Hello! Just saw your thread and your feelings about your work.
Well, if you wanted to gain more audience, setting up your tags would certainly help. As of now, your work had no tags in it, and having no tags would make the readers unsure of what about to expect from your work. (You know how impatient and lazy some readers are)
You may also work on your blurb for better reader attraction. Rouse their interest on why they should read your story. We can't help it; as authors, we're the ones to adapt towards the changing attitudes of our audience.
Now, waiting for readers might take time. My first story here took a while before it got noticed, and the comments aren't that good at first. Just be patient and be consistent with your updates, soon you'll find your audience.
If ever your work is giving you breakdowns, I suggest you take it down for a while, until you're ready to post it again. Your well-being as an author comes first before your audience.
I think I'll just leave again.
Honestly, my problem last time was that no one was reading my story, but like, there was always a reason why and whenever I complained, even in private to people I considered friends who said they would read the story they always had an excuse.
Kind of like your comment, honestly. Instead of anyone in this thread, you know, reading my story, they'll suggest ways to get someone else, an imaginary audience, to read it, which is frustrating.
Everyone always has an excuse why they aren't reading your stories, everyone always has suggestions on how to get someone else to read it, very few people will actually read the stories.
I just don't want to fight with the userbase, which theoretically consists of people who like reading stories, to get them to read my story.
Plus, like, there's kind of a sense that everyone is just waiting to pounce on someone here, ya know. Like, everyone is just waiting for someone to ask a question that they can answer, or for someone to fuck up so that they can correct them or mock them. Ya know what I mean? It's like, everyone here is an insecure older brother, ready to lift up their younger brother with helpful advice, or to bully their younger brother, with the motivation behind both being to make themselves feel good, not their brother.
I just feel like, in general, if the community on the forums was more light-hearted, like if we talked about The Mandalorian and Boruto and encouraged others to do the same, then people would feel more confident, relaxed, and more willing to read/reviews their cool new friend's stories. But, like, instead the small size of the forum, the lack of views/comments on stories, and the always present writing advice telling them what they're doing wrong and what they 'should' be doing has lead to a very toxic atmosphere that I don't think most people are aware of, and when they finally are aware of it, they leave.
But, like, I'm crazy, so I keep coming back.
Anyways, looking forward to hearing how I'm completely wrong about everything and just being a bitch.