For every one of my ficlets, I see something odd. Fully ten times as many people read my ficlets as bother to comment or rate them.

This is a shame. The comment and rating system is there to help writers improve, and to help make posts more visible. You may not be aware of this, but showing up on the “Most Popular” and “Most Active” list isn’t based only on views, but also on number of ratings or comments. So if you read a story you enjoy, pausing a moment to rate it or leave a comment can help that story stay visible after it’s aged off the “Most Recent” list.

If someone does something really well, or really badly, please leave them a comment explaining and offering suggestions. If you give someone a low rating, you should definitely either leave a comment or send them a note telling them why so that they can try to improve.

If nothing else, a comment saying “I read this and I really liked it, write more!” is likely to get more of that story written. Without it, the writer might assume nobody cares.