(Also from thisweekmeta) I completely agree, as someone who leaves a comment on every chapter. I have been known to liveblog fic readings and @ the author when the AO3 comment didn't work. That's just how I roll, I make running commentaries nearly compulsively even when there is no chance of the creator ever seeing my feedback *waves to Octavia Butler in the afterlife* I know others roll very differently, which is cool, and I'm grateful for the kudos button in my own writing because it allows people who don't comment as I do to interact and show they not only read but liked a work.
Kudos might replace comments for the more borderline cases between "I am too nervous to comment ever" and "I comment on everything ever, try stopping me." If your comment was going to be just "Cool fic, loved it" you might decide the button is more efficient, and maybe those are the cases that people would like to steer toward commenting instead of kudos. It probably won't push the "don't want to comment" group of readers to make comments, though, and is likelier to make them go silent instead. And even if it does push the in-betweens to comment, their comments are unlikely to be much more than "I liked this, thanks." Is that really worth making the non-commenters go silent for? As for the "will always comment" group, they won't be affected either way--kudos is just an extra feature for me, I comment on AO3 just as I do on FFN or DW. So kudos are mostly about calibrating the reactions of the "won't comment" and "might or might not comment" groups, and I think on balance they generate more interactions, not less.
no subject
Kudos might replace comments for the more borderline cases between "I am too nervous to comment ever" and "I comment on everything ever, try stopping me." If your comment was going to be just "Cool fic, loved it" you might decide the button is more efficient, and maybe those are the cases that people would like to steer toward commenting instead of kudos. It probably won't push the "don't want to comment" group of readers to make comments, though, and is likelier to make them go silent instead. And even if it does push the in-betweens to comment, their comments are unlikely to be much more than "I liked this, thanks." Is that really worth making the non-commenters go silent for? As for the "will always comment" group, they won't be affected either way--kudos is just an extra feature for me, I comment on AO3 just as I do on FFN or DW. So kudos are mostly about calibrating the reactions of the "won't comment" and "might or might not comment" groups, and I think on balance they generate more interactions, not less.