it wasn't obvious to me either until I had an epiphany the other night while lying awake in bed at 2am. everyone is so desperate for ao3 comments because they don't have anywhere else to have a conversation with someone. I think that's also the reason why everyone tries to treat ao3 like social media when it's not. they need a platform that allows for this style of conversation we're having right here, and the closes analogue to a lot of people seems to be ao3 - because they don't know other options exist