and fragile-egoed that I require the validation of a small number of regular correspondents to tell me that what I've written was of some value. Or perhaps I just expect the same courtesy that I give to others here if they have put time and effort into creating and sharing something, and find that feedback and discussion are part of the experience of posting.

I'm at least as busy as most people here. I have a demanding job, a two hour daily commute, a family, voluntary activities, public speaking engagements, board memberships and plenty of other things. Somehow I manage to find time to type a line of response to everything I find time to read.

But that also means I have to select carefully how I use my limited free time. And I have to be honest with other board participants when I'm not feeling happy about things. The alternative would be just to stop posting and find other ways of satisfying my writing bug, and then people would feel I'd been unfair in making such a decision without mentioning my concern.

I have a very clear idea by now of what levels of board activity are sufficient to retain my interest, in terms of the volume of stories available for me to read, the number of regular participants to interact with, and the amount of responses to my work that feel to me like the hours I've put into my writing have been well spent. A few times over the years one or more of those things has dropped below the threshold but things have picked up again. A couple of times I've expressed my views about low levels of contribution. I don't intend that as an attempt to "guilt" people so much as to be clear about where I draw my own lines. We're at one now.


As long as I'm allowed to rant back I'm fine with that.