This is going to be a rant, folks.
Why don't people read them? Especially notes BEFORE the text of the story? Is this some sort of blindness? Are a few extra sentences truly so difficult to read?
I'll admit, my own authors notes are sometimes rather pointless. However, they also answer questions, address potential issues I can't conceivably deal with in-story, or contain background information which is merely supplemental to the story and isn't truly relevant.
I bring this up because I was reading the reviews for one of my stories and I saw the same question asked in four or five reviews, a question I'd answered as the FIRST SENTENCE in my author's notes for that chapter.
Grah.