Waiting for the Consequences.

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

You ever write a concrit to a story, pointing out mostly where the writer needs to improve (or absolutly fails...) then see the list of reviews as all be totally GUSHING? Then sit an wonder when the hell the swarm of "OMFG! HOW CAN YOU BE SO MEAN!?" hits?

Well, this happens pretty often when I choose to leave a negative concrit. And while I've never had an issue with it before, I'm always wondering when I'll be flooded with nasty emails and flames ong my stories by all the author's friends and fan-brats. PErhaps I'll be lucky and not have to deal with that at all, though, I'm always wondering WHEN it'll happen (hell, I almost want it to just so I have a great excuse to rip into someone....

What? Huh... no, I'm not evil...heh....

[EveKnight75]

You know that concrit article I'm working on? My partner on that, sweetblood, says she's run into that issue before, and she's not the only one. Sometimes, it's you. You may have been a bit harsh in the tone without realizing it.

Sometimes the person you've given concrit to is a brat. They don't want concrit - they want gushing praise for their crap. Any negative comment, no matter how politely put, irks them. The result: "Wah! ur meen!" Then they send their posse after you.

She says she's actually writing a section to address that issue. Of course, she'll put the info in much nicer terms. I don't know what her solution is, but I'll ask her so that I can pass it on to you before the article's posted.

The only problem is that she's never had to deal with floods of troll reviews because she doesn't write stories herself. Last I heard, she's consulting a member of FF who has dealt with posse flame attacks before (the member's mature but under 18, so we won't post a pen-name when giving credit).

As it is, the article should take another 2-3 weeks to finish.

Personally, I haven't run into that issue yet. I've had only one person ignore me, and the others have appreciated my concrit. Many of them also ask me to become their beta.

When I had my old account, I kept getting flooded with hate mail for one of my fics. Apparently, I'm a sick incestuous pedophile who needs to be taken away by the authorities ASAP. Better yet, I should do the world a favor and kill myself. I'm not an adult writer - I'm a sicko with deranged fantasies who can't draw worth crap. And the list goes on and on. At least they were polite enough not to leave the comments on a review board (except for one reviewer who was automatically negated by nearly every following reviewer without any flames and without sounding like a posse).

Believe me, honey, you don't want to deal with them just to have an excuse to rip into them. The sheer number will eventually overwhelm you, no matter how ridiculous their comments. If you really want to rip into them, go to a badfic site/group.

[Squallfan]

I'm too nice. If I read a fic that turns out crappy, I don't leave a review at all, but I will rate it down. I have pointed out grammar on a few, but in the most nice possible way I can, hell, even I still mess up on my own fics and I'll go back and fix the problem. Personally, I would rather have someone point out a mistake so I can fix it. I don't mind getting critical reviews. It helps me improve as far as I'm concerned. Some people just take it too personal I think.

I am a big hater of flames though, which I have mentioned before on other topics. Critical and flaming are two completely different things. I've nearly flamed an author myself for writing pointless stories that were totally gross and made no sense. All the character were way off, so I just stopped reading. I was going to report the author to the admins, because honestly I think the author gets off on all the flames they get. In the end, I didn't want to stir the shit.

As for the flames in general, I've only gotten two out of the 15 stories I've written so far and I deleted them. I have that right, but I'm not about to delete a critical review that is honest and has integrity.

[Iggy_lovechild]

I think that the only time I was really mean in a review was for a story on ff.net. The fandom doesn't matter but it was a shounen-ai pairing and in the beginning of the second or third chapter the authoress slammed erotica writers by saying that she wasn't interested in writing lemons because she treated the characters like real people and not like gay porn stars (or something to that effect). Whatever enjoyment I might have gotten from the rest of the story was forever marred by such a narrow-minded opinion and offensive, self-righteous statement.

For the record, the story was okay...I guess, for the first few chapters. By the fifth or sixth chapter it had degenerated into a mess of melodrama and overwrought angst.

The review i'd left was...icy. I praised what I could, pointed out some things that seemed a bit off in her characterizations, and coldly responded to her off-colour comments regarding erotica. So i guess...I can't really write a bad review. Anytime I would have, I'm usually too busy hitting the back button to bother with it.

[Guest Adara]

I'm too nice. If I read a fic that turns out crappy, I don't leave a review at all, but I will rate it down. I have pointed out grammar on a few, but in the most nice possible way I can, hell, even I still mess up on my own fics and I'll go back and fix the problem. Personally, I would rather have someone point out a mistake so I can fix it. I don't mind getting critical reviews. It helps me improve as far as I'm concerned. Some people just take it too personal I think.

I am a big hater of flames though, which I have mentioned before on other topics. Critical and flaming are two completely different things. I've nearly flamed an author myself for writing pointless stories that were totally gross and made no sense. All the character were way off, so I just stopped reading. I was going to report the author to the admins, because honestly I think the author gets off on all the flames they get. In the end, I didn't want to stir the shit.

As for the flames in general, I've only gotten two out of the 15 stories I've written so far and I deleted them. I have that right, but I'm not about to delete a critical review that is honest and has integrity.

You've voiced my very own opinion on the subject. I've gotten two flames from reviewers who were trying to pass them off as concrit reviews.

I really dislike people who try and belittle the author they're reviewing. It honestly makes me want to bitch-smack 'em.

The reviews I've ever given are usually polite. I state what I liked about it, tell them what a good effort they've put into it (if I obviously believe they have. Usually those who are writing a story for the first time) and tell them what I think would probably help the reader better understand the story.

The cool part was that the authors actually took my advice and fixed those few problems. I think that was the biggest high-five I could ever get from someone I reviewed

[Guest lightgoddess]

So far, I have not gotten any fan-brat flames because I left con crit in a review. I find it easiest to say what I liked about the story and then say "but this can be improved" and actually tell them how to improve or what the mistake should be.

I have a big pet peeve with 'towards'. Yes, it's most commonly said that way, but that doesn't make it proper English. You would also not believe the number of really, really good authors who do it! I always leave con crit if I see that, especially if it's repeated. Authors are usually pretty receptive to it.

[Guest Big Samurai]

I'll admit, if I'm reading something and it's terrible, I'm not afraid to leave constructive criticism. My method for averting the flames is pretty simple. I don't review often, but, with a very few exceptions, I don't review briefly, either, and, if there's one thing that will deter the idiots, it's a wall of well-crafted (hopefully!) text. If they know that they'll be out-typed, they'll think twice, in my experience.

Of course, there are those who are too stupid to know any better, but I haven't run into very many of those here at AFF. (It's those damn kids, I swear.)

[Neito]

I don't beleve in giving a totally positive review. Ever. Nothing is perfect.

Granted, there's alot of stuff i really like. But even with that stuff, i can point out areas of improvement.

Dating sims? Geared towards pathetic fanboy feelings. (like me, sadly. <<;;

Evangelion? Angsty as hell.

IRC? Fucking timesink.

I have a reputation on SA for being an elitest. (Sprite art nobodies with a few fanboys think their dicks are bigger than the Hancock tower.) And yeah, i crit alot. Sometimes there's so much to crit, i ignore/don't have time for the few pieces of corn in a pile of shit.

Does that make me bad because YOU suck?

[Iggy_lovechild]

Well, I left a bad review that bordered on mean.

Okay, okay, it was pretty mean, but you don't just post a goddamn paragraph, and tack a little note at the end that it's not done. I think I'm entitled to being a little bit cranky.

[Squallfan]

Well, I left a bad review that bordered on mean.

Okay, okay, it was pretty mean, but you don't just post a goddamn paragraph, and tack a little note at the end that it's not done.   I think I'm entitled to being a little bit cranky.

LMAO. I read it and I so agree with you Iggy. I'm the one that gave the +rating. I was tempted to rip the writer a new one as well. I was even thinking I should report it to the admins, cause it's a waste of space.

[Squallfan]

Update. I went ahead and gave a bad review too. This morning, the story, or paragraph was gone. Hopefully she'll finish it and post again. Or, we all scared her away.

[Guest Big Samurai]

See? If people know that we actually pay attention to what gets posted and point out what's bad, that's an automatic guarantee that the quality of the site will improve.

*sings*

"The eyes of the Ranger are upon --" *shot*

[Neito]

Honestly, i've run into emo bitches like that far too much. I was an unofficial hanger-on of Screw These Comics, if anyone has ever heard of that, and when i would do a review of a comic, people invariably emo'd out, and still do.

But i still do it, for the one or two people out of 100 that actually care. They're worth the effort of dealing with the pretenders.

[NightScribe]

Update. I went ahead and gave a bad review too. This morning, the story, or paragraph was gone. Hopefully she'll finish it and post again. Or, we all scared her away.

See? If people know that we actually pay attention to what gets posted and point out what's bad, that's an automatic guarantee that the quality of the site will improve.

Yup, Big Sam, I've got to agree with you there. And like horrorgal, I've left a bad review or two and the stories have disappeared. Strange thing is, usually, my gut instinct was telling me that they were kids. I don't know, maybe saying in my review "you write like you're 12, are you really old enough to be on this site?" scares the bejesus out of them (because they are 12) and they bolt.

For me anyway, I just get a feeling for people who are posers and think "hey this is easy" and do it for a lark, and those who really want to write and improve. I'll leave concrit for the latter, but not in a mean spirit. The punks, well, that's another story.....

[Neito]

Up for some well intentioned concrit? (a few suggestions on formatting, etc.) Put spaces between your paragraphs, your story will read easier. And don't forget to spellcheck. I noticed that your italics didn't show up, even though you coded them to, which was weird (were you typing directly into the text box?) If you can, type up your future fics in Word or whatever, then save a second time as an html file. Then either upload the html file, or cut and paste it into the text box, all your formatting should show up okay.

As for the sex, a few things nagged at me. (And this is only meant to help you write hotter, more realistic lemons)

1) Uh...you can't really feel when someone cums inside you; reads great and all, but, sadly, it doesn't happen

2) A woman rarely, if ever, orgasms from vaginal penetration only

3) The piercing pain on losing virginity is kind of quaint and Victorian. In general, women are so physically active nowadays (plus the use of certain hygeine products and masturbation) that the hymen gets stretched and degraded so it's not horribly painful (if it was, she'd be wishing/screaming for him to stop, not screaming in ecstasy).

For a first time one-shot (it was a one-shot, wasn't it?) your story wasn't a bad effort. Keep at it and good luck with your next fic!

This, THIS, is how you do a review. Especially since i'm a stupid, lonely guy who knows very little about things, i especially appreiciate the help on sex scenes. ((EDIT: I'm being serious here, not sarcastic. Sounds that way, though. :/))

We need to institute a review scoring system.

[Guest Big Samurai]

We need to institute a review scoring system.

It's there, actually. You can rate any 'fic from one to five.

[Neito]

It's there, actually. You can rate any 'fic from one to five.

I mean rating the reviews. Like, give bad scores to ZOMG UPDATE PLZ reviews, and good scores to the one i quoted.

[Iggy_lovechild]

For me anyway, I just get a feeling for people who are posers and think "hey this is easy" and do it for a lark, and those who really want to write and improve. I'll leave concrit for the latter, but not in a mean spirit. The punks, well, that's another story.....

*sniggers* Spooky. That's about what I told the girl. Eh...something very clever about wondering if she'd had twenty spare minutes to whip up a story only to discover how difficult it really was.

Ah well.

I shoulda known better when the summary was what seemed to be a simple, smutty, one-night stand kinda sub-plot and the codes included shounen-ai. *sighs* I see this happen way too often.