It's worrying because we can't just pop round to their house and check they're okay! We're just left wondering what's happened to them, if they've started another journal elsewhere under a different name and in a different fandom, or if they've given up on fandom altogether, or...

I've left comments occasionally on seemingly abandoned fics, but they never get answered. Once in a while someone pops back up again and I'm glad, but most of the time nothing. It's a bit weird finding myself worrying about people I've never spoken too.