just wondering...

[JCullen]

I'm just wondering because no one has reviewed my story. Not that I'm upset about that, I was just curious as to whether or not you guys wait to review a story until its completion. I usually go by the authors request (if they make one) other wise, I review when the story is complete.

[Guest sylvir]

Personally I like to review when something in the story stands out and I really want the author to continue writing. Sometimes I want to give advice or some opinions but a lot of writers take that as flaming. Most of the time I wait to review when and if the story is complete.

[Melrick]

If it's a multi-chaptered story then I'll usually review at the end of each chapter. But if I'm not enjoying it too much then I'll usually not bother reviewing. Too many people out there don't like anything other than a hearty praise and a pat on the back.

[shinigamiinochi]

Personally, I don't see the point in reviewing a completed story. I encourage my readers to review during the writing process because, what good is a suggestion when you're done writing? If I get any suggestions while I'm writing, and I realize the person is right or it's a good idea, I can put it in the story. After the fact is just pointless, unless you plan to edit the story, but only truly dedicated fans will reread a story to look for those edits. The only type of reviews that are ok for completed stories are just 'pat on the back' ones, but actualy concrit reviews are pretty pointless.

[JCullen]

Personally, I don't see the point in reviewing a completed story. I encourage my readers to review during the writing process because, what good is a suggestion when you're done writing? If I get any suggestions while I'm writing, and I realize the person is right or it's a good idea, I can put it in the story. After the fact is just pointless, unless you plan to edit the story, but only truly dedicated fans will reread a story to look for those edits. The only type of reviews that are ok for completed stories are just 'pat on the back' ones, but actualy concrit reviews are pretty pointless.

My point EXACTLY. Reviews aren't meant as an ego stroke. It's meant as a growth tool. Whether good or bad, every author likes feedback. I, personally, appreciate the critique more so than the praise. After all, how else can I grow?

Reviewing completed stories, I usually save, for authors whose work I continue to enjoy. Or One Shot stories of course.

Could I ask a favor? Would you three pwetty pwease give my story a read and drop a quick review? It doesn't have to be after every chapter and it doesn't have to be long. And you can be totally honest, I don't need sugar coating. (but thanks if you thought of using some) I'd just like to know before I continue writing it.

[greenwizard]

I used to review... But then a pissy fangirl decided she didn't like what I wrote and decided I was flaming the author. Not only did she attack me on the review board for that story, but she went to one of MY stories to copy and paste her attack to make sure I saw it. That pissed me off to the point of never wanting to review again. I've had people attack my stories, jump down my throat because it wasn't cannon and so on and so forth. It stung a little, but if it was just trash I deleted it and went on with my day. This bitch left a message on my review board that had nothing to do with my story, she just had to attack me.

But enough ranting... It seems like all people want is to hear that their story is the best thing since sliced bread, and if you have anything negative to say then you're flaming. It seems that if you are an author and you give an honest opinion on another's story you risk opening yourself up to trolling and flaming if someone doesn't like what you say. It's sad really.

[JCullen]

I used to review... But then a pissy fangirl decided she didn't like what I wrote and decided I was flaming the author. Not only did she attack me on the review board for that story, but she went to one of MY stories to copy and paste her attack to make sure I saw it. That pissed me off to the point of never wanting to review again. I've had people attack my stories, jump down my throat because it wasn't cannon and so on and so forth. It stung a little, but if it was just trash I deleted it and went on with my day. This bitch left a message on my review board that had nothing to do with my story, she just had to attack me.

But enough ranting... It seems like all people want is to hear that their story is the best thing since sliced bread, and if you have anything negative to say then you're flaming. It seems that if you are an author and you give an honest opinion on another's story you risk opening yourself up to trolling and flaming if someone doesn't like what you say. It's sad really.

I agree, after all the saying goes "You can't please everybody"

[greenwizard]

If you'd like your story reviewed, could you post a link? I don't know if it's my browser or what but I can't get to it.

[JCullen]

If you'd like your story reviewed, could you post a link? I don't know if it's my browser or what but I can't get to it.

That would be amazing, thank you!!! Here's the link, if anything you can just copy/paste it...and I promise no blitz attacks. lol. You can be totally honest. If it sucks, it sucks. lol.

http://movies.adult-fanfiction.org/story.php?no=600092616

[Melrick]

I used to review... But then a pissy fangirl decided she didn't like what I wrote and decided I was flaming the author. Not only did she attack me on the review board for that story, but she went to one of MY stories to copy and paste her attack to make sure I saw it. That pissed me off to the point of never wanting to review again. I've had people attack my stories, jump down my throat because it wasn't cannon and so on and so forth. It stung a little, but if it was just trash I deleted it and went on with my day. This bitch left a message on my review board that had nothing to do with my story, she just had to attack me.

But enough ranting... It seems like all people want is to hear that their story is the best thing since sliced bread, and if you have anything negative to say then you're flaming. It seems that if you are an author and you give an honest opinion on another's story you risk opening yourself up to trolling and flaming if someone doesn't like what you say. It's sad really.

Speaking of abusive reviews, one thing everyone should keep in mind is if someone leaves you flame "reviews" for one of your stories on our archive then please report it, because they're not tolerated here and will be dealt with. Make sure you don't delete the flame first, though; leave it there for the mod's to see and archive.

[JCullen]

<br />Speaking of abusive reviews, one thing everyone should keep in mind is if someone leaves you flame "reviews" for one of your stories on our archive then please report it, because they're not tolerated here and will be dealt with. Make sure you don't delete the flame first, though; leave it there for the mod's to see and archive. <img src="style_emoticons/default/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /><br />

<br /><br /><br />

where do we send the report? I didn't see a button for reporting a deconstructive review.

What exactly is "flaming" anyway? lol

[Melrick]

<br /><br /><br />

where do we send the report? I didn't see a button for reporting a deconstructive review.

What exactly is "flaming" anyway? lol

Firstly, I'll explain a "flame". Let's say I'm a juvenile arsehole with an attitude and too much time on my hands. I read your story (or pretend to) and the leave a review that says something like: "you'er storey SUX! my gmother could rite better than that and shes ded!" Note the poor spelling, as most of these morons border on illiterate. That's a flame, where they simply rip into you or your story with little reason other than to annoy and/or offend, usually trying to bait you into retaliating so they can start a massive argument (a flame war). There's no constructive criticim, simply abuse. We don't tolerate that. On the other hand, some people take any kind of criticism as a flame, no matter how nice and constructive they are about it. That's not a flame, simply constructive criticism.

Now, where to report it. If you go to the archive, down the very bottom of each page is a link that says this: "Report Abuse or TOS-breakers on the Site." (TOS stands Terms Of Service, in case you weren't sure). That link lets you send an email, where you state the problem and provide links to your profile and where the problem is, such as the page where the abusive review is. The mods will then take care of it for you.

[JCullen]

Firstly, I'll explain a "flame". Let's say I'm a juvenile arsehole with an attitude and too much time on my hands. I read your story (or pretend to) and the leave a review that says something like: "you'er storey SUX! my gmother could rite better than that and shes ded!" Note the poor spelling, as most of these morons border on illiterate. That's a flame, where they simply rip into you or your story with little reason other than to annoy and/or offend, usually trying to bait you into retaliating so they can start a massive argument (a flame war). There's no constructive criticim, simply abuse. We don't tolerate that. On the other hand, some people take any kind of criticism as a flame, no matter how nice and constructive they are about it. That's not a flame, simply constructive criticism.

Now, where to report it. If you go to the archive, down the very bottom of each page is a link that says this: "Report Abuse or TOS-breakers on the Site." (TOS stands Terms Of Service, in case you weren't sure). That link lets you send an email, where you state the problem and provide links to your profile and where the problem is, such as the page where the abusive review is. The mods will then take care of it for you.

I see...got it. Thank you! hehe

Excellent! Again, thank you

[greenwizard]

Speaking of abusive reviews, one thing everyone should keep in mind is if someone leaves you flame "reviews" for one of your stories on our archive then please report it, because they're not tolerated here and will be dealt with. Make sure you don't delete the flame first, though; leave it there for the mod's to see and archive.

Would have, but the little piss ant wasn't logged in. I didn't know whether or not something could still be done.

[JCullen]

It really is sad that people waste energy on flaming other peoples work...what a shame.

[Melrick]

Would have, but the little piss ant wasn't logged in. I didn't know whether or not something could still be done.

If it's an anonymous review then there's little that can be done. If that happens, and continues to happen, then you can change the setting so that you don't allow anonymous reviews.

[Supersonic Bitch]

I review if I like the story, adding some constructive criticism if I feel that there is something that should IMO be improved. If I don't like the story (pairings, warnings and summaries tell quite a lot already), I don't read it. Very simple, I think.

[Kimmy_Nagasaki]

I will always reply a story whether I like it or not, and give my input to help them out.

I wish people did the same for me

All I get it is:

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGG plz MOAR.

and stuff like that that, in my book, doesnt help me improve.

[SereneLies]

I like reviewing stories because I think that if something is well written, then its at least encouraging to that writer. The problem is, is that people read through these stories hoping (to be completely blunt) to get off at some sex scene or something like that. I am not saying that it is everyone, but it is some of the people. I said this on another thread, but at first I was a little disappointed at the lack of reviews but it's kind of something you have to get used to as a writer for these sites. All you have to do is keep writing, keep improving and have faith in your work.

To greenwizard:

Where pissy fangirls are concerned you have to brush it off.

You don't know these people and they don't know you so if they can't handle the constructive criticism then it's their problem not yours. Most of these people (the ones who decide to attack you anyways) have very little faith in their own writing and feed off good reviews; for them it is an ego stroke. Either that or they are way to conceited and think that you are an idiot because you think their story needs work.

[Silvyraven]

I tend to find stories I like after they are already completed. I usually will leave a "singing the praises of" kind of review and then ask if more stories are going to be written.

If I am fast enough and get to a story while it's still being written, I try to be as helpful as possible without being mean.

Stories I WONT review are the ones where the author is "If you don't review it I wont finish", Or I will only post the next chapter after I get (insert number here) reviews. In fact most the time I wont even bother to read them.

[windofthenorth]

I review the story if something about it stood out. An impressive sex scene, witty dialogue, or conversely, a bad sex scene or poor grammar.

[MorbidFantasy]

Sometimes you have to consider the potential audience base. Some of the fandoms on AFF are inevitably more popular than others (Lara Croft, Buffy, etc) and get more attention from readers. Stories posted in these catagories get more readers by default, not because they're necesarily better but because more people are visiting the fandom more often.

The other thing is that everyone has preferences, like I will by default NEVER read anything with M/M in it, and also will seldom read consensual or pregnancy fics.

You could always promote your story here on the forums, like my shameless self adverts (I've got a big ego).

[marley_station]

I review the story if something about it stood out. An impressive sex scene, witty dialogue, or conversely, a bad sex scene or poor grammar.

Seconded, with one exception: if it's so bad I have concluded that I can't find anything good to say about the fic then I do not leave a review, not even one I would consider concrit. More often than not when I have done that my reviews were deleted.

If you aren't getting reviews, big deal. Keep in mind that most of the patrons to this site are minors without a clue about what it takes to create good fanfiction, and as a general rule they don't leave reviews. It's less a reflection of the quality of your work than you might imagine.

If you're not getting reviews but your hit count is going through the roof, then I think that speaks for itself.

Ditto, though, if you're not getting reviews OR hits. In that case I'd consider getting a beta (or another beta) and reworking the fic.

I'm not above asking the author of a fic I really enjoyed reading to consider beta-ing something I have written. I've got a 50/50 shot at getting a yes.

Consequently, I don't think anyone else should be either.

[Jyet]

I generally leave reviews that are something along the lines of "Liked it, well-written, would love to see more!" Since I know those aren't very helpful to established writers, I tend to only review good stories from authors with just one or two stories posted. Of course, beginning AFF writers generally dip their feet in the pool with a oneshot or two, so I haven't really reviewed any multi-chapter stories yet. If I came across one, though, I'd probably review however much of the story was up at that point, and then consider each new chapter as potentially reviewable.

[megadeth425]

I'll review usually if it's a writer I follow, someone new who's done something good, or a multi-chapter fic I like that's just been updated. Particularly, if it's a new writer who's doing a good job and is unsure, having been in the same position and even now still critical of my own work, I will leave a comment. If I feel that they're holding the story ransom or threatening to stop altogether if they don't get reviews, I'm going to outright stop reviewing, even if I had been regularly up until that point. If a story doesn't really stand out for me, I'll only leave a comment if the story is painfully rife with screw-ups and easily-remedied misspellings, badly written to the point of notability, or if it's just a brick of unparagraphed text. 

But one thing to note if you're not getting any reviews is the fandom in particular. You can also tell it by the number of hits you get, as hits aren't an indicator of quality so much as traffic. If it's low, it could be that less people are interested in the fandom in question, or that the people who are aren't drawn to the content of it. I'll really only read things from fandoms I'm familiar with, and yaoi fics just go right over my head. If you can find the butter zone where a fandom you're into has a sizable group of people interested in the content you write, you should find your review count will definitely go up.