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I wonder if sometimes people see the story and then favorite it so it's easier for them to find when they have time to review? That said, I agree, it's weird when people do story alerts or favorite your story but don't want to review. Some people just aren't comfortable doing reviews though I think. They want to say something that's not as simply cliche as 'great story!" but can't put it into words..

It's annoying. But only sometimes. It highly depends on the story they're faving. If it's from my first years of writing, then I don't mind really. Just amazed? If it's my more recent work where I like to think I've improved, maybe I'd appreciate a review that shows me that I have or...I need a bit more tweaking.

Reviewing is...naturally a two-way street, when in Rome, do as kind of thing. Eye for an eye?! I'm a wimp when it comes to giving and taking so...I can't complain. I should just be surprised when I take/get reviews of any kind at all.

Huh... I'm wondering why favouring and not revewing a story is considering annoying or strange. I think that a favouring is just another form of reveiw. But it may be just me, I'm a quite easygoing person, and for me it's enough that someone add my story in their list of favourite.

For some people, I suppose taking the time to review isn't needed because the story itself was good in their mind, they just didn't have the opportunity at that moment to write out some thoughts, or... they just liked the story for what it was, and had no real input to add (and truth be told, sometimes its better that people don't review randomly, as so many are just silly or mindless praise that only feeds the author's ego, without adding anything they can learn from/an unbased attack against their work for any number of reasons they chose not to state). It's a sign of respect and/or real interest to put your thoughts into words after finishing a chapter/story.

At the same time, simply adding someone's work to your favorite list can be seen as bolstering status, showing off that you 'liked' something that's popular, or simply a random gesture to another author that caught your eye. It comes down to personal preference of taking the time to say something, or give a small shout out to the person that you liked it enough to add it to your list. I mean think about it; they're taking that time to add your work to their collection, when simply savoring the read and moving on would suffice. Dunno either way really, as reviewing is fun to do, and a good way to blow off some emotions, be them good or bad.

I've been guilty of that, I think. But mostly because the story was completed long before I read it (like at least four months or more), so I'm not sure what I could say at that point xp And I think several people that favorite some of my older stories but don't review are kind of the same way.

Sometimes I fav. a story when it is not done instead of the alert. That way it is easier to access. I only review stories when they are really long (like half way done) or done.

I completely agree with Lelandra, I review every single story I read - despite age, reviews, complete/unfinished - it doesn't matter. The point of fanfiction.net i feel is to review and get that feedback.

And I'll come off a little hot headed and rude here, but it completely annoys the living hell out of me when people alert, favorite the story and myself but leave no review.

But then again, reviews that say something like "g8 update..." (actual review I received) I'm even more angered. And I know, that sounds completely selfish and arrogant but my intentions are that they're defeating the purpose of why I posted the story in the first place.

I make myself very clear - I write to entertain my audience, or at least the stuff I post on fanfiction.net. I figure, the stuff I'd write for myself I wouldn't feel the compulsion to post to the world, so I don't. And it also bothers me when authors say their writing a story for themselves and not anyone else. That's kind of hypocritical to the idea of posting anything on the internet, no?

[/rant] Apologies, back to subject.

The idea that they simply couldn't find the words to express their ideas or thoughts of a story is a poor excuse. People can say whatever they want coming out of a crappy movie, it's not that hard to form an opinion - usually humans do so rather impulsively.

And if my seven year old brother can complain about an Airbud movie for an entire car ride, certainly someone with an IQ over room temperature can express a string of several words in a matter of a minute tops. Especially on a site full of authors and readers.

Literate people.

I'm done for now, apologies.