Has anyone else drawn the ire of story critic Stacnash? 🤣

[TheLobster]

Stacnash posted her review the following day, and added me to the "Elite Authors".

And you neglected to put such glowing recommendation in your signature? Goodness me! Where is your gratitude? Do you not feel thankful that her extremely impactful recommendation has garnered you the staggering:

17 extra views in two months.

 

[SimonDoom]

Having received a good but quirky review on one of my stories, which revealed more about her biases and an inability to read something from outside her American perspective, the one thing I wanted to know was the scoring criteria - how did she arrive at the score/100? I asked, but nothing was forthcoming. So all in all, it's a shrug. I still don't know who the audience is meant to be.

The mirror.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The mirror.

I suspect you're probably right. Or a strange coterie of somewhat uptight librarians. I mean, who nowadays talks about people being "vulgar"? In a story all about anal sex, she thought my use of the word "cunt" half a dozen times was "vulgar", which told me more about her than my story. But still, she liked my character Ruby, so I'm not going to complain about that!

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I suspect you're probably right. Or a strange coterie of somewhat uptight librarians. I mean, who nowadays talks about people being "vulgar"? In a story all about anal sex, she thought my use of the word "cunt" half a dozen times was "vulgar", which told me more about her than my story. But still, she liked my character Ruby, so I'm not going to complain about that!

If you dismiss her critique based on her biases and tone then you must also dismiss her liking your character on the same basis.

Your ego is showing.

 

[alohadave]

Pas de Trois was published on 3 April 2024. According to the stats I downloaded on 12 October 2024, it had been viewed 7143 times.

Stacnash posted her review the following day, and added me to the "Elite Authors".
The next downloaded stats I have are from 12 December 2024, so almost precisely two weeks later. The story had been viewed 7160 times. That's 17 extra views in two months.

That's 17 views in two months, not 17 extra. The average before that was about 38 views a day.

The story currently stand on 8271 views. The largest surge came early this year, when I started promoting my stories on Bluesky.

With this, the average daily views is 18.

Arguably, her activity had no effect on the views of your story, and if it did, you can't distinguish it from random noise.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

That's 17 views in two months, not 17 extra. The average before that was about 38 views a day.

The 38 includes the early surge from the new lists. If you cut those views out you probably get about 17.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I don't think this thread is toxic.

I agree. The thread on the whole is not toxic, but there have been a couple of attempts at toxicity. They haven't got much traction yet.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If you dismiss her critique based on her biases and tone then you must also dismiss her liking your character on the same basis.

Your ego is showing.

I didn't say I dismissed the critique, I said her biases revealed more about her than the story. In terms of usefulness to me as a writer, it was a curiosity review but not much more than that. I took home that she liked some sentences, doesn't like "knickers" or "cunt", and she liked my leading lady.

So what if my ego is showing? Where's the crime in that?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I'm sure that this post will go over like a lead balloon but I don't care.

So, the past few months I also play poker online. There is a forum on the poker site that I play where we often discuss hands and strategy. I dissected someone's hand and criticized his play. He had this to say.

I’ve never understood the need for someone to criticize someone else’s strategies.

I bring this up because it parallels criticism of our writing here and our reactions to it in every way. Now I have to admit that when I look at some of the hands that I played when I started playing on this site, I cringe at my decisions and thought process. But through it all, I sought advice and took all of the criticism seriously. Mind you the criticism is generally polite, but I have been trolled a few times.

"When you let the flush draw for free you make baby Jesus cry - YOU MADE BABY JESUS CRY!!"

"Stop limping the SB when it folds to you. That's a total fish play."

"You are the easiest player that I ever played heads-up against and the 2nd easiest player that I've ever beaten - LOLLL! So you need to stop talking on these forums."

That is some of the stuff that I have faced. If I cared about being insulted, I would have dismissed the critics and not have improved. However, I am an exponentially better player than I was in October. I have gained so many more skills and so much more confidence.

So to the quote above I responded.

I always welcome others to criticize my play, because it forces me to look at my game from another angle and sometimes I will see something that I never saw before. I learn something new and become a slightly better player each time that that happens.

If someone criticizes my play and all that I care about is them hurting my feelings, I won’t get better.

I want to get better more than I want people to be nice to me. It’s that simple.

Note the bold part. All of you who insist on nice fluffy comments or for any criticism to be totally polite, or any of you who want to abolish anonymous criticism, you all want people to be nice to you more than you want to get better at writing. That is 100% on you, not the critics. And that's fine because it's a hobby site, but when you get angry over it, you;re just empowering the bullies and holding back your own skills. I'm not trying to be rude. I'm only being real. It's just the truth.

It's the ego that demands others to be nice to us, to respect us. Always. The rest of our mind/heart/spirit doesn't care about that. That is how the psyche works.

 

[Voboy]

I'm sure that this post will go over like a lead balloon but I don't care.

So, the past few months I also play poker online. There is a forum on the poker site that I play where we often discuss hands and strategy. I dissected someone's hand and criticized his play. He had this to say.



I bring this up because it parallels criticism of our writing here and our reactions to it in every way. Now I have to admit that when I look at some of the hands that I played when I started playing on this site, I cringe at my decisions and thought process. But through it all, I sought advice and took all of the criticism seriously. Mind you the criticism is generally polite, but I have been trolled a few times.

"When you let the flush draw for free you make baby Jesus cry - YOU MADE BABY JESUS CRY!!"

"Stop limping the SB when it folds to you. That's a total fish play."

"You are the easiest player that I ever played heads-up against and the 2nd easiest player that I've ever beaten - LOLLL! So you need to stop talking on these forums."

That is some of the stuff that I have faced. If I cared about being insulted, I would have dismissed the critics and not have improved. However, I am an exponentially better player than I was in October. I have gained so many more skills and so much more confidence.

So to the quote above I responded.



Note the bold part. All of you who insist on nice fluffy comments or for any criticism to be totally polite, or any of you who want to abolish anonymous criticism, you all want people to be nice to you more than you want to get better at writing. That is 100% on you, not the critics. And that's fine because it's a hobby site, but when you get angry over it, you;re just empowering the bullies and holding back your own skills. I'm not trying to be rude. I'm only being real. It's just the truth.

It's the ego that demands others to be nice to us, to respect us. Always. The rest of our mind/heart/spirit doesn't care about that. That is how the psyche works.

I freely and happily admit that I'm not looking to get better at writing.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

If you dismiss her critique based on her biases and tone then you must also dismiss her liking your character on the same basis.

Your ego is showing.

Just like you dismiss anyone who disagrees with you as a troll?

Funny how everyone needs to have a thicker skin but you...

 

[pink_silk_glove]

So what if my ego is showing? Where's the crime in that?

Nothing, but it does tell me the motives for your writing, which reduces the value of your opinion on criticism. ; )

 

[Kelliezgirl]

On whether a Stacnash review increases traffic:

Pas de Trois was published on 3 April 2024. According to the stats I downloaded on 12 October 2024, it had been viewed 7143 times.

Stacnash posted her review the following day, and added me to the "Elite Authors".

The next downloaded stats I have are from 12 December 2024, so almost precisely two weeks later. The story had been viewed 7160 times. That's 17 extra views in two months.

The story currently stand on 8271 views. The largest surge came early this year, when I started promoting my stories on Bluesky.

Well, as a counterpoint, Stac put me on her "do not read" list and reported my story for offending her sensibilities.
After a chat with the powers that be my story was restored. It spend a few more days on the "new story" page, and I picked up about 5k reviews, a few new followers and the score ticked up slightly.

Definitely some Streisand Effect going on.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I freely and happily admit that I'm not looking to get better at writing.

Then you only want feedback to fluff your ego. There is no other reason.

 

[Voboy]

Well, as a counterpoint, Stac put me on her "do not read" list and reported my story for offending her sensibilities.
After a chat with the powers that be my story was restored.

This sort of thing is quite a bit more consequential than any of her comments.

Reporting a story just because you don't like it? That's foul and petty. Especially since it evidently violated nothing but the reader's biases.

I've had the same thing done to me once. I don't carry grudges in life, but I carry that one.

 

[Voboy]

Then you only want feedback to fluff your ego. There is no other reason.

No, though it's cute that you think you can read my mind.

I like feedback because I enjoy knowing what other people thought of my work. If you'll cruise through my catalog, you'll note I leave up the bad stuff, too.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

No, though it's cute that you think you can read my mind.

I like feedback because I enjoy knowing what other people thought of my work. If you'll cruise through my catalog, you'll note I leave up the bad stuff, too.

Then if the feedback is not for improving and really just for entertainment then why do you dismiss any of it, let alone hers?

FWIW, I don't get much from her critiques of my pieces because I don't like her bias.

You can't have it both ways.

If you are not interested in improving, then you don't mind the critique, and if you don't mind the critique you would not dismiss it, biased or not. I am applying simple logic to your own statements. I am not reading your mind at all. You are telling me your mind.

 

[Voboy]

Then if the feedback is not for improving and really just for entertainment then why do you dismiss any of it, let alone hers?

When did I say "entertainment?"

You can't have it both ways.

Of course I can. This is my hobby, my work. The comments go on my stories. I can have it however I want, regardless of your opinion.

If you are not interested in improving, then you don't mind the critique, and if you don't mind the critique you would not dismiss it, biased or not. I am applying simple logic to your own statements. I am not reading your mind at all. You are telling me your mind.

She's biased. I'm far from the only one who's pointed that out. I take that bias into account when figuring out what I think of her critiques. So, while I'm curious about what she thinks (as I'm curious about almost all commenters), I don't lend her words any more weight than I'd lend anyone else's. In all cases, I'll just keep on writing what I want to write.

"What I think of stacnash's critiques" is the entire point of this thread. Her bias makes me think of her comments differently.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

When did I say "entertainment?"

Right here.

I like feedback because I enjoy knowing what other people thought of my work.

Essentially that is just for your entertainment. Especially when you admit that you are not interested in critical feedback, since you are not interested in improving. That is all that critical feedback is for.

Of course I can. This is my hobby, my work. The comments go on my stories. I can have it however I want, regardless of your opinion.

No, you can't say that you don't care about the critical feedback and then dismiss it for being biased at the same time, because if you didn't care, you wouldn't care about any bias. Those are the two things that you can't logically have at the same time.

Also, the fact that you state that the comments are posted on your stories indicates that you do care about them reflecting on your stories. Yet on the other hand, you dismiss them because of bias. This doesn't add up. This doesn't mean that you should delete them, but it does mean that you would have no need to bring up the point in this discussion.

 

[Voboy]

Right here.



Essentially that is just for your entertainment. Especially when you admit that you are not interested in critical feedback, since you are not interested in improving. That is all that critical feedback is for.



No, you can't say that you don't care about the critical feedback and then dismiss it for being biased at the same time, because if you didn't care, you wouldn't care about any bias. Those are the two things that you can't logically have at the same time.

Also, the fact that you state that the comments are posted on your stories indicates that you do care about them reflecting on your stories. Yet on the other hand, you dismiss them because of bias. This doesn't add up. This doesn't mean that you should delete them, but it does mean that you would have no need to bring up the point in this discussion.

Okay. Got it! Thanks.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Okay. Got it! Thanks.

Voboy, don't you understand you must accept Stacnash as your Lord and Savior or Pinky isn't going to stop. Failure to do so is just proof of your thin skin and probably something about your ego too.

 

[Voboy]

Voboy, don't you understand you must accept Stacnash as your Lord and Savior or Pinky isn't going to stop. Failure to do so is just proof of your thin skin and probably something about your ego too.

There comes a point at which interlocutors just talk past each other. That's the point where it's okay to just go do something more productive.

Alas. The Internet was built by people who didn't seem to understand that.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

There comes a point at which interlocutors just talk past each other. That's the point where it's okay to just go do something more productive.

Alas. The Internet was built by people who didn't seem to understand that.

Some people don't seem to realize people can just disagree on things. It has to be about "winning".
Probably tied up in their ego.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Some people don't seem to realize people can just disagree on things. It has to be about "winning".
Probably tied up in their ego.

Not everyone can walk away letting other people have the last word.

 

[StillStunned]

Some people don't seem to realize people can just disagree on things. It has to be about "winning".
Probably tied up in their ego.

I blame all those debate classes. Any disagreement becomes about scoring points. Sooner or later people will start accusing each other of faulty argument techniques, and then you know they care more about winning than about exchanging ideas so that everyone learns and becomes wiser.