I don't have anything up on FFN. What little fic I've written was either sent out to email lists or put up via LJ. I've moved it to AO3 for archiving purposes and get the occasional kudo. Which is nice and more than I was expecting. But I have't written anything in years, so I don't know how AO3 would be for a more active fandom (i.e., not Sith Academy, Farscape, or West Wing).

I like AO3 because I never had a hit counter before, and it's interesting to see how many times a story is read. I'd love to know if older stories of mine on LJ got as many hits.

I also think offering the "kudos" option was both good and bad -- good because it gives people a chance to at least indicate they like a story even if they don't want to bother to comment, and bad because it's then much too easy just to click and not comment at all.

But I have't written anything in years, so I don't know how AO3 would be for a more active fandom

I'm not writing in it, but I read a lot in Vorkosigan, and there are some active challenges hosted there--it does pretty well, so far as I can tell. The key is that new stories are posted there, and announcements direct people there, rather than just use it for a backup.

They have a subscription service, which I like, but I would like to expand that so I could subscribe to a particular fandom, rather than a writer. Or even a particular tag.

When you subscribe to something on AO3, does the author know?

Not so far as I can tell. Certainly I have no messages regarding subscriptions, although that could mean nobody has subscribed to me.

(take a look at the Recent Stories page--there's a ton of Sherlock going up, which I suspect is barely on the radar at FFN).

Nah. When I run out of AO3, I hit ff.net for it. There's plenty.

Though many of the ff.netters are starting to crosspost to AO3, which, err, kind of makes me sad, because there's been a serious drop in quality with the increase in quantity.

I love the kudos button. I got a kudo this morning on my Yuletide, and it made me smile. It also makes it easy to thumbs up from my phone.

When I was writing a lot, I grew to fear comments. There's only so many times a body can write, "thanks!" before it starts to feel forced.

I never got enough comments for that to be an issue. It helps when people leave some substance in their comments, but still, really not a threat for me to be running out of words.

Yeah, "thanks" seems to be more than enough of a response to "grate story!"

When I run out of AO3, I hit ff.net for it. There's plenty

Huh, I would not have expected that. Is it slash or gen/het? Because I just don't think of FFN as the place for slash.

There's only so many times a body can write, "thanks!" before it starts to feel forced.

Yeah, but it's still great to get them, and I like to thank people for making the effort. Kudos are nice, but not the same.

I never got enough comments for that to be an issue. It helps when people leave some substance in their comments, but still, really not a threat for me to be running out of words.

Origin Story and Cops and Graverobbers both got WAY too many for me to deal with. One hit a nerve, the other hit a need, apparently. And, at time, I was still dealing with my untreated panic disorder, so I'd freak out at the thought of answering comments.

I still feel GUILTY for not responding to them all.