I do accept that what I write isn’t everybody’s cup of tea. (The stories would be likely be quite boring if nobody were offended...) Though, yeah, some feedback can be downright cruel (or, back when we had the ratings, insta-downvote w/o a review immediately following a chapter post, that was very discouraging). Now, reviews along the lines of “The ending was rushed” and “I don’t believe they ended up together” would be definitely more useful, because that tells you something to help improve the story.
My stories don’t get a lot of views, likely because they’re in originals, and I stick a lot of warning tags on them as CYA. But, I’m fine with that, and fine with people not wanting to read something because of the warnings, as that’s what the tags are for. The tags can be a bit blunt, though, and I overly cautious with tags, so I can explain in more detail, when asked, what the tag is actually covering.
I do want to grow a core/consistent base of readers, because they can help with pointing out issues/mistakes/etc, or spot as a beta reader when needed.
On occasion, when I see a story that has good promise but does need some attention, I’ve tried to make it a habit to contain the suggested “fixes” in a direct PM instead. It’s kinda like laundry, I’d rather put the clean stuff up on the line, and advise if I see anything that’s dirty. Of course, as I’ve been on AFF more, I figure everyday is laundry day and the clothes do better staying off me.