There was a post circulating months ago with all of the reasons people didn't comment -- they download stuff and read it on paper or on their iPhone, they're at work and don't want to log in, etc. And they may not feel obligated, either, if the writer has never commented on their stories, if they write them. And I have sort of a theory about comment numbers affecting comments.


THEN there's the archive effect: Put something on Teaspoon or AO3 and it's like a static webpage to most people. They'll read it but rarely comment at all.

There are so many good writers who don't get comments and become discouraged, and there are sometimes mediocre writers who receive lots of comments. There are too many factors.

I work in a field in which we measure these things, so I'm interested in the dynamics of lurking versus participation in the abstract. :D