There are probably numerous reasons why an author will begin posting a story on the message boards yet not finish it. Sometimes it would be Real Life kicking them in the teeth - and it may not be just one thing, there could be a whole sequence of events that come along to stop the author from working. Sometimes it could be not being sure where to take it from there, as Kmar suggested. Sometimes the author may lose interest in the fandom, or the Muse leaves him/her for an extended amount of time, or even permanently. And of course there are lots of other potential reasons.
I doubt that any author starts posting a story with the deliberate intention of just stopping the story altogether to deliberately leave people dangling. Although sometimes I think the suspense is going to kill me if a great story never is finished, I welcome every story that I've read - finished or unfinished - as a gift. And I appreciate anyone who has the courage to put a piece of themselves out there like that. There are stories that I fear will never be finished that I absolutely adore - and I've reread them, even knowing that I will be left hanging in that same place, just because they are THAT GOOD.
I can certainly understand people's frustration if they feel that they're "wasting time" reading an unfinished story, so it's probably a very good policy for them not to until it has been completely posted. But we should remember that no one ever deliberately sets out to frustrate the reader - things just get in the way sometimes. There have been stories that weren't finished until YEARS after the original postings: "Long Strange Trip" springs instantly to mind. What if we had given L such a hard time about that story that she had decided it wasn't worth trying to finish it? We would have missed a great story...
Kathy
