Feedback culture is dead, long live feedback culture!

Feedback culture is dead, long live feedback culture! is a Tumblr post by iguanastevens aimed at drawing attention to the shortcomings of current feedback culture in fandom - specifically on fanfiction posted to AO3 - with the goal of gathering suggestions on how to improve AO3's interface in ways that would encourage more feedback.
The post focuses particularly on the ratio of hits (visits to a particular fanwork) to comments on fanfics, and how longer, multi-chapter fanfics often see "diminishing returns" in terms of feedback, which can disappoint authors who need motivation to complete a long work.
The post contained a link to a Google doc with a "plan of action" for improving this situation, which was designed for other fans to add suggestions, thoughts and ideas that might eventually be presented to AO3 and implemented as features. The doc was later made read-only due to an excessive number of users weighing in, and the original Tumblr post proposing the project was relocated to a dedicated blog, longlivefeedback.Tumblr post by longlivefeedback. Accessed January 1, 2018.
As of 1 January 2018, the post has more than 18,000 notes on Tumblr.
==The Original Post==
==Some Comments by Tumblr Users==
katieandkirby:
jmathieson-fic:
Kryptaria (direct response to the above post by jmathieson-fic):
On December 29, 2017, dawnfelagund shared some detailed observations on feedback culture in Tolkien fandom and how this is linked to websites such as Livejournal, as well as how fandom feedback behaviour has changed over the years.Tumblr post by dawnfelagund, Tumblr. Posted December 29, 2017 (Accessed January 1, 2018). Some excerpts from the post:
==Action Taken From the Discussion==
The Google doc created to gather ideas for the feedback project also outlined a proposed nine-stage action plan for making the ideas a reality:Feedback project doc, Google Docs. Accessed January 1, 2018
Many Organization for Transformative Works volunteers, including AO3 Support and coding volunteers, were among those who commented on the proposals in the doc, bringing the project organisers into contact with AO3 sooner than they had originally anticipated.
After moving the doc to read-only mode, the organisers announced that they had moved on to Stage 2 of the project - collating feedback about each idea, and analysing pros and cons - and that further updates would be posted to the longlivefeedback blog. On 29 December, they published a 'General Overview' of many of the thoughts and sentiments raised in the Google doc, including the most common reasons cited for not leaving feedback, and the most popular and controversial ideas proposed.AO3 and Feedback: general overview by longlivefeedback, Tumblr. Posted December 29, 2017 (Accessed January 1, 2018).
The following day, an additional update was published to the blog, entitled 'Updates and Progress':
===Suggested AO3 Features===
On January 1, 2018, longlivefeedback posted an update entitled 'AO3 and Feedback: Yes, No, and Maybe', which summarized the results of their discussions with AO3 volunteers about what might be feasible.AO3 and Feedback: Yes, No, and Maybe by longlivefeedback via Tumblr. Posted January 1, 2018 (Accessed January 20, 2018).
The post divided the suggestions that had resulted from their initial data gathering into five sections: What's here (for features that already exist on AO3 or in some form online), The "yes" (for features that would definitely be added), The "no" (for features that would definitely not be added), The "maybe" (for features that would be discussed after other AO3 projects were closer to completion), and To be asked/discussed (for features that hadn't yet been definitively discussed with AO3).
The following features appeared under each section:
What's here
* Anonymous commenting (AO3 feature)
* Replying to another user's comment (AO3 feature)
* Copying segments of a fic as you read to incorporate them into a comment (Userscript)
* Guides on commenting (Various exist in different places)
* Hiding fanwork hits (AO3 feature)
The "yes"
* Changing the "You have already left kudos here :)" message to suggest commenting
* Revamping AO3's search filters
* Private messaging on AO3
The "no"
* Multi-chapter kudos (or some variant thereof)
* Chapter reactions
* Commenting templates
* Saving comments as a draft
* "Author accepts concrit" toggle option
* Kudos/upvotes on comments
* Adding moderators to fanwork comments
* Fanwork recommendations
The "maybe"
* Native "floaty review box" (which is currently a userscript)
* Previewing comments prior to posting
* A window of time to edit comments before a notification is sent to the fanwork creator
* Logged-in anonymous comments
* Native feature for quoting fic excerpts in comments
* Visibility over how many times a work has been Marked for Later
* Visibility over how many times a work has been downloaded
To be asked/discussed
* In-line kudos, comments or reactions
* Highlighting parts of a work, a la Wattpad
* Comments being shown by default
* Excluding fanwork creator responses from comment count
* Changing the word "Comment" to something like "Review" or "Discussion"
* Feedback milestone badges (visible only to the user)
* Ability to see all comments you have previously left on works
* Comments that are visible only to the fanwork creator
On January 31, longlivefeedback reblogged a Tumblr post by naryrising, co-chair of the AO3 Support Committee, entitled 'Suggestions for AO3', which addressed the issue of an excessive number of features being submitted to AO3 (many for the same features, and some for existing features), and gave three considerations for users to bear in mind before submitting a feature request.Suggestions for AO3 by naryrising via Tumblr. Posted January 29, 2018 (Accessed February 4, 2018). In response to the post, longlivefeedback decided to readdress and redefine the goals of its project and talk about what role it wanted to fill in the process of suggesting features to AO3.
===AO3 Feature Suggestion FAQ===
On February 2, 2018, the longlivefeedback blog opened a survey with the aim of collecting common AO3 feature suggestions to collate into an FAQ. The goal was to help reduce the number of individual feature requests submitted to AO3, and answer common questions about the status of those features. The questions would then be passed on to AO3's Support Committee to be compiled into a formal FAQ. Submissions for the FAQ closed on March 14, 2018.AO3 feature FAQ by longlivefeedback via Tumblr. Posted February 9, 2018 (Accessed May 8, 2018).
===Other Tools and Initiatives===
The longlivefeedback project has since given rise to other initiatives aimed at encouraging feedback on fanfiction, including the LLF Comment Project and LLF Comment Builder. For more info, go to the longlivefeedback page.
==Related Meta==
* Why People Don't Comment: Data and History from the Tolkienfic Community by dawnfelagund: A meta essay analysing feedback rates on Tolkien fanfic over time and inferring what this means about commenting behaviour. Published as a guest post to the longlivefeedback blog and cross-posted to AO3.
* Can I Say This? Culture, Comments and Concern by longlivefeedback: Another, shorter piece of meta on commenting culture published to the LLF blog, which highlights some questions the mods believe are key to helping readers and authors communicate better.
* What is a hit? by longlivefeedback: An explanatory piece published to AO3 which aims to demystify the "hit" stat on AO3, using information from AO3's FAQ and some example scenarios.
==References==
Category:Concrit & Feedback Meta
Category:Tumblr
Category:2017 Meta
Category:Fanfiction Meta
Category:Meta on Tumblr