I realized I felt terrible for not telling folks how much I liked their work (must have been the ghost of my Mother telling me it was rude)
LOL. It sounds like our experience is similar. Except I'd already been commenting on fics from another fandom (HP - I lurked in it for awhile until I figured out the commenting-on-fics thing and satisfied that bossy mother voice :)) and was able to make the occasional shy comment in this fandom within a few days of finding it.