As a reader, I get this feeling. It's one of the reasons I prefer to read finished stories or those that are well along and written by authors that are known to finish their stuff. Even then, stuff can happen though. That's always the risk you have when you start reading something that isn't finished yet.
As an author that has gone into unannounced hiatuses in the past, I'd like to shed some light on this though:
I completely understand, life gets in the way. Just a minute to write a couple of sentences telling the readers isn't that hard though.
It absolutely can be depending on what the reason is and all of this also hinges on the idea that the author is even dropping the story in the first place which they might not be.
@Temple made a good point in regard to how shame might be a motivator to not make an announcement like that (I mean, who's gonna go out and shame themselves willingly? That takes guts.) but there are others as well.
For one, authors and readers might have a different viewpoint. For readers, no update equals the story being dropped, while the author might still be working behind the scenes but can't say anything about when the next update will be because shit takes time, and obviously, readers get angry when you say "update should be at x time" and then you can't deliver because it took even more time. Thus, an author may tend to go silent when they've received backlash for giving an estimate but being unable to keep to that.
If an author fails to update because of writers' block, readers constantly asking can up the stress even further. They are likely already feeling bad and like a failure, and if they are constantly reminded of how much they suck, they might just nope out of there for their own sake because they can't take it any longer. Making an announcement might get readers off their backs but at this point, they might simply not have the energy to do so. Same if the reason for the hiatus is something like depression. At that time, the author's mental health simply comes before readers wanting any info.
Other than that, authors usually don't
like abandoning stories. Just look at all those "Should I drop this story?" threads here on the forums. So it takes a lot of introspection to get to the point where they are even able to say "Yes, this is dropped" and make the announcement you'd like them to give. That also needs time (because you weigh the pros and cons, try for a while just because, get insights from other authors or friends, or whatever else you need to feel comfortable with the decision). It might, in fact, need several months. It can even be longer if they are still actively
trying to write the story but just messing up constantly (see the aforementioned writers' block, it can be a bitch).
To top it all off, what is an author going to write? That question alone can make many step back and not do it because it's not that simple from our perspective. Like, maybe the story isn't dropped in their mind. What then? They could write "I'm working on it but I have no further news. Just wait for it." but that is basically what not making any announcement would mean as well. So really, what is an author that
isn't ready to drop the story going to write that would satisfy readers?
If the author
is ready to drop, they might also want to think about this well. After all, maybe
this story is dropped but not others. Then you need to explain it well because we don't want to screw ourselves over by making readers feel we're unreliable, only care about money and fame, or whatever other reaction readers might have. So, depending on the type of author, just thinking of the right message might take time. I mean, I can't speak for others but if I have an important announcement to make, I sometimes write several drafts for them. Dropping something would definitely be one of those.
So, yes, it
can be that hard for us to make an announcement about whether a story is dropped or not. So while I totally get your frustration as a reader, just wait. If the author is ready, they might make an announcement that the story is dropped or might pick it back up. This is simply something that can't be rushed.
