Is it bad to Poll my readers on this sorta stuff?

SouthernMaiden said:

Thats the kinda situation I want to avoid! Even though it was clearly not your fault or a big deal, some people cam be pretty sensitive

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Thing is, from a dozen years working in customer service or customer service adjacent jobs, I can tell you that those folks aren't going off on you based on something you did, for the most part. Extreme customer feedback (both ranting Karens and offers to bear my children) correlate far more strongly to the customer / caller than they did to the tech / phone monkey.

So unless you write something so bland that no one will like it, you're gonna get someone going off on how depraved and awful it is, and if you do write something that bland, you'll get someone going off on how 'vanilla' it is.

So I say again, write what you write, and be open about it.

Time4T said:

I think polls are a great way to interact with readers who are hesitant to leave comments. As a reader, being the 16th to say TFTC seems pointless. But expressing myself in a easy multiple choice poll, I'm in.

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As an author I can tell you that at least for me, I get a tiny spike of dopamine from each and every comment, even just the TFTCs. So... Not pointless. But I still need to put a few polls up, most notably which of my back catalog to put up over here on SH (probably a Romance, but who knows).

Do authors pay attention to comments for stories posted long ago. Or is commenting that I liked "whatever" 2 years after it's release just taking to myself?

Time4T said:

Do authors pay attention to comments for stories posted long ago. Or is commenting that I liked "whatever" 2 years after it's release just taking to myself?

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Oh for sure! The notification of a positive comment is great even if on a old chapter

Time4T said:

Do authors pay attention to comments for stories posted long ago. Or is commenting that I liked "whatever" 2 years after it's release just taking to myself?

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They should get a notification.