ao3commentoftheday

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Tumblr
Name: ao3commentoftheday
Date(s): December 2017 - January 2023
Submissions: Yes
Type:
Fandom: Panfandom
Scope:
URL: ao3commentoftheday at Tumblr
ao3commentoftheday at AO3
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ao3commentoftheday was a Tumblr blog run by memorizingthedigitsofpi (aka pi). The blog was has spotlights positive comments from fanfic readers, and has also expanded was giving fanfic- and AO3-related advice as well as facilitating discussions revolving around general panfandom occurrences. On January 22, 2023 a post was made closing the blog.[1]

As of June 19, 2023 the blog owner has returned and begun posting again.

Inspiration for the Blog

In the summer of 2017, there were a number of posts going around tumblr chastising readers for not commenting. pi initially reblogged these posts but gradually came to the realization that scolding people is not typically a good way to convince them to do something.

That fall, she created the Comment Squad: a group of fellow fans in the Agents of SHIELD fandom who banded together to shower one author or other fan creator per day with love in the form of comments, kudos, reblogs, and asks. Anyone in the fandom could nominate anyone else, and in several cases "comment day" coincided with an author's birthday or some other special date of significance for them. The Comment Squad lasted for several months before petering out.

Over Christmas break, pi continued to think about how to appreciate the people who comment. Her thought was that by praising commenters and thanking them for their efforts, commenting would be seen as a desirable activity with a positive association rather than as a requirement or as something a reader could be punished for not doing.

Source of Comments

When first starting the blog, pi's first comment was from one of her own fics. She shared the blog with her fandom friends and got submissions of comments from them. She also went through tags in other fandoms to find interesting fics and pick comments from them. After the first three weeks, all comments posted on the blog came through submissions from other users. pi has posted 3 comments from her own fics (as of April 6, 2020).

Generally speaking, comments are submitted by the authors who have received them. However, ao3commentoftheday accepts comments submitted by anyone and does not require that they be submitted by either the author or the commenter.

Submission Guidelines

  1. Change the submission post type from Text to Photo in order to submit a comment.
  2. If you are on a desktop instead of a phone when you screenshot the comment, narrow your browser window to approximately half of your screen before you do. It will make the image easier to read in a tumblr post (wider images mean smaller text)
  3. Anonymize the comment. Remove the commenter’s name / icon from the image. If you do not anonymize the comment, I will not post it.
  4. Copy/paste the text of the comment into your submission. If you do not copy/paste the text, I will not post your comment. I include the text of the comment in the post so that visually impaired readers of this blog will be able to use their screen readers.
  5. Feel free to add a message if you’d like to say anything about the comment, the commenter, or how the comment made you feel. ❤
  6. You can also include a link to the fic itself, if you want to (chapter 1, not the chapter with the comment please) [2]

Fanworks Appreciation Week

Inspired by existing concepts Work in Progress Wednesday, Six Sentence Sunday and Fic Back Friday, pi created fanwork-related events for each day of the week. She included things for both writers and readers to do, as well as fan artists. She also provided banners that users could repost on their own blogs.

When her followers responded well to the initial post [3] containing all seven days, pi separated each day out into its own post. She revised her initial ideas to be inclusive of more fans, and she continues to reblog the posts every week as both reminder and encouragement for those who wish to participate.

  • Six Sentence Sunday[4]
  • Motivation Monday[5]
  • Trivia Tuesday[6]
  • Work in Progress Wednesday[7]
  • Thirsty Thursday[8]
  • Fic Back Friday[9]
  • Spotlight Saturday[10]

References