I think everyone's given some good reasons as to why there seems to be a lack of feedback these days. I hope this gives new writers who might be feeling discouraged a few things to consider. There are still readers out there! They may just not post as often as you'd like. Hopefully it will also encourage lurkers to not be afraid to post a little feedback sometimes.
In addition, and this is JMO, but new authors are writing from a position of disadvantage in regards to those of us who have been reading for a long time. You know the saying "it's all been done before"? Newer authors and newer readers often are just discovering the pleasures of the archive. I have, however, read nearly every story on the archive and quite a few others that never made it there.
After reading 50+ takes on a subject, most of the angles have already been covered. I'm not saying someone couldn't sweep in here and knock me off my feet, but some of that is a tough act to follow. When you've read "In the Beginning" by Sheila Harper and someone decides to tackle Lois being married to an abusive Lex Luthor and needing Clark Kent's help, you have a serious standard because that is one great story. Plus it has the bonus of being the one I read first. This isn't to say that you can't do it as Sara in "Made to be Broken" did. It's possible, but in true Bloomian fashion, the burden is on you to insert yourself into the tradition by outdoing your predecessors. It's not fair, but it's reality.
I don't say this to discourage anyone. I do, after all, love to read. I live forever in the expectation that some newly fabulous story is going to cross my path. Plus, the longer you write on here and the more you hone your skills, the better the odds are that you are going to write something so great that I'll have to break my rule and start reading. So get to it!
