I joined a writing forum a while back, where you were supposed to comment:post on a 10:1 ratio. So I commented ten times, then posted as a "I want to share what I've written" and was immediately told this was a forum for critiques, not sharing.

Since then, I've looked for forums that don't lose themselves as for critiques. I haven't going any active ones. I've barely found any inactive ones.

I hate AO3 and Wattpad (I'm not posting anywhere that has likes or view counts), but I wanted Readers outside of close personal friends, so I tried finding writing swap buddies on Nano. And as far as I can tell, neither of the people I found like my work.

I do not know where people are supposed to go with original work. When I wrote fan fic, people READ it. And I wasn't a better writer than I am now.