They don't. If you are getting paid for a job, you have a responsibility to do that job. If all you get are words and reviews, there is nothing you are responsible for.

You ignored the argument that by providing content and getting the readers involved, you dont share responsibility. Try again.

Unnecessary exaggeration. I specifically said "a few trolls" is not the problem. The problem are people like you, who believe that every reader has entitlement to the end of a story.

I never used the term "entitlement". You have invented your own view on what I was saying to suit your frustrations with my comments.

Again, ad hominem. You are trying to undermine my argument by talking about me instead of the argument. The gun is the heckling people like you and other readers offer the author for abandoning a story.

You were the one who made insinuations about things I never remotely said. A "gun to the head" in no way relates to heckling. I also am amused you lump me in with the "readers", as if all readers are your enemy and I am one of them.

It's not about blame. You still put the readers above the author.

Wrong. Try again. Go back and read my original statement and even my follow up and point out where i put the readers above the author. It really does seem like you did not read what I wrote.

You cannot put "You have control over the situation" and "You have responsibility" together. You claim the responsibility should stand above the control. If the choice of the author is "I will drop this story because I do not wish to finish it", then that's it, that's the control.

Again, never said that. The writer always retains the control as they provide the content. However control does not mean shirking responsibility. I also never said that the author is bound to finish by law or penalty of death or any other such nonsense. Simply that they need to try their best and strive to finish it, and if all else fails, communicate to their readers.

Ad hominem. Attacking my argument through me just makes your arguments weaker. Welcome to a discussion, you're doing it wrong.

Again with this Ad hominem nonsense. I explained my reasoning, and questioned your anger in the initial response you gave. I could not grasp why you would be so upset over my opinions unless you have had such issues in the past. If you want to use that to shoot down my points, be my guest, it matters not. We are all entitled to our own opinions.

Now, as for "proof" of being a writer. I could post books, and documents and say I wrote them, but how would that prove a thing. This is reddit. We are all anonymous members here, and even authors who post FF almost always use anonymous user names and do not connect accounts with websites. If you choose not to believe me, then thats fine. I know who and what I am. I was a writer and artist making a living long before I was a reader of FF. And as an author i knew what I was getting into when writing. I knew that I had a responsibility to those who purchased my work, or read my stories.

I acknowledged that it is different when you are simply getting reviews and readers, rather then pay. And yet, the responsibility is still there, just in a different form. I never said you could not burn out, lose your way, forget, or need to deal with life as an writer. I never said that you HAD to finish what you started. I never even claimed that your needs were not as important as your readers needs. I simply said that should you, as a writer, CHOOSE FREELY to start a story and provide it to a public base, then you have shouldered the repercussions of such a thing. You will get good and bad feedback, friendly and angry commentary, and will experience both triumph, and trolls. It is part of having an audience. But you still need to provide to that audience because it is YOU who captured them by putting your creation out there.

And if for some reason, you cant, then be open and honest with them. Most will respect that. Understand that. And move on. Some wont, but such is life.

An artist (writers included) who can not understand their connection to their audience, is doomed to failure.