This is such a wonderful response. I’m not an IF author, except in potentia (going on 10 years now), but I have come back to the forum after 7 years (and a single introductory post) to try and share impressions of Spring Thing IFs – and I meant to do it in exactly the way you describe it. Thanks for the validation!
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I think all authors would love to get feedback on their older titles. It shows that the work is still relevant and not only within a rather short period of a competition. It would probably make sense to inform the authors about this so that the feedback does not slip by unnoticed.
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Now that you mention it, two and a half years ago I got stuck in Larry Horsfield’s The Axe of Kolt. I emailed him to ask for a hint, one email led to another.
We ended up staying in close contact for a few months while I played through the first three Alaric Blackmoon-games in test mode. This resulted in a quite extensive update of the old games. It was a great experience.
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It’s a lovely idea but my sense is that is won’t happen very often as there are only a very small number of Rovarssons, DeusIraes and mathbrushes in the world (to mention three of the most prolific reviewers that immediately come to mind; other reviewers are, of course, available) and rather a lot of new games, never mind the older ones. Reviewing games is really hard work - even more so, perhaps, than writing the games - and most people, having gone to the effort of playing a game, don’t want to go to the extra effort of writing about it. I include myself here - I have a backlog of things that I’ve played, really enjoyed, and intended to write reviews of, but am forever failing to do so.
But at least this way, you’re quite within your rights to assume that the great, silent majority of people who have opened your game (as revealed, for example, by itch.io’s enigmatic analytics graphs) had a truly wonderful time, probably the most profound and rewarding experience of their entire lives - so much so that they couldn’t bring themselves to talk about it afterwards. At any rate, that’s the story I’m sticking to!
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Yeah! And if they didn’t it’s because they did something out of the order intended by Christopher Merriner. 
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Precisely! Ad-lib at your peril.
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Not, by the way, limited to Christopher Merriner’s own games. He has already decided on a perfect playing order for any and all IF-works, including those to be written up until 6 years and 8 months into the future.
Stray from that order and you shall not have fun. (“Fun” as defined by the personal tastes of Christopher Merriner and only Christopher Merriner.)
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I mean that actually sounds super good. Sign me up!
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Bless you, Mike - I’ve written you in to my will.
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