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Commenting & Forums

The FAWM website supports many different ways of interacting with others. This page goes over the technical details of leaving comments on songs, profiles, and the forums.

For information about etiquette, see the Community Guidelines.

For details on styling the text in your comments (bold, italics, etc.), or embedding images, see Text Formatting.

Song Comments

Finding out what sort of reaction your song created in a listener is incredibly helpful and rewarding. What sort of emotions did it trigger? How did it make the listener feel?

Leaving each other comments like these couldn't be much simpler. At the bottom of every song page, below the liner notes and lyrics, is a forum where you can leave feedback:

Screenshot: Song comment form

After clicking the Submit button, your comment will appear on the song's page as well as in the home feed of a song's author and collaborators.

Replying

New for FAWM 2026!

Sometimes you want to reply to comment.

Maybe someone asked a question about your process, and you want to give and answer. Or maybe they caught a subtle or special reference, and you want to let them know you feel seen. Or maybe you just want to say, "Thanks so much for listening!"

You can reply directly from the song page, or the comments tab of your home feed:

Screenshot: Comment reply process

  1. Simply click the Reply link
  2. Fill out the form and click the Reply (submit) button
  3. Your reply will appear nested underneath the original comment on the song page, and the original commenter will be notified in the misc tab of their home feed
  4. The original commenter can reply back, and the two of you can have a short conversation

To keep song comments focused, and to prevent them from becoming full-blown discussions (this is why we created the forums in the first place), there are a few limitations to these "reply-threads" that are different from typical social media:

  • You cannot reply if you are not already part of a reply-thread
  • Each reply-thread is limited to:
    • The original commenter
    • The fawmer who posted the song, plus any collaborators
    • Anyone those people have @mentioned to bring into the reply-thread
  • You cannot reply to yourself; you can only reply to someone else's reply

And of course you do not need to reply to any comments if you don't want to. In fact, a better way to say "thanks for listening" is to reciprocate (see below).

Important: Replies and comment count

Replies to song comments do not affect the song's comment count, which is displayed in various song listings and used by many fawmers to help prioritize their commenting.

Only "top-level" comments affect the song's comment count.

Reciprocating

New for FAWM 2026!

Many fawmers try to keep track of who has given them comments, to make sure that they reciprocate, or give at least one comment in return.

This is easy to do with the Reciprocate links just below each comment on one of your songs or collaborations, or in the comments tab of your home feed:

Screenshot: Reciprocate feature

These links act like "nano random buttons" for just that one fawmer, picking a song for you somewhat randomly (although it does prioritize more recent and pinned songs).

The links appear in two styles:

  • Plain gray = someone you have already left a comment for
  • Bold orange = someone you haven't yet left a comment in return

This allows you to scan your comments and quickly see if you've missed anyone, if reciprocating is important to you. Even if you prefer to choose which song to listen to (instead of relying on the algorithm), the highlighted links can help you prioritize, and you can then go to the fawmer's profile to see all their songs before commenting back!

Zong-Busting

A zong is a song with no comments. Yet.

During FAWM 2008 (see History), someone posted in the forums to suggest making sure that "every zong gets at least one comment." It was a typographical error, but "zong" was quickly adopted as a portmanteau for "zero-comment song."

For nearly two decades, it has been part of the FAWM culture to "bust zongs."

Whenever you see the bomb icon it's about zong-busting. The website even keeps track of your zong busts (i.e., when you are the first person to comment on a zong) and displays it along with other stats in your home feed.

There are a few ways to find zongs to bust if you are so inclined:

  • The Zong filter on the songs page
  • The Zong random button on the songs page and sidebar/footer

Whenever you view a song page with no comments yet, you will be shown an infobox just above the comment form to let you know:

Screenshot: Zong infobox

Tip: Zong bust comments just regular comments

It is frowned upon to say anything like "First post!" or "Zong busted!" as part of your comments. Just leave a regular song comment. See Community Guidelines helpful tips on what to say.

Fawmlings

A fawmling is a first-time fawmer.

We can't remember exactly when the term "fawmling" was coined (early 2010s).

Regardless, FAWM's welcoming, inclusive culture soon adopted a practice (similar to zong-busting) of specifically seeking out fawmlings for giving feedback.

Whenever you see the pram (baby carriage) icon it's about fawmlings. The website will keep track of your fawmling comments and display them in your home feed as well.

There are a few ways to find fawmlings and their songs:

  • The Fawmling filter on the fawmers page
  • The Fawmling filter on the songs page
  • The Fawmling random button on the songs page and sidebar/footer

Whenever you view a song that was posted by a fawmling, you will be shown an infobox just above the comment form to let you know:

Screenshot: Song comment form

Century Club

The century club is an informal group of fawmers who leave at least 100 comments on other people's songs. The practice evolved after FAWM 2015, when fawmling @popmythology left more than 1,000 comments, and other fawmers decided to see how many they could manage. This "club" also has different "levels" for multiples of 100 comments: 200, 300, 400, etc.

The FAWM website purposefully does not automate the century club as a feature.

Instead, a fawmer (often @fuzzy, sometimes others) will organize a forum thread for fawmers to check in as they reach various commenting milestones. Historically,about half of the fawmers who surpass 100 comments actually participate in this forum.

If you find the century club appealing, you can use the progress meters and/or the stats tab in your home feed to keep tabs on your progress!

Profile Messages / Soundboard

A fawmer's profile page contains their bio, links, and songs, but it is also a place you can leave each other messages of appreciation and encouragement.

Or just say, "Hello!"

Or in the case of fawmlings (see above) say, "Welcome to FAWM!"

We also call these profile messages your soundboard, for historical reasons.

Screenshot: Profile message form

After clicking the Submit button, your comment will appear on the user's profile as well as in the misc tab of their home feed.

Important: Profile messages are not private!

Anyone who visits a fawmer's profile page will be able to read these messages. FAWM does not have any "DM" (direct messaging) features.

Replying

New for FAWM 2026!

You may reply directly to messages on your profile or the misc tab in your home feed.

All rules regarding replying to song comments apply to profile message replies as well.

Forums

To start a new discussion thread in the forums, click the New Forum Thread button at the top of the forums listing page.

Screenshot: Forum thread button

You will be taken to a form where you can enter:

Posting to an existing forum is straightforward and much like leaving song comments and profile messages. The only exception being that the form is located at the bottom of the page, and posts are sorted from oldest to newest.

Forums do not have threaded replies like song comments and profile messages (see above). Instead, forum conversations are continuous, linear conversations.