Does the "only actual words, no matter how few" really also apply to someone who posts a comment consisting of "Kudos!" under your story? Or the very same "I enjoyed this story a lot!" you mentioned under each of your stories (and perhaps even in only a matter of only an hour/day)?

I'd say there's a spectrum? So it goes kudos ---> only emojis ---> "I enjoyed this." ---> "Wow, this made me cry!" ---> all the more detailed/specific comments. I still appreciate an "I enjoyed this" more than a kudos, because someone took the actual time to type it. Knowing that they cared enough to do that makes a difference to me.

Otoh, some of the best comments I get are not very long, they just express emotion. Like this comment is quite short--three very short sentences. But it filled up my heart to bursting! That one comment made writing the whole thing worth it. I want to know that I made a reader feel something, that they connected with what I was doing. If they can convey that, no matter how few words they use, then I am thrilled.

Were these norms really solid as in website-rules, or at least rules of different comms that were actively enforced by moderators? Or are you referring to something different?

Well, there was some intense moderation on some comms, especially in fandoms that were prone to wank or ship wars. But mostly I just mean...people knew that they could enter a publicly-posted community conversation and join in, as long as they weren't jerks. I'm sure there were lots of lurkers (there always are), but if you had something to say, you could just say it without worrying that you were invading someone else's space, because the comms were designed to be for anyone who wanted to join them. (Or they were set to private, in which case you knew you weren't welcome.)

There were also a lot of the unspoken norms that are maintained here on DW--most people usually tell you how they found your journal entry if it's in your personal journal--not that they have to, just a lot of people know that that's polite. Or they drop you a line when they follow you so you'll have some idea why they decided to follow you. All that stuff is absolutely not required, but it's very different than, say, Tumblr--you just don't see people sending Tumblr messages saying, "I found your post via ___ and your blog looks great and I'm going to follow you!" There's just a difference between a friending culture (DW/LJ) and a follow culture (Tumblr/Twitter/etc.).