Comment Moderation - Does it reduce positive engagement?

Comments are completely different than reviews.  

I don't look at comments to check opinion on fics, because I know 99% of times, people comment only if they enjoy the fic.  

A comment is not meant to be a review for other readers: it's a way if contacting the author and telling them what you feel. If you don't like the fic, the right thing is not to comment. If you feel like there is constructive criticism to be given... the writer can decide if they like it or not. Seeing someone give constructive criticism on a fic doesnt change my thoughts on it

So I don't feel suspicious or anything if they have moderation. 

I might be less likely to comment if the only thing I was going to leave was a short “omg i loved this” and I see comment moderation is on. My brain feels like, if there’s extra steps involved in leaving a comment, then the comment should be “worth it” to leave. Yes, even when I scroll down and see that other comments are short “loved this!” type comments. I imagine moderation also severely discourages reader-reader interaction or longer comment threads.

If I see an author has turned on comment moderation, I’m just going to assume that they’ve had an issue with bots/trolls/hate comments in the past or that they think one of those things is a reasonable concern. Totally fine by me.

I am wondering if having that option there is making the comments I do have look like I've only cherrypicked nice things to let through

Isn't that... the point? Why would I be upset about an author not allowing nasty comments on their fic? Why would I want them to?

1. No. I don't even think about it.

2. No. They're still people's real comments. Also, I don't use comments as a way to gauge a fic's quality. I judge that for myself.

3. I think so, but I'm not sure. I once had a regular commenter tell me that they thought that me having my comments moderated scared people away. But like I told them, I have never been afraid to comment on fics with moderation. And with the bots swarming AO3 recently, I'm more pro-moderation than ever, never mind that I have gotten straight up death threats and suicide bait before when I didn't use it in the past. Now I can just report/delete and move on with my life. I wish people weren't nervous about moderated fics, but it's a small price to pay for some peace.

I do it to keep out the crazies.

I don't care if there's comment moderation, I'll still leave a comment. But I do get a weird feeling... like "will my comment be good enough to pass inspection?" It's silly, I know, but it's how I feel.

No to all three questions.

1. No, not at all. I only leave positive comments so I don't mind if the author has moderation turned on. And if they don't allow guest comments, I will log in to comment (only reason I browse anonymously is laziness)

2. No, I know a lot of authors have faced harassment and hate comments from antis, so I totally understand why some choose to moderate comments and it's not because they want to censor criticism. Anyway, even if some authors do filter out critical comments, so what? Positive feedback is a lot more valuable to me as a reader than a few negative ones that more often than not have more to do with the personal tastes of the commenter than the actual quality of the fic.

3. I have never turned on moderation because I've been lucky enough to only get positive comments so far (🤞). I don't think moderation will deter anyone except haters. Blocking guest comments would probably have more of an impact, so that's something I personally wouldn't do even if I got spammed with bot comments, because I've received a lot of wonderful feedback from guests.

1. No, not in the slightly… but I am a writer who has moderated comments before so I know most positive comments will be appreciated and approved.

2. Again no, but as a writer I know that the only comments getting disapproved are ones that make the author uncomfortable for whatever reason and I’d rather authors have fun and share the comments they like the most.

3. Im fairly certain its made a difference. It’s hard to really tell but I’m pretty sure all of the comments on my dark fic with comment moderation have come from review exchanges, while fics that have less hits tend to get 1 or 2 comments from people who just naturally find the fic on their own. Granted, I’m using a fic with 80 hits to do a comparison here, but the fics that I thought needed moderation weren’t usually that popular anyway.

1. As a reader, I'm not put off from leaving a comment if the comment moderation is on; however, there are many readers who are put off by comment moderation. I don't know how common this kind of thinking is; I'm only aware that it's not unusual. (See my answer for #3.)
2. No one should trust the authenticity of comments on any fic. There are too many ways the comment section can be manipulated. They include but are not limited to:
   1. Bots.
   2. Trolls.
   3. Commenters using multiple accounts or multiple guest names.
   4. Writers commenting on their fics under a different account name or as a guest.
   5. Readers and writers editing their comments.
   6. Readers deleting their comments.
   7. Writers deleting their comments and reader comments.
      1. This reason is the one most relevant to what you're asking because deletion is a moderation tool. Having moderation turned off on a fic means that the comments don't have to be approved by the writer before being posted, but deletion is how writers disapprove comments after they're posted.
3. As a writer, yes, you get fewer comments if you have moderation turned on.

I write for a very small fandom, so I don't get a lot of hits in general, and even less comments. I have guest comments enabled on most of my fics, and I haven't received a single guest comment. Interestingly enough, on my main fic, which gets pretty smutty, is 60% guest kudos.

As a reader, I don’t mind if comments are moderated. I figure that I’m writing a comment with the intent of the author seeing it so what they do with (read and approve, read and delete, read and reply, etc) it isn’t my business. If anything, I’m happy to see my comment appear after a moderated period because it tells me that the author read it and liked it/was cool with it!

As a writer, I couldn’t tell you because my only finished fics were backdated to ~2016 so I’m pretty sure you’d have to go out of your way to find them in the first place. But if you’re scared of me (writer) reading your comment, then why are you commenting in the first place moderation or no moderation? Isn’t the point for me to see them? Plus, moderation will prevent bot comments and even though I doubt I’ll get them on fics from 2016, I’d rather not take the chance.

I have never looked at this feature as a reader or writer, so it hasn't had any effect on my behavior related to leaving comments

As a writer, do you find you have less comments if you have moderation on than if you have it open for anyone to comment?

I noticed no change in the number of comments I received once I enabled moderation.

I’m the third one - a writer and yes I have less comments, but my comments being moderated is most likely not why I don’t have much engagement it’s because I mostly write for rare pairs so it’s just the territory of it and yes I have my works moderated because of past trolls/flamers and harassment.

The commenting climate we're in has been steadily worsening over the last what... decade? Something like that.

If I find that an author has moderation on, I wouldn't be turned off to comment myself because the first thing I'm going to assume is that it's to filter hate stuff. Not because they're trying to cherry pick comments to make themselves look good or whatever else. As much as I'm sure this type of authors exists, I'm also fairly positive that the majority just wants to chill with their readers.

I personally keep my comments open to everyone because I feel fine like that but should I need to, I wouldn't hesitate to moderate and I wouldn't feel one bit bad about it. Fic writing and sharing is for fun, I'm going to do everything I can to keep enjoying my fun 😤

1. I am not put off at all

2. I don't really read the other comments much. Sometimes I skim them? But not really relevant to me I guess. I don't want to read comments where someone was rude, so I'm not bothered by this?

3. N/A - not a writer!

As a reader I 99% of the time don’t read comments. The only time I might is if the author is specifically calling out commenters for being jerks. 

Most of my comments are just “second kudos” changing second to higher if I’ve read it repeatedly or “chapter kudos” if I’m reading something in progress.

I don’t comment for acknowledgement, just so an author knows I liked what I read. And I’m not looking for a long conversation. 

I have no issue getting comments with it on. I average 8-15 comments a day. I turned it on because I write a LBGTQ friendly story and I don't want hate from anybody getting through to my readers. I have never once deleted a comment critical of the story, and only once deleted one for being a personal attack against me. Honestly, 95% of my unapproved comments are ones where my beta readers accidentally spoiled stuff that was upcoming and I had to stop it and nudge them to rewrite the comment. ;)

I don't read comments as a means of deciding whether or not to read a fic so the idea of the author only "allowing" positive comments would never occur to me. I look at the tags/summary and perhaps the first chapter to get an idea of writing style.

Only reason I check the comments is they do something like "Main pairing undecided" - nobody has time for that just tell me if its going to be someone I don't like.

~~~Also as a writer I do have my fics locked for only registered users. The longer WIPs which had already built up a following I didn't notice really any drop off of engagement. However newer works took longer to gain a following.

There is naturally going to be less comments if you moderate in any way (since, such as for user only, some people don’t have accounts). However, that also means less rando guests hurling slurs. Not all guests use guest to be rude ofc, but a lot of people do.

It wouldn’t stop me as a reader from commenting though. I don’t comment just to show up in the comments section, and moderation still requires reading. I also don’t peruse comments sections to decide on what to read.

A work that I find good may be someone else’s trash and vise versa.

Just use whatever you think is best.

As a reader only, I can only answer 1&2. For 1, I don’t care if comments have to be approved. I’m going to comment anyway. For 2, I don’t put enough thought into to it to ‘trust’ comments or not. I don’t care what other comments are on a fic, that in no way determines if I’m going to comment or not. I don’t care if there is one comment or one thousand, moderation on or not, I’m going to comment.

As a reader, sometimes I’ll look at comments on a fic, but only after I’ve read it out of curiosity. Comments on a fic would almost never deter me from reading a fic, however, if I were to come across a bookmark on a fic where the bookmarker said the author was doing something shady/against TOS/uncouth, it would definitely give me pause.

As a writer, my only fic that has comments moderated has the most comments by far. (full disclosure, it is also the longest I’ve written and ongoing so that is probably part of the reason)

As far as the non-moderated fics, I’ve only ever gotten concrit one single time and it was from a logged in user. I open up all of my fics to concrit after they are completed so I would hope readers would assume I’m not cherry-picking based on that.

But to answer your last question, my moderated comment fic might look like I’m cherry-picking, but I’ve never even gotten any negative comments there so at that point other people’s’ perception of my comment section is out of my control I guess.

My writing gets no comments even without moderation, 😂

As a reader, I am always surprised when moderation is on, but I don’t mind it. My only concern is if I had something that I wanted to add on immediately after submitting, so then I either try to forget about it or just add another comment

I still trust comments on works that are moderated, i just assume that they have dealt with trolls or antis that are cruel and they don’t want to encourage them

I don't look at comments before I read so I wouldn't know if they were moderated or not until I got to the end and was deciding if I was going to comment or not. If I want to comment, I still won't care if it's moderated.

I dunno what you mean about "trust". Comments are from enthused readers. I don't expect objective criticism. I also don't generally read other comments on purpose.

1. No. I leave comments to tell the author something, not to have my opinion live on their story.

2. No. Why do I need to “trust” comments on a work? They have nothing to do with me.

3. I’ve not turned on comment moderation, so I cannot answer this. I will say though that the stories I’ve commented on with comment moderation have statistically similar amount of comments posted to it as stories in the same fandom and genre type get.

as a reader, i dont notice when comment moderation is on until after i have hit send. at which point i feel a little anxious. if i were to notice before reading the fic, i might avoid reading it entirely so i wouldnt have cause to comment and feel anxious

as a writer, i've never had cause to use comment moderation and i dont think i ever will (given my niche and low traffic)

I write for several “problematic” ships, and my fandom has dealt with doxxers in the past, so I’ve been moderating my comments for years now. However, like you I also allow guests, and I think for the most part it doesn’t drive people away? Like, I’ve even gotten a few “yass queen protect your space” type comments, haha. I personally think it’s worth losing a few comments to guard my peace of mind, but I honestly don’t think people mind much.

I may have a different perspective but both my wife and I are trans, and in any unmoderated comment space, we get abuse. I have an almost knee jerk skepticism about any commenting space where there is little to no moderation. I am more put off from leaving a comment in unmoderated spaces.

All that said, I think moderating your comments is good. 99/100 it's all good, but that 1 time that someone leaves a hateful crap comment? You'll be happy you didn't even let them see it post.

Moderated comments don’t discourage me from commenting. I just assume the author is doing it for their own mental wellbeing, and go ahead and submit my comment. I don’t think there’s any reason to distrust comments on a moderated work.

I have a very simple take on the subject:

If someone is disconvinced from posting a positive comment post because I'm moderating comments, like, that's their main argument? Then that "positive comment" wasn't really positive nor engagement. They were just trying to synthethize instant eyes on their comments and Be Seen saying good stuff for Internet Popularity points.

And while sure, they could have made my work better known, it's 2024 I can get the same synthethized positivism effect from juggling prompts 10 min in ChatGPT and guest posting it, without me having to take the burden of second-guessing it.

I'm always logged to my acc, so I only notice the moderation after I post my comment. So, no. I makes no difference for me.

1. No. I know most authors who keep moderation active have their own reasons. And often the reasons are tied to receiving hate or harrassment, so they are plenty justifies. If anything, when I see that moderation is on, I wonder what might have happened to the poor author. If I want to leave comments, I do it regardless.

2. No. Because, again, I know most authors use moderation only to filter unwarranted hate. And comments aren't really made with the purpose of giving judgement on the fic, but are more of a way to contact the author. Even if that weren't the case, the author can delete comments even without moderation if they don't like them, so it doesn't really make a difference.

3. I've never turned moderation on, as luckily I've never had a reason to. I guess some commenters might be discouraged, though.

1. Not really. Although the posts I see from this sub makes me reconsider a little and wonder what their motivations for turning on moderation are. Judging from this sub, AO3 has a... peculiar commenting culture unlike any other that I (thankfully) never noticed in all that time I'm on there.

2. What's there to "trust"? People write their opinions, whether that's praise or criticism (the horror), talk about things that happened in the fic... There's nothing to "trust" there.

3. I don't know, since I never turn comment moderation on. I do get quite some comments from guests, so there surely is a did when I close commenting to them, at least. And thanks to that setting being turned to "only registered comments" by default, that may actually happen now a few times, since I don't pay much attention to that setting (since I didn't have to before) and forget about it, forcing me to turn it off later. Thanks a lot, AO3.

As a reader it would not stop me commenting but it would probably slightly reduce the likelihood.

Firstly, because I am more inclined to make an effort in commenting on a work which only has a few comments because it feels like my comment will be appreciated whereas if I can see there is already lots of comments then I probably don't have anything to add. If comments are moderated then I have no idea what the real number of comments is, so I don't get that 'oh this author deserves more comments than they have' burst of motivation to write one.

Also comments moderation might make me a tiny bit warier about commenting because it's possible that the author just for some random personal reason wants the comments to be private or has some genuine issue like people using their comments section to fight, but it does make me think there is a higher risk that the author is somebody who is touchy about comments or somebody who picks a fight with their commenters if they don't say exactly what the author wants to read.

1. Not really. I don't think about it too much.

2. Of course! I can't see why I wouldn't. The comments that are there are the real thoughts of real people. Also, I only read the comments to see what other people are excited about. There's nothing for me to mistrust.

3. I've only ever had comment moderation on. So I can't really compare.

 I had comment moderation on for my first fic and got 0 comments until I turned comment moderation off. n=1 but it convinced me to turn the function off both on that fic and for future fics i posted

i’ve never had the need to moderate comments but as a reader i’d be less likely to comment and feel like my comment wasnt wanted