What is this a BONUS episode? KINDA! We've got a special event planned that we hope y'all will be excited to participate in and help us spread some love to the community creatives across fandom who give us all so much. TIME TO GIVE BACK, BITCHES! Here are the details as well as a link to the OPEN & FREE Patreon post that also contains all our art and visual files of the event description and rules if you'd like to share them around. What is Comment-ember?
Readers and fans of fanworks: we're stoking some embers under your butts this month and throwing down a gauntlet! Fanfic authors and fanwork creators give so much to their communities and we here at Open Tabs think it's high time we make a concerted effort to give back. Comments and positive community interaction are down across the board and we think that fucking sucks - Let's get those rookie numbers back up into respectable territory (it'll probably be the only thing respectable we do with this podcast.) This is Comment-ember! Rules:
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The goal is to leave one comment per day throughout the month - if you miss a day, you can do a few catch-ups but try your best to stay on it! We're trying to help you build a habit here so you comment more the rest of the year too.
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The content of your comments should be respectful and complimentary: NOT critiques or criticism (example: "I love the way you wrote Steve from Minecraft in this fic!" is great! "I don't think Steve from Minecraft would actually do this because of XYZ from the actual game" is not.)
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Comments should be engaging and encouraging: NOT pressuring the author to continue or asking when the next update will be (example: "This was so good! I wonder what will happen next. I'll be patiently waiting for the next update :)" is totally okay but "Omg it's been a month since the last chapter, when is the next update???" is not.)
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If we find out anyone is using AI to write comments we will be so disappointed in you. You are a void of whimsy and you will never know the light and comfort of true fandom bliss. You bring shame upon your entire bloodline.
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One comment might qualify for multiple day's prompts but each day's prompt requires a new comment. By the end of the month you should have written 30 comments.
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Comments are not limited to works posted on AO3 but if you need to make an AO3 account to comment on a fic (some fics have guest commenting disabled) we can do our best to help you get an invite code from another community member! Please reach out.
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Comments can be made on fics/works you've read or interacted with previously. This would be a LOT of reading otherwise! You can definitely leave multiple comments for this event on different chapters of one fic or for the same author/creator but do try to spread the love.
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You do not need to read the entire work in the case of longer/multi-chapter works for your comment to "count" - but you had better read enough to leave a thoughtful, relevant comment.
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If the prompt is vague or you're not sure if a work qualifies for it, follow your heart! Close enough is good enough - Just WRITE THAT COMMENT.
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There will be prizes for participants, completionists and high-scorers! If you'd like to be scored, we'll have a google form for you to fill out with some info (how many comments you made, what prompt you liked best, some of your favorite comments of the month, links to works you commented on etc) but it will still largely be honor-system based. Don't be the dick that ruins this!
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There is NO penalty if you miss a day or for starting and not completing the challenge. We're all just trying our best and it's good to have a lofty goal set. Five comments is way better than NONE comments.
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Please share this idea and our prompt list wherever you'd like! You can totally use it even if you've never listened to our dumb podcast or give a shit about us - we're only asking that you go out and give a shit about the creatives that are making the stuff you love <3 Please feel free to ask us any questions while you're here! Also the text images are the same information contained here in this blog post, just in a more share-able or downloadable way for as easy access as possible <3 GO MAKE SOME CREATIVE'S DAY! (Speak of thanking creatives: Huge shout out to Mizu Shiba for the fantastic design work on our calendar card. You can find more of their work here: https://mizushiba.carrd.co/ )
