The Subtle Art of the Comments Section (Patreon)

When I started writing a year ago, I was thrilled by the trickle of comments that I got. Even if they were mostly just corrections, or people pointing out that X or Y didn't make sense, I still loved them all. They were like a tiny bonsai tree that I trimmed carefully every day. 

Now my comments sections are overflowing, or if we continue the garden metaphor, overgrowing. This is not a complaint. I still love my comments, and every morning while I wake up, I spend 30+ minutes reviewing and commenting on everything and making the myriad of offered corrections while I sip my coffee. 

Today I did something I've never had to do before. I banned someone from commenting on my stories because of intense negativity. This wasn't because of a correction, or even a story problem he illuminated (Broken System does have story problems worth fixing). It was because every comment was relentlessly, unceasingly negative. This particular saga ended with a very negative rating to boot, but I don't care too much about that anymore. Nothing depresses me more than thinking about writing as a PVP sport, so I simply don't think about it. 

The banning was a mile marker, for sure. I don't think I've ever had anyone hate read one of my stories before, but that's definitely what that was. In one sense I suppose that means I've grown big enough to attract haters, which is great but on the other hand - I just really hope that the growing presence of those types doesn't cause me to end my love affair with my comments. That would be a terrible shame.