Short answer: almost never. The default is "rate, don't reply" — but there's one exception.
What you can do by default
Hit "Specific enough" or "Could be better" on any piece of feedback to tell us how useful it was. That rating stays private — the curator doesn't see it. Over time it shapes which curators get shown and helps us flag people who are consistently low-effort.
See the "How do I rate feedback?" article for the exact steps.
Why no replies by default?
Curators respond to a lot of submissions. Opening it up to back-and-forth would bog everyone down and quickly turn into artists lobbying for reconsideration. Anonymous rating keeps the process scalable and takes the temperature down.
The exception: when a curator opens chat on decline
When curators leave detailed feedback (10+ words), they see an optional checkbox: "Let them respond to your feedback?" If they tick it, a chat thread opens automatically with their feedback as the first message, and you can reply.
This is rare — most declines stay one-way. But if it happens, you'll know: