Thank you for saying this 🫂 This is exactly how I feel about the topic too and you couldn't have expressed it better. It's a difficult line to walk on, because as you said most popular fics I've read do deserve the hype, and have become personal favorites. But what about the "hidden gems"?

I only recently found out that many people always sort by kudos, and honestly that information was kinda sad to me. How are newer fics supposed to get kudos if we don't even give them the opportunity to get them? Some of the most beautifully written fics I've read are under 100 kudos.