99% no-comment pinch hit

[ride_4ever]

This was the first time I wrote a pinch hit and I am wondering if it's particularly common for a pinch hit to garner NO comments (well, the mod of the exchange commented, but that was the only comment). I had already completed my gift!fic assignment for this fic exchange when I saw that another participant was going to be left without a gift because their assigned giver had simply vanished. I had never done a pinch hit before, but I didn't want to see a fellow participant go giftless and there had been no pinch hitter sign-up, so I volunteered. I'm not a comment slut -- I don't even pay much attention to my AO3 stats -- but I admit to having been unpleasantly surprised that, aside from the mod of the exchange, there was not even ONE comment, not even from the person who was named as the gift!fic recipient.

This experience has left me wondering if there is something about pinch hits that makes them less likely to attract comments...or if this was the worst fic I ever wrote, seeing as how it's the first one to be 99% uncommented-upon.

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

I wrote once for I Saw Three Ships, which was a threesome ficathon, as a pinch hitter and got zip from my recipient.

Just one data point.

[ride_4ever]

Zowie! If I had an icon that said "I can hardly believe how fast you responded" I would be using that icon here. TYK for sharing your experience with me -- now I already feel a little bit less all alone about this.

[verushka70]

I think one reason you've gotten no comments you your pinch hit is... None of the gifts are accessible to anonymous AO3 visitors.

[ride_4ever]

This point about AO3 is a moot point in these circumstances. The fic is not on AO3. It's in a DW comm where every other fic posted for that exchange -- including my originally assigned one -- got ten or more comments and my pinch hit only got a comment from the mod.

[raine]

Nope. Not that it’s a pinch hit. Just likely 3,000 other reasons why.

But it’s pretty sad you haven’t gotten even a thank you from your recipient. ::is annoyed on your behalf::

[ride_4ever]

TYK for the annoyance on my behalf. Commiseration does make me feel a bit better.

[sholio]

I don't really see how it could be, because usually there's no way to tell it's a pinch hit. But also, there are lots of reasons why a fic wouldn't get comments other than because it's not good - sometimes commenting is just way down, sometimes it takes people a while to read through the collection, sometimes the subject matter is so specific that it really only appeals to the recipient, sometimes it just kind of gets lost in the shuffle and people find it later. (I say this as someone currently running an exchange where not everything has been commented on yet - but I think it's just that it's a busy weekend for a lot of people, and not many people have yet had a chance to sit down and read things.)

That being said, it always makes me annoyed/sad when people never comment on their gifts - it's just rude! And especially in this case, where you went out of your way to make something you didn't have to.

[ride_4ever]

First of all, TYK for your second paragraph where you commiserate with me -- that really does make me feel better.

The "busy weekend" isn't a factor in this case. That exchange happened in April, so participants have had April, May, and June to respond -- or in this case, NOT respond. I wouldn't have felt so bad if it had only been days or weeks, but as the months have gone by I've felt worse and worse about it and then finally posted about it today, months later.

As for whether or not there was a way to tell if it was a pinch hit, in this case it was absolutely clear. The mod posted a master list of the seven fics written for the exchange, and the one I wrote as the pinch hit is actually marked as being a pinch hit.

Gifts not viewable on AO3 to anonymous fen

[verushka70]

This screenshot is what I see when I go to the AO3 collection while I am anonymous, that is, NOT logged in to AO3. As you can see, none of the works is clickable/touchable... I think maybe only participants can see the gifts... Or maybe only the mods?

Re: Gifts not viewable on AO3 to anonymous fen

[verushka70]

I just tried to access the dS Summer Swap 2021 collection while logged in to AO3... & I see the same thing: a list of mystery works, none of which can be opened & viewed. Maybe you should contact the mods?

Re: Gifts not viewable on AO3 to anonymous fen

[ride_4ever]

I don't see any need at present to contact the dS Summer Swap mod. Just like the dSSS, works are listed as mystery works and not viewable by anyone except the mod(s) until the collection is opened. The dS Summer Swap doesn't open for at least another 22 hours and i5 minutes.

Re: Gifts not viewable on AO3 to anonymous fen

[ride_4ever]

I still haven't figured out why the unrevealed works for the dS Summer Swap have become a part of comments on my pinch hit issue, but anyways that screenshot is exactly how ANY unrevealed collection on AO3 looks to anyone besides the mods. (If you check under "Profile" you'll see that it says "unrevealed".)

Re: Gifts not viewable on AO3 to anonymous fen

[verushka70]

Because the original post wasn't specific about to which gift exchange you were referring until a later comment reply of yours... So I thought you were referring to the current one, and I went looking for your gifts in that one so I could go comment on them if the rude recipient couldn't be fucking bothered to.

As you know, I've also had the situation where a gift exchange recipient didn't say anything for quite a long time after the gifts were revealed but still anonymous -- _and_ after the gift giver/writer/artist reveals -- and when they did, iirc, it was still pretty lukewarm (I got more enthusiastic comments from non-recipients & non-participants than I did from the gift recipient). So I'm gonna have to second the "some people are just asshats" reply.

I don't think it has anything to do with it being a pinch hit -- because how would they know until the author reveal? There's just really no excuse for not at least acknowledging a gift, let alone commenting to appreciate the fact that they got one. It's just flat-out rude unless they have some personal issues/stress interfering with all their online activities (which, from what you've said, there isn't).

So, clearly the recipient is a rude asshat if they've been plenty active online the whole time but can't be bothered to even acknowledge the gift you made them. I can totally see why it's even more vexing when you didn't have to do it -- your assigned gift was finished -- but you pinch hit for that recipient because otherwise they might have had NO gift.

I also think there is an age-related component; imo younger fen are much more likely to lack the basic decency of good manners and politeness, maybe because the heart of good manners is consideration of others rather than oneself (and online fandom demographics have changed significantly, skewing much younger over the last 20-30+ years, from what they were both at the beginning of online fandom, and in the early years of fandom social media).

Re: Gifts not viewable on AO3 to anonymous fen

[ride_4ever]

Yes, I was deliberately vague about which fic exchange and which gift recipient because I didn't want -- and still don't want -- to call negative attention here to specific comms or specific fen. Sorry it led to confusion wrt the Summer Swap and it not being about the Summer Swap.

And yes, I know about your non-responsive recipient in that same fic exchange. That person engaged in some actively bad behavior in that comm. My non-responsive recipient is actually someone who I know to be a conscientious fan-person and a faithful dS fan, which makes it all the more baffling, and that no one commented, not simply my recipient not commenting, makes it ultra-baffling and perhaps not even about my recipient specifically at all.

[muccamukk]

No I think that's bad luck. I do a fair number of pinch hits, and almost always get comments. Most of the participants don't even notice what's a pinch hit and what isn't.

[ride_4ever]

TYK for that comment about bad luck -- it gives me a different perspective.

But as far as whether or not participants knew it was a pinch hit, my fic is actually noted on the fic exchange master list as being a pinch hit.

[muccamukk]

Masterlist. That's old school! Modern practice leans more towards not marking pinch hits. Anyway, I still haven't noticed a difference in general feedback.

[ride_4ever]

I've been in fandom for a decade, so not a newbie, but still new enough to not always know what's considered old school. Are you saying that having a master list post for a fic exchange is old school, or that making it known something is a pinch hit is old school? (Also, in fairness to the mod marking that fic as "pinch hit by ride_4ever" I ASKED them to do that to set it apart from my originally assigned fic.)

[muccamukk]

To some extent both. If the challenge is hosted on AO3, people don't bother with a masterlist, just link to the collection and tell people to go read. Stuff like intoabar where you can post anywhere still does them. Some of the older style fests that started pre-AO3 do them out of habit, like hlh_shortcuts. I guess tumblr fests might as well, I don't really follow them.

Denoting something as a pinch hit is... not usual? I guess the prevailing feeling is it doesn't matter who wrote the fic, as long as it got written. Though some people do include pinch hit as an AO3 tag.

[ride_4ever]

Well, this was a case of having the master list because it was not hosted on AO3, and a case of my asking for it to be noted as a pinch hit because I had never done a pinch hit before and didn't know it wasn't a thing to note. When I eventually post this fic to AO3 I'm not going to mention about it having been a pinch hit.

[james]

I've had a few recipients not ever comment on a gift fic and while there are sometimes good reasons for it (real life emergencies, etc) there are more often just the basic reason that some people are asshats. I once had a recip tell me that getting a thank you comment for the gift wasn't the point of the exchange and how dare I ask them about it (I was trying to determine if they had seen the fic, as a semi-polite way of asking them did they plan on acknowledging it.)

I also fell out of Leverage fandom because I never got a response to a gift fic and the recip was active online throughout the posting and reveal period so there was no reason why they should have not seen it. (Like, even if you hate the story you can fake a thank you.)

Lastly, it is never the quality of the story being given. It's the quality of the recipient who doesn't acknowledge their gift.

[raine]

This, so much.

[verushka70]

Ditto.

[ride_4ever]

TYK big-time for saying "It is never the quality of the story being given. It's the quality of the recipient who doesn't acknowledge their gift". That went a long way towards making me feel better...that and your sharing YOUR experience with an ungrateful recip who was at the same time active online. My recip has had since April to respond and has been posting regularly all these months about other things but never about the gift!fic. And every single one of the participants has had since April and not commented.

[petra]

...it is never the quality of the story being given. It's the quality of the recipient who doesn't acknowledge their gift.
Quoted for truth.

[cuddyclothes]

Amen!

[mific]

Damn - I hate when that happens. I've had a situation where the recipient didn't comment at all three times and it leaves you wondering and frustrated - did they hate what I did? Is there a good reason like are they maybe sick? (And then I get a guilt spiral that maybe I'm assuming something bad happened to them because I'm cross!)
In the end, there's no way to know and there could be a handful of reasons none of which are about you or the fic, or about it being a pinch hit. I haven't seen pinch hits generally valued any less but I think the more sensible mods don't say which works were pinch hits (just in case the recipient feels illogically bad that their initial writer dropped out). Also, some fandoms just have less camaraderie than others, or a younger, more distractible fanbase, and if it was a multi-fandom challenge then there isn't that fandom-glue there to support commenting.
So big hugs, and I'm sure it wasn't anything to do with your story.

[ride_4ever]

TYK for the commiseration.

The multifandom part was not an issue -- the exchange was an all due South exchange -- which actually made it even more upsetting to me because camaraderie generally is high in that fandom and yet more upsetting because my non-responsive recip and most of the other participants are fen with whom I've been on good terms for a long time -- and not even one single one of them other than the mod bothered to comment on the fic.

In fairness to the mod as far as why they noted that my fic was a pinch hit, the mod did that because -- FRTDNEATJ -- I asked them to do so.

[juniperberry]

I'm so sorry to hear that, dear. I haven't had a chance to look up the fics for the Summer Swap, so I haven't read any of them, but I hope this is just a case of Real Life getting in your recipient's way. Like someone else said, even if they didn't like it, they can at least say thank you.

:virtual hugs:

[ride_4ever]

TYK for the commiseration and the virtual hugs -- that did help to make me feel better.

BTW, you mention the Summer Swap, but this is not about the Summer Swap. That exchange hasn't even opened yet so you couldn't see those fics yet even if you'd had the time. This is about a fic exchange that took place last April -- where the recip and the other participants have had months to comment and there hasn't been one single comment except from the mod.

It was bad for me that my recip didn't even bother with an acknowledgment, but it was also a whole other level of bad that not one single participant other than the mod gave the fic any acknowledgement.

[juniperberry]

Oh, I'm sorry--I just assumed it must be for the Summer Swap, I blanked on anything related to earlier in the year. Sorry about that!

I'm not sure, but I would bet part of the lack of commenting is the combination of fan culture changing and pandemic weariness/depression. Hopefully your recipient will realize they never left a thank-you!

[ride_4ever]

It was because of it being a fic exchange from much earlier in the year that I kept feeling worse and worse. If it had only been days or even weeks I wouldn't have posted about it this way. The fic posted in April and until today it had still gotten no comments (until verushka70 saw my post here, went looking for the fic, and left a nice comment on it).

I'm sure that what you say about fan culture changing and about pandemic weariness is true, but it doesn't explain why all the other fic in the exchange -- including my original assignment -- got ten or more comments -- and only my pinch hit got no comments. That's why I kept wondering if it somehow had something to do with being a pinch hit.

A couple more points...

[verushka70]

I think there's a subtle difference between fen who move through multiple fandoms (who, in a way, are fen of fandom itself, rather than fen of specific fandoms), and those for whom a fandom is their OTF (One True Fandom). I think the proliferation of online streaming services has facilitated mobility from fandom to fandom because it's just that much easier to bingewatch series, get into them briefly, if intensely, & then move on. & I've noticed a subtle (& sometimes overt) implication from some that one "outgrows" certain fandoms (and even that _not_ outgrowing a fandom is akin to arrested fen development).

I can't say I've ever really understood that thinking, but I believe it's out there. I understand pimping one's favorite fandom, & having fandoms pimped to one & subsequently dabbling in a new fandom, but it's never made me want to abandon my OTF. (Maybe that makes me fannishly weird, though.) My hunch is that such frequent fandom mobility may also facilitate less polite & mannerly fannish behavior, because people know from the beginning that their "visit" to any given fandom is only temporary, so it matters less how they treat others in a fandom they know from jump that they'll be leaving. I can't help thinking that, at the very least, knowing one's stay in a fandom is utterly temporary precludes a certain level politeness, because it's easier to just *shrug* & not care about what happens after one leaves. I could be totally wrong about this, but these are my hunches.

ETA: All of that being said... now that I know what you're talking about, I don't think any/all the above reasons actually apply in this case. I think the recipient just spaced. Also, fwiw, my recipient never commented on my submission, either. Maybe they spaced too; maybe they were caught up & busy in other fandom & related stuff at the same time; or, you know, maybe it just wasn't their cuppa tea & they couldn't say anything nice so they said nothing at all. Maybe one of the above is what happened in your case too, but since it could also just be an innocuous oversight, I wouldn't take it to heart.

Re: A couple more points...

[ride_4ever]

This is all very true and very astute, including your ETA. At this point I'm taking your advice where you say "I wouldn't take it to heart". I'm just going to take it as a mystery.

Also, brain-twin again! When I first got into fandom I used OTF repeatedly for One True Fandom, but never, ever saw anyone else use it...until just now when you did.

[brightknightie]

I'm very sorry that the gift recipient here has behaved poorly.

As others have said, this is most likely bad luck, plus a thoughtless recipient, not any fault or lack in the story.

I have no idea why other humans read or don't read anything. :-)

But FWIW, a story that has slowly (over years) turned out to be my top most-kudo-earning story ever, steadily holding that slot for over a decade now, was actually disliked by its recipient in the exchange for which it was written.

I hope that your neglected story wins similar vindication in time. ♥

[ride_4ever]

Thank you for the commiseration and also for sharing what ultimately happened with your fic that was not appreciated by its recipient. I haven't posted that pinch hit to AO3 yet, perhaps it too will eventually have a more appreciative readership.

(But, wow, did the recipient actually tell you that they didn't like it, rather than "if you can't say something nice, just don't say something"?)

[brightknightie]

The recipient in that case very politely, very promptly, acknowledged the story I'd written by saying that the recipient had seen the story, appreciated my efforts, was unfortunately feeling ill, and would return later to comment.

I waited on pins and needles.

Time passed.

Eventually, in a different venue, in a different conversation about people's experiences of exchange stories, I observed the recipient allude to the story I'd written as a particular disappointment. The allusion was very politely indirect. No one else could have traced it without detective work. But I couldn't help making the connection, myself. As I remember it, I then brought up the subject as lightly as I could with the recipient, and the recipient -- thus prompted -- confirmed the allusion, and shared that the story I had written had indeed been an acute disappointment, even verging on insulting to the recipient's expectations for a story in that exchange.

I apologized.

I have tried ever since to be more careful about precisely fulfilling requests to the letter of what is wanted. But it's very possible that I've made the same mistakes again since. I worry about that every time I try an exchange.

[ride_4ever]

Thank you for continuing to share details with me. BTW, I don't think you owed that recipient an apology -- you were being gracious above and beyond the call of fic exchange duty.

And speaking of fulfilling requests in an exchange, I have this to add. Later tonight a collection is going to open in AO3 for a "summer swap" in which I'm participating. My recipient had posted a list of their "general likes" and their "smutty likes". I've fulfilled their "general likes" six different ways and their "smutty likes" twelve different ways. (Heh, what does it say about me that there's double the "smutty likes" compared to the "general likes"?)

[brightknightie]

P.S. Hand-matched exchanges that are released one by one, like FKFicFest, don't reliably trigger the gift notification from the AO3. I learned this as the mod of FKFicFest, when some folks weren't replying to their gift stories, and I asked them about it privately. Ever since, when we play exchange style, I personally email each recipient a notification of the story posted for him or her, as well as posting an announcement to our DW community.

[ride_4ever]

The exchange where I wrote the pinch hit wasn't conducted on AO3, only on DW, and the master list clearly stated the name of the giver and the name of the recipient for each fic, so that's a different dynamic than if it had been in an AO3 collection.

[cuddyclothes]

Any change of a link?

[ride_4ever]

No, the link never changed nor has the fic been added to AO3 yet. The only link is with the DW comm.

[cuddyclothes]

Which comm? I feel like I lost a step.

[ride_4ever]

No, you didn't lose a step. I deliberately didn't say exactly which comm because I didn't want -- and still don't want -- to call negative attention here to specific comms or specific fen.

In about two weeks I'm going to post that fic to AO3 without connecting it back to that comm.

[clarasteam]

I'm sorry this happened to you :(

I once wrote a pinch hit that got no acknowledgement from the recipient - in the same exchange, my main recipient also didn't acknowledge their gift. (fwiw, I did declare the pinch hit as such; it got one comment at the fest and the main fic got a couple, so I'm not sure if labelling the pinch hit made any difference.) I'd had an absolutely wretched time writing the main recipient's story in particular, and the lack of response from both of them made everything worse. I like the stories I wrote, and I got a lovely gift, but this is the history of why I don't do fic exchanges any more, even when people I like are doing them in fandoms I'm fond of...

[ride_4ever]

Thank you kindly for the sympathy -- it does make me feel a little better. And I'm sorry you got similar lack of appreciation.

I am ambivalent about fic exchanges. Inclined to not do them for the reasons you and I have, but also inclined to do them in my OTF as a show of my support for my OTF.

[luzula]

Hey, I'm sorry.

Also now racking my brain in the fear that you wrote me giftfic that I somehow forgot to respond to! But can't think what exchange that would be...

[ride_4ever]

TYK for the sympathy...and for being so incredibly thoughtful as to wonder if you had missed commenting on any of the gift!fics I wrote for you...but no, you commented on all of them.