Deleting Reviews

[shinigamiinochi]

I have a few flames and really stupid reviews, but I've never deleted any despite the fact that admins have backed me up in saying that they shouldn't be there. Why? I'm lazy. Every time I say I'm going to delete them, my mind wanders off to other directions, usually mahjong and writing my own fanfiction.

[Zimarah]

I would only delete a a flame or something like it. If it's a real review, I would rather build a shrine to it than to delete it.

[Guest Monsterking]

Smurff i feel your pain

[Harley Quinn hyenaholic]

Yes, I delete reviews if they are obviously flames. And having written one of the major accepted definitions for flames, I know what they are.

I've been Flame Blitzed before, I'm not gonna let those hang around. Other obvious flames that have no review quality at all - just a load of "YOU'RE A GIANT TURD!" in them, are also removed.

But if they're short and have at least a little review quality - even when packed with hatred (say, "THIS FIC IS A GIANT TURD!")- I'll leave ONE behind, just so that people can laugh at them.

[bitBlackmage]

I deleted a review that was a garbled and weird flame. Sorry, but I don't speak n00b.

Another time a reviewer tried to tell me where to take the story--not your puppet. Sorry again.

[Solaris]

The only reason why I would delete a review is if they just spammed my review board with junk which is rare.

Beth

[WotanAnubis]

I don't delete reviews, except my own. Sometimes I respond to a review with a 'review' because I don't really have any other way of getting in touch with them, leave it up for a couple of weeks and then delete it again if there hasn't been a reply.

Not sure why, really. Just a policy of mine.

[Darth Xelleon]

Since I only have one story, and it's only been up less then a week, it's not surprising I only have three reviews.

Actually, I'm surprised I got those three as fast as I did. No flames, though one seemed fairly pointless, so no deletions yet.

Edited July 7, 2008 by Darth Xelleon

[Guest MortiferLascivio]

No, I don't delete reviews or flames aimed towards me or my writing. I've learned to handle that, and with the amount of reviews I've gotten over the years, I've surprisingly only recieved about four flames and they were just about the content of my stories (slash, incest) instead of the actual writing. Some personally insulted me (calling me a bitch and whatnot) but I don't really care too much about how much a person on the internet hates me or thinks I should drop dead (seriously).

However, I did delete one review some time ago because it attacked one of my other reviewers for their views on the story and some points they made in their review (it was a very nice review too so the attack was very very unjustified). They threatened my reviewer, called them names and insuled their intelligence. I deleted that review very quickly to protect my reviewer and for the sake of keeping a fight from starting on my review page.

[Terri]

Nope. I never delete my reviews. Whether I like them or agree with them or not doesn't change that person's right to voice their opinon of what I wrote (provided it's not a flame, which thankfully I don't think I've had yet so that's not an issue). I figure with reviews - good or bad - readers can read those and decide for themselves if they want to read my fic or not

[canterro]

that, in and of itself, speaks the truth more loudly than anything else.

it doesn't, I'm afraid

(it's just my observation of how reviews work and how very often their number doesn't map onto the quality )

[pel]

the only reason i would EVER Delete an review if it was trully something stupid i.e "my balls itch"

lol! Yeah, I agree with this one... the only time I've deleted a review it was one kind of like that. Just a lot of nonsense babbling and obviously spam.

I've never gotten a flame before... but I think that as long as they had an actual opinion I would leave it. If they thought the story was horrible or immoral or disgusting or something, or even insulted me for writing it, I feel like they're entitled to think that way. Even if they were really rude about it, I'd probably keep it.

[Petofsuccubus]

I probably wouldn't delete a review unless it was unconstructive or just downright insulting. I don't have any bad reviews yet (since I'm new I suppose), but a bad review isn't the same as "you suck i hate your face go die", which is the sort of thing that would get deleted.

[The Pairing Guy]

Alright, I've got a major bone to pick with all of you who say you "only" delete flames. In my experience, for most writers who say this, "flames" should be translated as "anything with even the tiniest bit of criticism". The review madlodger quoted, for instance, isn't even remotely a flame, not even a "soft core" one.

I have a friend who reviews on Fanfiction.net. He placed reviews for three stories by the same author. I've seen these reviews, and they all basically said he liked the person's writing but that the particular story wasn't good, clearly explained why the story wasn't good and how she could do better in the future, and gave some praise for the writing. The writer responded by PMing him saying "Stop flaming my stories", and banned him from reviewing her works.

I know what you're going to say: "But I'm not like that! I only delete real flames!" Uh huh. Sure.

If they're real flames, why delete them? Are you afraid some reader is going to look at your reviews and say, "Wow, there are three reviews here giving highly detailed explanations of why this story is so great, but this one guy left a note saying "This story sucks balls and you should die for writing it it sucks balls so bad", so the story must be awful!"

Be honest with yourself. If the review really was a flame, leaving it there would just embarrass the flamer. The only reason you would delete those reviews is because they are honest criticisms that people who saw them might take seriously.

[LightningCross]

Alright, I've got a major bone to pick with all of you who say you "only" delete flames. In my experience, for most writers who say this, "flames" should be translated as "anything with even the tiniest bit of criticism". The review madlodger quoted, for instance, isn't even remotely a flame, not even a "soft core" one.

I have a friend who reviews on Fanfiction.net. He placed reviews for three stories by the same author. I've seen these reviews, and they all basically said he liked the person's writing but that the particular story wasn't good, clearly explained why the story wasn't good and how she could do better in the future, and gave some praise for the writing. The writer responded by PMing him saying "Stop flaming my stories", and banned him from reviewing her works.

I know what you're going to say: "But I'm not like that! I only delete real flames!" Uh huh. Sure.

If they're real flames, why delete them? Are you afraid some reader is going to look at your reviews and say, "Wow, there are three reviews here giving highly detailed explanations of why this story is so great, but this one guy left a note saying "This story sucks balls and you should die for writing it it sucks balls so bad", so the story must be awful!"

Be honest with yourself. If the review really was a flame, leaving it there would just embarrass the flamer. The only reason you would delete those reviews is because they are honest criticisms that people who saw them might take seriously.

I agree with you 100%, man. My opinion is that deleting "flames" if they're not spam reflects poorly on the author, even if they think it's thinly veiled trolling. I think deleting reviews has had chilling effects on fanfiction as a whole, as younger/less experienced authors can just filter out all of the criticism they don't like and will fail to improve at all. This is why the standard for fanfiction is so abysmally low, and it really is a problem.

[MorbidFantasy]

I never delete my reviews on principle, even if they are flames. It is not up to me to judge which reviews are worthy of keeping. They are all representative of the reaction you are invoking in your readership, however good or bad.

[draygon_icewing]

I have only deleted on review. Why? Because the fucker read neither the summary or the Author's Note inside the story and commented on my story not holding completely with cannon.

When I PMed him and told him that it had AU/AR in the warnings plus a note in the summary AND in the story itself, this person gave me the silent treatment. If someone is so stupid they can not read summaries or Author Notes then they have no business leaving a review complaining about the things that I CLEARLY warned about.

[Xenobia]

I still have a couple of pretty juicy flames on an old story and I never bothered deleting them. I found one of them to even be mildly constructive and I feel that everyone has a right to their opinion. I also rather expected to offend a person or two with said fanfic, because it was a crack pairing that didn't follow canon very well. It was written for fun and a couple of people took it too seriously *shrugs*.

Now, if someone were to spam pointless words under the review I would probably delete it. I'm willing to take some negative blows if they make a point. People that bitch about a pairing aren't constructive to me...they're only complaining about their preferences and thus lending nothing to the improvement of the writing overall. I don't care if you only like Sephiroth to do the fucking. I care about what you think concerning how it was written. If you only want to read about characters taking on roles YOU prefer, then limit yourself to fictions that portray them that way. I read a fiction about one of my least favorite FF7 characters once and I had to give the author glowing praise because it was written so well. I hate Hojo with a burning passion but that has no bearing whatsoever on the quality of the fiction itself.

[Guest sylvir]

I don't usually delete anything. I like to think that even if the review only says 'you suck' then I did something memorable to make that person take the time to push the review button, type that up, and summit it. When I read something I hate I disregard and move one because I feel that I wasted enough time reading the stupid thing why waste anymore time by reviewing it.

Every time I read my reviews I start with the idea that 'yes, somewhere in there will be a flame or something that will hurt my feelings.' I am NOT a professional writer, I am a person with a hobby. I expect people with better writing skills that mine to make criticizing comments about flow and description and other things I am still trying to figure out.

Now I say usually because I deleted a few in the beginning before I accept the idea of getting bad reviews.

[Supersonic Bitch]

Alright, I've got a major bone to pick with all of you who say you "only" delete flames. In my experience, for most writers who say this, "flames" should be translated as "anything with even the tiniest bit of criticism". The review madlodger quoted, for instance, isn't even remotely a flame, not even a "soft core" one.

If they're real flames, why delete them? Are you afraid some reader is going to look at your reviews and say, "Wow, there are three reviews here giving highly detailed explanations of why this story is so great, but this one guy left a note saying "This story sucks balls and you should die for writing it it sucks balls so bad", so the story must be awful!"

Be honest with yourself. If the review really was a flame, leaving it there would just embarrass the flamer. The only reason you would delete those reviews is because they are honest criticisms that people who saw them might take seriously.

I'll second to that. Total support! Actually I am kind of disappointed that I haven't got any flames yet, it would really make me ...snicker. Especially because of this would mean that said flamer read my story and then vent his helpless anger against precious me. Why do that? If I happen to accidentally stumble on some material that makes me shudder with abhor, I just don't read it. Nice, smooth and ...simple.

Oh, and there is something more. It might be just me, but if "reads the story" -> ??? -> PROFIT! -> "flaming" -process happens, it looks like the reader subconsciously enjoyed it but cannot admit it to him/herself. Just like the real reason behind homophobia. I don't know if it is so but it leaver me wondering... However, just ...delicious.

[Daye]

I just deleted a bunch of reviews because the reveiwers were arguing with each other to the extent that their posts took up most of the thread with their disagreement rather than actual reviews. I feel a bit bad about it, really.

Other than that, I've pretty much decided that I'd only delete, moderator stuff that it tells me to delete, as well as any posts that included homophobic or racists terms. Though I've never really got much negative feedback or flames to test that resolution.

[megadeth425]

The way I see it, if it's a flame, then it's not worth really bothering with. Aside from the fact people can drum up a shitstorm if they feel really hurt by the fact you deleted a review (with few ways to prove it was a flame unless you screencap it), what's said is said. I get email alerts from reviews across all the places I submit my work, which entails getting the review in my inbox. Once I've seen it, it won't hurt too much by keeping it there, and generally people who check reviews before reading will disregard flames anyway.

[Nerys Dax]

I chose no in the poll, because I haven't deleted any reviews to date. This includes a crazy flame on FFnet from an anon who called him/herself "go fuck yourself in the **" (** meaning arse since FFnet censores the use of such words). Seeing how the story on FFnet didn't include any graphic scenes, I concluded the person reviewing that particular chapter had read the story here and apparently was unable to leave said message on AFFnet - be that through sheer stupidity or through mod blocks.

But really, all I did was laugh when I read said flame, because it says more about the person leaving it than about my story. And I do enjoy sharing fun around, so I left it online for other people's amusement as well.

However, I can imagine myself deleting spam/troll reviews as some of the posters before me have done in order not to clog up the database of this site.

[Katana_Black]

I've never deleted a review because I've never had the need to. Most of the reivews I've received are either people saying they liked the story, or actual constructive criticism that I found useful. I get the occasional "You need to update quicker blah blah," but usually they're paired with something that they liked about the story, so I see no need to delete them. The only reasons I would delete a review is if it had nothing to do with my story, like chain letters or plugging another story, people complaining about how they hate the fandom, characters, etc. (because don't like, don't read), and flames.

[DrunkenScotsman]

I've never deleted reviews, though I was tempted to on a few occasions. I kept getting really negative reviews from a particular reader who sometimes seemed to be missing the point of what I was trying to do within one story, reviews that built up to what I felt were accusations of 'writing - ur doin it rong'. This person removed the reviews himself, having decided he didn't "want to be associated with that story in any way." I decided to leave the reviews up to prove that I was a big boy who can handle critique and who wasn't going to be petty, despite the overall insulting tone of the review.

The same reviewer then gave me some really... shall we say, blunt... feedback on a different story; what was bothersome about the negativity of it was that it was built on certain misreadings and/or assumptions he was making about the story (including mixing continuities from a multi-continuity fandom). He also jumped to some conclusions about where I was going with the story, declared that they were no good and that he was "done with this one too," and promptly removed his reviews again. Ultimately, I chalked the incident up to severe artistic differences and left it at that.