Man if we could collectively agree to stop saying “I don’t even like *cosplay/rp you’ve spent hours making/editing* but I like this” because... not? a compliment?

I see what these people are trying to do - “the odds were really against you in my case but you succeeded in impressing me, congrats!” and whilst that may SEEM like praise, it’s actually not

Because the feeling of “aw this person just told me they don’t like this thing I really love/am passionate about” is far stronger than “I won over one person I wasn’t supposed to”

If you were impressed by something, just say that! Otherwise you just present creators with weird conflicting emotions over accepting praise that didn’t actually make them feel good.