Is Anyone Here A Review Whore?

[sumeragichan]

They are nice to get, but I've never gotten that many reviews so I suppose it's never occurred to me to really meditate much on the topic. Although I have wondered about those who flame certain story types when the summary clearly states that it is that kind of story. Oh well, it is a mystery me... I'm just grateful if someone decides to leave one or constructive crit if they even read my stuff. XD

[Aysha c.c.]

Yes I love having my ego stroked! It feels good to have someone tell me I did a good job, and the more my ego is stroked the better I feel and the more I want to write. I want to know what I did wrong I want to know what I did right.

I admit I I’m a review whore I read and read my reviews again and again! WILL SOMEONE PLEAS REVIEW MY TEEN TITANS STORY!!!

[Shadowknight12]

*points at custom title*

Cough.

[BronxWench]

I think reviews are marvelous, and I love getting them. I'm also aware that most of my fandom works aren't in the more "popular" arenas, and the traffic past my little fics is meagre as best. How sad for me, but those are the breaks.

Still, I'll write whether or not I get reviews. But they do make me very, very happy.

[Draconis]

who doesn't love getting reviews? I'm a terrible review writer though. I feel like I have nothing to say that hasn't been said.

[RogueMudblood]

While I wouldn't like a parrot review, I admit that a "Good job, update!" would at least be 'somebody read this, not just clicked by accident'.

I prefer a review that tells me what that reader liked or didn't. Whether I've heard it before isn't of consequence (unless it's something they didn't like, in which case that indicates there's something lacking in the story [in the case of one of mine, a second chapter is what's lacking, because two of the people reviewing have stated that they don't understand a character's motivations, and that's because it hasn't been revealed in the story yet]).

If more than one reader tells me I got the characters right - that I wrote my fanfiction in character - that's high praise.

If more than one reader tells me my character interactions are believable (fanfiction or not), that's high praise.

Those are the kind of comments writers live for, and just as equally I delight in readers telling me - civilly, mind you - where I can improve. If I'm trying something new (and to grow as a writer, I should be), I want to know if it works, if it doesn't. If it almost works, and needs tweaked. Has it been said before? Okay, have I had the time and opportunity to correct/tweak it and not done so? Perhaps the review might then start as I have started some of my own:

"I see so-n-so advised you a few months back that your depiction of 'x event' might perhaps benefit from some additional consideration in its depiction. I'd like to add my voice to that opinion." With examples following of how it can be improved.

That is constructive criticism, and the highest accolade a writer can receive is being told their writing is worth being improved. There is always room for growth.

[GeorgeGlass]

Maybe it's pathetic, but getting reviews is usually a thrill for me. The mere fact that the person read the story and had something to say about it is flattering. That said, I definitely prefer some types of reviews over others:

Best: "What I like about this story" and constructive criticism reviews

OK: "This was fun to read"

Worst: "This sux ballz," "You didn't write about what I want you to write about"

[Kurahieiritr]

So many people to answer so please bear with me here as this post got a bit long. Cannot say I am the type that belongs to the Review Whore listing per say, but I do have a preferred kind of review that makes me happiest when I receive one. I love getting told the details about whatever problems any of my stories contain so I can weed those out of the chapters I share. Once I complete the newest revisions, I abuse my replace button to load the repaired chapters. Concrit is a very misunderstood beast. More thought goes into concrit reviewing than the "you have spelling errors and grammar problems" variety responses. Some concrit deals squarely with the boring, perfectly spelled and grammar checked tales without any emotional evoking underpinnings. Concrit is about telling the author about their strong points, and reminding them to give enough details to create a setting to ground characters in a reader's mind. All concrit reviewers give genuine helpful tips in hopes the writers will consider their input before deleting the review. Some concrit points out the rapid shifts between character Points of Views which can make it difficult for the reader to follow the plot lines involved in the story's telling. Tense shifts might also get mentioned by a quality reviewer.

Sadly, quality reviewers are becoming increasingly scarce. Getting their thoughtful reviews deleted so often is the reason quality reviewers have stopped trying to help other writers. The remaining quality reviewers brave enough to still attempt leaving a concrit review are getting rarer with each passing day because of the underlying "go away" message they get far too often via deleted reviews they gave others. Quality reviewers feel deeply disrespected by the authors they sought to help, and encourage through giving tips of value. They no longer talk about the strengths they saw within the stories they have read, nor point out the weaknesses they noticed. Instead, one by one, they are going completely silent. Such an outcome is understandable, yet means that I no longer can get my favorite variety of reviews. Therefore, I stopped actively seeking reviews soon after I noticed quality reviewer comments on many threads.

. . . and while I love knowing that someone out there likes my story, I occasionally find myself hoping to get some rather more in-depth feedback, which scares me silly because then I imagine some fic pro who has been reading and writing for many years, and they'd tell me that I should go back home and grow up. Complicated, eh?

A: A real concrit reviewer who inspires quality writing will never do such a thing to you, Morningstar. Not one quality concrit reviewer will ever tell writers to go back home and grow up. They will only try to help you to revise your stories to make them memorable, and stronger reading stories you can be genuinely proud of having written. They only ask that you consider the advice and implement the parts you are comfortable with adding, or removing from the existing story they gave you feed back about to be very honest.

a good review . . .
Reviewers who not only say that they love or hated your fic, but tell you why. Why is the hardest question to get answered sometimes. I personally love it when a reviewer points out oh, I loved it for X, Y, Z. This quote "blah, blah" had me in stitches. Ext.
Even negative is good. If something feels off, rushed, tell me. I'll improve.
It reminded me of a review this morning I got after posting the next part of the Way of the Sword. The girl said the last chapter wasn't as good as the others and that she'd stop reviewing, but she didn't mention why. It gave me a chill down my spine and a shot to my confidence, but not the piece of mind to know where I could improve.
To me, that's a bad/useless review, because I can't grow off of it.

A: A very good attitude to have about reviews is expressed in this and the preceding post which pinpoint elements involved in giving/receiving reviews. The lack of input about what makes a story compelling does exist in many reviews people do manage to get. I have gotten a few this chapter is not as good reviews that do not explain the problem, and I do understand your perspective in bringing this topic to the forefront because I think many have had the same thought at some point about vague reviews

And I'm right there with both of you. I've had a story up for like eight months, completed for close to two, and it's had a five star rating all along. The other day, it went down to four and the twit who rated it down didn't say anything as to why. And I noticed the hits had gone up and I was thinking, is this some kind of grudge rating? A jealousy thing? What? What honks me off is seeing good stories rated down like that, and crappy ones, loaded with bad spelling, grammar and incomplete plots, with five star ratings. I've rated those down, but it doesn't make a dent, they still stay at five.

A: Those tend to be the "fanpoodle fics" which somehow or another laud anything involving the more rabid fan girls/boys fave pairings or fandom elements I'll bet. Despite horrific writing and lackluster delivery, so long as it revolves around a certain pairing or situation that the rabid want, they will always do their level best to promote the tale. Quality has no place in the rabid fan girl/boy mindset, so my advice is to simply avoid those tales as if they had the plague if you are thinking of giving a review. The rabid tend to attack anyone who dares say one thing is off about such a story I have discovered. It may be a retaliation if you left any kind of thought provoking review that pointed out weaknesses in said fanpoodle service fic that is now causing the sudden rapid drop in your own stories ratings. The rabid tend to do such things out of spite.

NightScribe, on 21 Oct 2006 - 08:23 AM, said:
I'll leave reviews and most of the time, I'll start with suggestions; format better, put spaces between your paragraphs, create new paragraphs when another character starts speaking, spellcheck, the usual stuff. But I always try to find something positive to say as well; good descriptions, interesting idea, something. Only if the author gets a little pissy or prima donna-ish will I get a bit more critical and I'm convinced those authors are pesky, smart-ass kids. With good, or great, stories, I'll try to explain what grabbed me; the tight plotting, the empathy created for a character, the knock your socks off ending that you didn't see coming but made total sense. I believe the latter lets an author know they've got the right stuff, the former is a means to help them along the way.

A: You describe a normal concrit review sandwich that should contain an opening "I liked this about your story," then add the weaker elements, and finish with another thing you liked to give them encouragement to continue writing. Hope your reviews have not beeen systematically erased as other reviewers attest to having their similar helpful reviews deleted time and again.

*head desk* Yes, that and the people who have no clue in heck what a ONESHOT is. Four million "please update soon" reviews on a oneshot = useless, in my opinion.
Or the ones that totally ignore your warnings, no matter how big you write them... and then have the gall to scream at you for wasting their time and "making" them read something that contained X when they /hate/ X. I always want to tell them that they are wasting /my/ time by reviewing like that. If they can't read the insanely huge font that says what is contained in the chapter, right next to the word "Warnings:" well... that's their own fault and I shouldn't have to read them screaming about how sick I am. <insert stabby smilie here> *cough*

A: Cracks up laughing so hard over this post. I've had that happen to me several times with the begging for updates for one shots, and completed posts despite the big bold Complete listed on the actual synopsis section before they even opened the story.

As to the "Hated X topic" type reviews, AFFnet is strict about adding tags to the synops section to try and curb those kinds of "You're Sick" reviews. Those also qualify as trolls, and are not permitted in this archive. Hand such reviews over to admins and they will explain the actions you need to take when you get something of that nature in a review. I tend to write controversial themes so I always clearly tag even if I am doing so in my A/N notes before chapter 1 starts so I stay within posting guidelines. So long as I am inside of the posting guidelines, I cannot get in trouble with admins who will investigate the matter. The trolls will get into trouble for ignoring the clearly marked warnings in every single case. It is the brightest star of joining a moderated archive that I have found to date. By having A/N tags and warnings, the writers are freed from such obnoxious behavior, so do not be afraid to let the admins know whenever you have such a problem arise. They are a great team of people who will always adhere to the ToS guidelines.

[GeorgeGlass]

Despite having things to do, I couldn't resist doing a little experiment regarding reviews. I looked at the review-to-hit ratio of each of the 5 stories that I have posted both here and at Hentai Foundry, and I found that not only have my stories gotten more than twice as many hits on AFF as they have on HF, they have earned more reviews per hit here, as well. (Both ratios are low, however: The percentage of hits accompanied by a review was 0.28% on AFF and 0.16% on HF.) More subjectively speaking, the quality of the reviews on AFF has also been higher.

And that's all Science Boy has to say on that subject.

[Kurahieiritr]

Despite having things to do, I couldn't resist doing a little experiment regarding reviews. I looked at the review-to-hit ratio of each of the 5 stories that I have posted both here and at Hentai Foundry, and I found that not only have my stories gotten more than twice as many hits on AFF as they have on HF, they have earned more reviews per hit here, as well. (Both ratios are low, however: The percentage of hits accompanied by a review was 0.28% on AFF and 0.16% on HF.) More subjectively speaking, the quality of the reviews on AFF has also been higher.

And that's all Science Boy has to say on that subject.

A: Science aside, I agree with your higher grade reviews commentary. I have received several thoughtful reviews here, unlike at other sites I have posted stories at personally. Seeing concrete reviews that go way beyond "love it!" Or "Yesh, It's Yaoi, and I love Yaoi!" variety reviews tends to inspire me as a writer. Even the Private messages I receive here are delightfully substantial. When someone send me a PM and says they like my sex scenes, they give me reasons for why they enjoy those interludes. Seeing a review or PM that tells me I have stayed true to the original series lets me know I have remained on track despite going alternate universe in the telling of my dark, angst heavy tales.

I never thought about numbers or hit counts in my posting, George, but I do not doubt your mathematical calculations are relevant. Personally, I will always write with or without reviews received because my plot bunnies are such whip cracking fiends. The reviews I do get simply adds a smile to the process of evolving as an author in my case.