anonymous flames

[saffron]

A few friends who are authors here despises anonymous flames. In their minds anonymous flames is just a cowardly way of bashing someone's story and running.

I chatted with them and read their rants of how much they don't like them and how horrible they make them feel.

I agree if you want to tell a person why you think their story is not good have the moxie to place a username or contact info so the author can rebut the review.

I believe in constructive criticism. However, I dislike flamers.

For example, I read in someone's review recently.

I think your story needs improvement. The story is lacking and you have to check your grammar. I think you should get yourself a beta. A beta can help with your grammar and story. Your story needs something. It is a bit lacking. I am sorry this is not a flame this is to help you. Your story has lots of potential.

For me this is a constructive criticism and I do not erase these. These types of reviews help an author improve their stories. I also enjoy when a reviewer leaves contact info so I can maybe chat with them to get their ideas on how to improve my stories.

However when someone writes:

This is a review I read recently on an author's page that made me miffed. I reviewed for author to erase the flame and the author did. The author was hurt which I understand completely.

Your fic is stupid. I hate it. This fic is a bunch of rubbish. You should just erase it and stop writing. Your fic makes no sense at all you have no idea what you are writing about. Don't give up your day job. I think you should just read fics and never write again.

I think this is un-called for. In addition, after reading the author's stories it had no merit. This was just some mean jerk getting a thrill of making someone feel bad.

At the end of my chat with my friends. I just told them to let it go. If you get a flame erase it or activate no anonymous reviews.

I told them when it comes to flames I erase these type of reviews. I do not want to activate no anonymous reviews because some readers do not have accounts. However, I do troll my reviews and erase the ones I deem mean spirited.

Truthfully there will always be people who don't care for your stories. However, it's for yourself and the readers who enjoy your stories you continue to write for.

What do you all think about flamers?

Edited August 4, 2008 by saffron

[bellakuuipo]

I don't like them at all.

I am not a author but it makes me mad seeing flames on auhtor's review sections.

I agree with your post 100%

You can get your point across by being kind. You don't have to be an arse about it.

[DemonGoddess]

I can't STAND flamers. Particularly the ball-less wonders who won't log in to spew their garbage.

[shinigamiinochi]

I rarely ever get a flame with someone's real 'name' on it, it's always anonymous or it's a fake name, which is pretty damn cowardly. If you hate something that much, why are you trying to hide yourself? People who hide they're identity do it because they know that flames are wrong and that people are going to attack them right back, so why even bother flaming? It's just a waste of time, signed or not. It's like a little kid in a store screaming that he wants a toy. He knows that his parents probably won't give it to him and he's just annoying everyone around him, but he does it anyway.

[Anonymous_Nanotyrannus]

Anoymous flamers are nothing more than teenaged boys who have the type of low self confidence that pressures them to do violent or aggressive things in a completely cowardly way as someway to make up for their life problems caused by their poorly developed social skills. Undoubtedly, anyone who didn't put the effort into providing contact information or a name, didn't put any effort into reading the story. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised that if one was to look around they'll see the same "OMG you suck" review copypasted repeatedly into other story reviews.

Anonymous flames are nasty, rude, and hurtful. I definately had butthurt thanks to a few flames, but I've learned the person who posted it didn't put any effort into reading the story or looking at the picture, and simply singled me out because of what was the labels or focus of the piece of work in question. I hate them and agree with you.

Any fetish community will have a high concentration of trolls and anonymous flamers. Furaffinity *rolls eyes* is a prime example, and some of the fetish communities on DA as well has more flamers commenting on pictures than actual members. So it's one of those "learn to deal with it" things, as much as they suck because they're inevitable, especially on communites like this. They're piss ants. They're always going to be there, they're going to be annoying.

If I hate something, or feel differently than the author/artist I'll definitely sign my name (and if the person wants to talk to me my info isn't that hard to find). And I definately get very mad when a fellow artist/author is flamed or harrassed, because it is very hurtful. I feel it is the "why me?" hurt.

The big problem is sometimes with signing your name is only two ends of the spectrum will talk to you: the generally curious and polite, and the absolutely nuts and easily offended is my only other thought.

[Guest Zanthious]

I feel that this is a place where writers of all abitlity level should be able to put their work up for others to enjoy. It's also a great way for new writers to learn and grow in their craft. Flaming is nothing more than someone wanting to be an ass. The rub is, that I bet, most, if not all flamers are not writers. And if they do write, they more than likely are lacking in ability greatly.

It's the classic bully syndrome. Hurt others to make yourself feel better. And it's sad. This is supposed to be an adult site, but we have people acting like kids. I wish there were a plausible way to have it under a monitor, block the IP's of flamers. But, that's not very likely. There is a special circle in hell, reserved for deserters, mutineers, child molesters, and flamers.

[PorkChopExpress86]

I pretty much keep to the Sailor Moon section on these boards (although I've been meaning to branch out) but this just doesn't seem to be a problem there. I've gotten dozens of reviews and none were flames and when I look at the reviews for other stories i haven't seen almost any.

I do agree with the general concensus of this thread, however. If someone is going to leave a flame they should have the balls (or whatever) to leave a point of contact. I doubt I would leave a review if I simply hated a story, i'd just click back and find something I would want to read.

[Guest Zanthious]

I haven't Too many here either. But on the last site I posted on, it was running rampant. If I just hate a fic, I usualy do a review, and ask the writer a couple of questions, so that I can get the full understanding of their story. Then if I still hate it, I bail.

[DemonGoddess]

What really gets me are the flamers that FOLLOW a writer into a section, or sub section when they

• don't like the pairing type
  
• don't like the pair itself
  
• don't like the genre that's listed
  

Think about it. If the reader doesn't like that kind of pairing (you see it much more in the slash/femslash), then don't even go there. One doesn't have to be a damn brain surgeon to figure out that hey, don't like that sort of thing, so maybe, just MAYBE, I shouldn't click there, huh?

Then, there's the ones that don't like a pair that's listed, because they prefer another pair. Again, doesn't take too many brain cells to figure out that if you don't like the pair, then don't click the sub sub category. That, and don't go in there just to flame people for WRITING that particular pair.

Then you have genres. I expect we (my crew and I for clean up) will see more of this nature of flame review in Originals. Again, if you don't like a particular genre, then don't READ it. No one is forcing these people to look at what they don't like.

They do this just to get on the authors' nerves, and discourage them from writing in the first place I think. Because they're not writing what THEY want.

I have a very simple method of dealing with a story that does nothing for me, that I'm reading. I go on to something else. Not hard at all, huh?

[Guest Zanthious]

I think what it comes down to is that some people just enjoy being hurtfull and childish. Sad as it sounds. It's like they're playing highschool games with grown-up hobbies.

[Psychostorm]

I personally like flames as long as they are either creative, funny or filled with undying hatred for me(that doesn't make me a troll does it? ). One of my favorites to this day was an Anon saying "I hope you get cancer and die." I laughed my ass off. Its the boring flames that really annoy me, like ones saying my fics are a waste of time and stuff like that. I hate seeing that I have a new review and then looking on there only to see something like that, its a huge let down really. At least tell me about how you think I should be castrated or something.

[greenwizard]

If nothing else I've learned this... This world is full of worms, assholes, and pricks. If you let them get to you you'll get all worked up you'll never have any peace. Live and let morons be morons.

[Keith Inc.]

I never erase reviews. I'm the prototypical review whore. The more the merriest.

But then, i've been called the absolute worst things i can imagine, in real life, face to face, for the least reasons. People that i've had the opportunity to visit my revenge upon.

Namecalling from the safety of netspace is just amusing.

For some, it's a matter of correcting them. Someone claiming intellectual superiority really should spellcheck their claim that i have misspelled something. And calling me a dyke would be more hurtful if i were a lesbian. Or even a woman.

I think the ultimate flame review of a story of mine was being GAFFed. And it's hilarious. Oneof the Gawd Awful Fan Fiction reviewer's problems was that one of my characters is named 'Ham,' which makes him laugh (or...something. I got the GAFF second-hand). Now, that's part of the story. Noah's son was named Ham and i didn't change it. The GAFFer's problems with the canon are not my problems.

I wish i could add the GAFF list as part of the reviews of my story but i can't seem to get access to that board.

Another person has reviewed the same story and told me that there's a board that finds it so hilariously bad that they love it. Well, more power to them.

I guess i would advise any author to review all reviews for the spirit they were intended in.

A constructive criticism should be evaluated for useful content.

A childish pratt lobbing spitwads at the chalkboard should be pitied, not cause worry or self-doubt. I mean, if the guy making the comment is still looking up dirty words in the dictionary or giggling anytime he hears a word for a female body part, he's not the acme of literary criticism. Thank him for his contribution, say you remember your first beer, and go on with your life.

[Guest MortiferLascivio]

Being a slash/yaoi writer, I've recieved flames before just because of that. That always lead me to believe that the flamer never actually read the story, just the summary/pairing. I'll admit when I recieved my very first flame back when I was fifteen, I was actually VERY hurt and it took me weeks to get over it, but now I really don't even think about them. Sure, I still feel my heart skip a beat when someone writes "Your story is shit" but I get over it, reply to them with a "Can you please expand on why you believe my story is "shit" and thank you for reviewing" and go on with my writing. None of them ever reply so again that confirms my belief they didn't read the story.

As for anonymous flamers, I guess I can see where they're coming from if they're on a site where flaming is actually against the rules and their accounts could get frozen (which would probably be a GOOD thing), but that doesn't make it any less wrong. It's just a cowards act because they don't want a bunch of backlash on their stories/account. They can dish it out but they can't handle it. Shame, really, because maybe if they DID get flamed, they'd stop doing it themselves. Then again, it would just become some vicious cycle. Hm, I guess it's a neverending problem that we as writers just have to live with.

I always hate seeing flames on other author's pages too because I know exactly how they feel. It's a really awful feeling that can damage a writer's motivation. Sometimes I just feel the urge to send a few words of encouragment to that author in response to the flame.

[Guest MortiferLascivio]

I also have to add that my favorite flame that I've recieved was along the lines of "I hope you choke on a tater tot and DIE you sick freak". For some reason, I couldn't take that one very seriously because it was just too funny.

[saffron]

What really gets me are the flamers that FOLLOW a writer into a section, or sub section when they

• don't like the pairing type
  
• don't like the pair itself
  
• don't like the genre that's listed
  

Think about it. If the reader doesn't like that kind of pairing (you see it much more in the slash/femslash), then don't even go there. One doesn't have to be a damn brain surgeon to figure out that hey, don't like that sort of thing, so maybe, just MAYBE, I shouldn't click there, huh?

Then, there's the ones that don't like a pair that's listed, because they prefer another pair. Again, doesn't take too many brain cells to figure out that if you don't like the pair, then don't click the sub sub category. That, and don't go in there just to flame people for WRITING that particular pair.

Then you have genres. I expect we (my crew and I for clean up) will see more of this nature of flame review in Originals. Again, if you don't like a particular genre, then don't READ it. No one is forcing these people to look at what they don't like.

They do this just to get on the authors' nerves, and discourage them from writing in the first place I think. Because they're not writing what THEY want.

I have a very simple method of dealing with a story that does nothing for me, that I'm reading. I go on to something else. Not hard at all, huh?

I agree with you 100% if you don't like a pairing, genre than don't read it.

A friend sent me a review that made me laugh.

The Anon reviewer said :

"I think your stories are too graphic. There is too much sex in them. Try and make this story less squimish."

I nearly fell over laughing because my friend writes graphic stories with fetish, fem slash and in the Summary she writes a Warning of what her stories have in them.

I was like come on if you don't like it don't read open another page or something and "there is too much sex in them" Hello this is adultfanfiction if you don't like sex leave.

*shakes head*

[bookworm51485]

Flamers tend to be a bunch of idiots or people with too much free time on their hands and too little imagination.

But I've found recently that a lot of writers don't seem to know what a flamer is. They claim to want constructive criticism and then when someone gives it to them, they write them off as flamers. It seems like their idea of constructive criticism are only the positives. Not to address you in particular, you seem to have the idea down but I'm finding there are a lot of author's that don't. And I think that sometimes in turn can turn reviewers hostile, or sometimes stop a person from reviewing altogether.

[Guest Monsterking]

One Word Describes Them COWARDS!

[shinigamiinochi]

Last night I got a very negative review for The Road to Kindness. It's a very dark fic that deals with a character's psychological state after being raped repeatedly as a child and him trying to be able to have a meaningful relationship with another boy. It says under the warnings 'NCS' and in author's notes, I warn that this fic is going to be very dark and that the character was going to go through a lot and I do not shy away from graphic scenes. Anyone who's read my work (as this person seems to claim) knows that of me. This reviewer told me that they were reading the fic in hopes that I wouldn't have graphic rape scenes and that I had 'changed my ways'. The reviewer also stated that they couldn't take rape scenes and refused to read them. The reviewer also then stated that they thought that several of my points would never happen in real life. Normally, when such a thing occurs, I thank them for reading (which I did) but defend myself, via replying to their review.

However, this reviewer did not have a reply address, they were anonymous, so I ended up just posting a review next to hers defending myself. I think that any author has the right to challenge a review that is essentially bashing their content. I agree that constructive critisism is a wonderful thing. I even wrote in my profile that I accept critisism on language, plot, and actions. For this, I accepted this reviewers views on the unrealistic actions of certain characters, but, as it says in my profile on ff.net, which was where this took place, I will not take advice on my content, because that pretty much kills the fic. I know that someone is going to yell at me for replying as a review and finding what I said wrong, since apparently an author defending themselves against a bad review is somehow immature, but I stand by what I said in the re-review, if you don't like rape and you are familiar with an author's style, and don't like it, why bother continue reading? Just continuing reading in hopes that the author will change their content and style is immature. Yeah, I write about rape a lot, it's who I am, but I label my fics accordingly and I'm not going to change the entire content of a story because it makes someone uncomfortable.

It's odd, isn't it, how I've gotten over fifteen positive reviews on this fic, but I post a new chapter and get one bad review, and it makes me feel so sick inside that I don't want to write in it anymore? Sure, I had that brief thought last night, because I was worried that the new chapter pissed everyone off, just because that one reviewer was the newest review and no one had said anything about the new chapter and I thought that a lot of people might have that same view. However, the thought was fleeting and I woke up this morning with a 'fuck that' attitude. Not only is the fic almost 500 hundred pages long, making it something that I've invested too much time in, I like the fic. I think that that's very important for an author to like what they write. This fic is very therapeutic for me and I like the story line, so I'm going to continue to write it, it just pisses me off that one sickened individual could make me feel so upset when one person out of the thousand that read the story can make me feel this way.

I don't know what's more upsetting, that this person is reading an NCS story when they can't stand rape, or the fact that since chapter 2/6, there have been constant, graphic rape scenes, but the newest chapter only had one near miss and suddenly, this person is offended. Doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe I'm just wounded too easily.