Something I’m reminding myself as I work on putting up my fic on my personal archive, is that Back In The Day, when fanfic was pretty much all self-hosted or in small, private archives, we didn’t have the instant gratification of a kudos button, or on-page commenting.

Before dedicated fanfiction hosts, and social media, you would only hear from the most passionate fans who wanted to reach out to you, through email, forums, etc. Such interactions might be rare, but when they happened, often those would turn into very long exchanges, and even friendships.

I’m grateful for fandom interaction and community.

I’m grateful for the “old mode” of interaction, of forming lasting connections with the people who are most passionate and take the time to reach out and connect with you over fic.

And I’m grateful for the “new mode” of interaction, the exciting, quick and easy thrill of kudos, emoji comments, “i loved it” and “please update.”