I really strive to respond to comments made on my submissions. I really dislike taking the time to actually say something on a submission only to never hear a response (in cases where a response can certainly be made to what's posted).

Admittedly, I'm bad at commenting on others' work. I need to work on doing that more.

Yeah, never getting any responses really discourages me from making comments. It's a lot more welcoming when you see that the artist has already responded to most, if not all, of the comments. I love all the comments I get, even ones that are just "I like this." I'll respond to as many as I can, too, even if it's just "thanks."

I must admit I haven't been thanking others as often as I should. I just get so busy with life that it keeps getting put off. I used to have the time to look at my watcher's pages and journals and submissions and sort of knew who each one was, but I can't do it anymore. :c

What I'm trying to say is that what's better than just thanking someone for a watch, is actually contributing to their page with a comment or too. Most people have at least a few submissions or journals up that you could take a few minutes to look at.

My policy is to +Watch all those who interact with me, and to always reply to any interaction, as it is only polite. If someone +Watches me, I +Watch them and thank them. If they leave a comment, shout, or a note, I +Watch them and reply. If they +Favorite something I posted, I +Watch them and thank them. If I meet them IRL, I +Watch them, and if they reply or +Watch me in return, I reply and say it was great meeting them. It is in my code of conduct, if you will. I try to remember to check to see if they don't like thanks, but I never had to deal with that yet. My plan if I do is to say that I wanted to thank them, but they do not want me to, and it makes me sad. I did get someone who got angry at me for +Watching them, though, but as it is against my policy to -Watch someone except in very rare circumstances, only two specific scenarios, in fact, as doing so is considered rude in my views, I explained my policies, and kept replying to his notes until he stopped sending them. That way I could remain polite and still not violate my own standards.

Doesn't that result in an abusrdly large watch list, though? You can't possibly be able to make it through all of your submissions and journals without bypassing huge swaths of them. I preffer smaller watch lists, I don't feel like I'm competing with half of FA.

I just read journals, mostly. I rarely ever check submissions. I use FA as more of a social network than anything. And yes, I do miss some, but they will always be there if I ever delete enough of them from the top to see the rest. Shame there is no Next button for journals like there is for submissions, though. Most of the meets I'm likely to attend are listed on the state groups, anyway, so I can always check those every weekend for events.

So that's why you commented on a month old journal of mine when I watched you.

I'm glad I did, tho. I'm probably gonna get Eclipse Phase.