#don’t get me started on how predatory it is to lure ppl in with a nice comment

[awaywithwitchers]

Maybe I’m just a boomer or a hater, but something about getting comments on ao3 which are just a subtle advertisement for fanart commissions just really rubs me the wrong way.

Like, I understand that people making art for a living have to grind, and part of that can be having to cold call, but the idea of doing that in the ao3 comment section?

Especially bc (at least the ones I’ve gotten) have started just as a really nice thoughtful comment. When you think about it, those really nice comments are HOW fanfic writers get paid essentially. There’s no real legal way to make money writing fic, BUT of course that isn’t the deal for fanart.

So coming into my comments essentially going, “here, I paid you in your preferred currency: heartfelt feedback. Now will you come pay me in mine: several hundred dollars.” Can kinda turn the whole thing sour.

Obviously I’m never gonna be mean to someone in my comment section, but it really is kind of a bummer to get to the end of what seems like just a really nice comment just to realize “oh, they wrote it so I’ll consider giving them money:/.”