[1] https://www.evalapply.org/index.html#standing-invitation
I've done this for a few books, two video games, and a composer. One of the smaller indie studios wrote me back a nice email about how much it meant to them.
About two years ago I wanted to replay a game demo I remembered from an old (early 00') computer magazine demo disc. The actual game was nowhere to be found anywhere on the internet, but I did locate the developer and sent him an email.
Turns out the game was never actually released - its only public existence was as a demo game alongside a bunch of other games and software. He still had the installer for the game, which was small enough to fit as an attachment in the reply he gave.
He didn't say, but I got the distinct feeling that I might have made his day asking about that game he made more than 20 years ago.
Super niche, mostly irrelevant to all but a vanishingly small number of people, and yet I had proof that someone I admired found it useful.
It's been years, and it still makes me smile when I think of it.
You never know what impact you might make on others.
These signs of appreciation are, themselves, truly appreciated.
¹ https://librivox.org/ - if you'd like to hear him then try The Prisoner of Zenda: https://librivox.org/the-prisoner-of-zenda-by-anthony-hope/
I made it a habit of showing gratitude to content creators, as well as to open source maintainers.
This idea seems similar. I have some accounts on social media that is being used for read-only. That's unfortunate reality.
HN does not do reply notifications, so please send me a link - my contact is in my profile :)
I sent the author a quick thank you, explaining how it helped me in my hour of need. Exactly as others have said here, it goes a long way to making the effort of blogging worthwhile!
Total party skills, arguably the most balanced astute commentary of current events… definitely that I’ve come across. Hidden behind a game master facade.