Someone starts a new story, so you decide to help out by posting a chapter. The author approves it (if it's not public) but not only does he not add to it, he doesn't even give it a like. How does that make you feel?
Of course, it'd make me feel discouraged from adding more if the one approving the chapter didn't like it. I wouldn't hold it against them, though. Some people just don't leave likes and, even if they just decided not to on this specifically, they're free to make that choice. For the add question, it's kind of like a luxury or a kindness to have someone add onto any branch, not something I'd ever feel obligated to do or have done for me.
I'd be pissed off. With the exception of super huge sprawling stories with loads of people contributing, and thus hard to keep up, I'd say it's down right rude not to like a chapter someone else has added to your story. I'd go so far to say as it's rude to not comment too.
Confession: I don't think I ever really comment on chapters I approve for LLNO, only on the ones that don't. My basic thought process is approving it is my major comment on it. Like congrats, this passes bare muster, have fun! If it isn't a formal collaboration, I just don't have time to communicate with everybody who adds a chapter, although I try to respond to everyone who reaches out.
If someone writes a moderated story and I choose to write for it, I am probably doing it for one of two reasons: 1. The story offers something to me, or I want to get it off the ground so more people write for it. In these cases I'm not giving a gift to the story owner by posting a chapter, they're giving me a gift in the prompt. There is no reason to expect they will like the chapter; if they reviewed and approved it, they've done their proper courtesy. 2. I personally admire, appreciate, or want to please the story owner, in which case I am giving a gift. Even in this case, hoping for a positive reaction is reasonable, but holding someone to a reaction is not. To be clear, I'm not saying I wouldn't feel bad or upset at no reaction, but that is on me, not on the person upon who I've suddenly thrust the obligation of reading my work. In a way, the fact that they approve my chapter can be seen as a measure of respect. A chapter that meets their story criteria can still fail to meet their interest; they're obligated to process it, but there's no reason they should have to pretend to be into it. All that being said, I'm happy for the story owners who do go the extra mile to make contributors feel welcome and appreciated! But I consider those people extra-warm. I don't consider people who don't do that cold.
Just seems to me that if the chapter is not liked, little less added to by the owner, the owner doesn't really care that you added to his story.
For any sort of moderated story, you have to be judgmental; otherwise it would be public. That being said, I don't have high standards. I like to let people go their own way, tell their own story how they want to tell it, explore whatever characters or kinks they want to bring in, without interference. For me, that's sort of the point of CHYOA. The ability to go left instead of right, to take the path not taken. The rare time I turned down a chapter, I have offered feedback as to why. But if I approve a chapter...it's because it's good enough. I don't feel the need to go into it. I might not even like the chapter, it might not speak to how I view the characters or any kinks I care for. But if it's competently written, and the writer obviously has something they want to explore, I'll approve it whether I like it or not. I might feel differently if a story was deliberately set up as a collaborative effort from the start, where I was alternating chapters with someone and we needed to keep in communication. But for the most part, I assume that folks who add chapters to an existing story want to write their own branch, or want the story to turn a particular way, and that's all part of the game. Most chapters don't get praise, most just get by. There are thousands of chapters without any comment or like at all.
There might be a difference depending on what you think a Like or the lack of it means. You could have different ranges, e.g. - like - dislike - like - indifferent - dislike - like - positive - negative - dislike - like - positive - indifferent - negative - dislike If you use the first or second range, you might consider not getting a Like from the story owner to be bad. If you use the third or fourth range, there might still be the chance that they actually dislike the content but as they already approved it, it might very well be that it's just not enough to blow them away. Also, there might be users who are reluctant to put Likes on their "own" story.
As someone who's never submitted or reviewed a chapter here's how I would see it: They approved of it enough to allow it to be attached to their name and/or IP, so they don't think it's complete trash. They may not actually like it enough to actually enjoy it though, or they could just be too busy or don't usually like their stories. I wouldnt read too much into it. I might send a message to prompt some feedback if I put a lot of work into it, but at the end of the day this is an open & volunteer site; nobody owes me a return. That being said, I've written a couple of stories and left them moderated but no one has cared enough to submit an option, so I can't say I wouldn't be extatict or praising if some put forth the effort in a vein attempt to encourage more interactions. But if it were complete garbage or made my skin crawl, I might block it all too, so who knows if I were actually put in that position.
I am mondo guilty of this. I've had people add to Family Succubus (most notably the honourable Mr. Deadedge who contributed an entire thread to the story that is much longer and probably better than anything I put in) and I've hardly given their work much of a look at all. My basic take on it, is that I have a relatively clear idea of the idea for my threads and I honestly don't read much of the stuff here, since I find it hard to find material that I want to read (i.e. is decently-written, has plenty of action, has MY fetishes in it, and doesn't spend 10 pages on setup for a vanilla sex scene between two characters with names like "Craig" or "Brandi") My tastes in porn writing are kind of my own and so I just play live and let live. I intended the story to be a hub for all manner of "My [insert family member here] is a Succubus!?" stories, so as long as it's that, I'm pretty hands-off...
I suppose, sometimes you just have nothing to add to the thread that the other writer did. So you don't add new threads and instead focus on your own. The not adding a like is kinda weird since it is such a small token of appreciation.
If an author of a moderated story approves my stuff it already means that they think that my work is good enough for their story. Why would I need a like? And I absolutely don't think that any author has any obligation to add to my branches Actually, I kinda dislike people who go "Hey, you don't write my fetish, here get a chapter with it and continue from now on!" How about no?
