Hate feedback that is wrong!

[BlinkOneSomething]

F the haters!

I'm pissed off! My latest story had 9 votes, seven 5*, and two 4*. Surely one more vote for the H, right? NOPE! Some muppet comes by and presses one star. Probably didn't even read it. Probably the same nit picking asshole that found a homophone error and decided to downgrade the rest of my stuff because of it. /endrant

 

[storm_usmc]

Yea I know what you mean about loving wives. I feel as if I may need a bag of salt with me if I'm going to keep reading comments on my own stuff. I'm affected more than I should be by Anonymous people telling me I don't care about my readers. Or that my story sucked because I let a typo slip by on a proofread when half the time even their 3 sentence comment has an error. It's good to keep in mind that the system is easily gamed, and as said above don't let it bother you to the point that it keeps you from actually writing.

Those are the ones that crack me up, like I just wrote 20k words, excuse my few typos, you wrote three freaking sentences and managed to fuck it up. And your typos are actual misspellings that you can tell you don't know the actual word.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

This is the latest feedback on my series. Stuff like this makes me really frustrated.
'Your first line throws me.



"Dinner, I guess this is dinner, goes well. Quiet, but it goes okay."



Does it go 'well' or does it go 'okay'? If you're going to state it twice, use the same word, because even subtle differences make a big difference to how something reads.



Mood plays a big part in setting a scene. You mention it goes well. Quiet, BUT, well. So there is some disappoint, and maybe some reservation about how well the dinner actually went, but it went well with an asterisk of quiet. If you're going to shift the perception of dinner from well to okay, do so cleaner.



"Dinner, I guess this is dinner, goes well. Quiet, so maybe not as well as I believe.'



You don't say, "He's sprinting fast. Graceful, really quick." So, you don't say something went well, then okay and expect it to mean the same thing or have the same impact on the scene.'

I keep reading what I wrote and I meant what I wrote.
I don't think they understand my character. Mara is a young girl, barely 18, she's immature and has been thrown into adulthood due to the world ending.
And even without her circumstances, Mara is always second guessing herself. And like I said immature. So her first thought is dinner goes well, but then she thinks well it was really quiet so I guess it goes okay.
Mara is allowed to change her thought in a split second.
Dinner was well, but maybe really only okay. The dinner after she found out the last man on earth that she thought loved her but maybe only sees her as a fuck, yeah she's allowed to change her mind.

 

[gunhilltrain]

That won't be enough.

Hah, thanks! It will probably be posted in about two weeks - I'm curious to see what the Loving Wives crowd does to it.

I'm also reminded of what the gladiators supposedly said the the audience at the arena, "We who are about to die salute you!" Except, at Loving Wives it's the audience that does the killing.

 

[gordo12]

Except, at Loving Wives it's the audience that does the killing.

Not so sure about that. To listen to their comments it's us that's killing them with the unwanted literature they insist on reading.

Tis a great mystery

 

[gunhilltrain]

Not so sure about that. To listen to their comments it's us that's killing them with the unwanted literature they insist on reading.

Tis a great mystery

It's a bit hard to explain, but Nathanael West used the term "excited disgust." People enjoy complaining about things they can't do anything about, or sometimes they make up targets to dislike for the pleasure of it.

The Loving Wives section is sort of self-satire although most of the participants don't realize it.

 

[LupusDei]

This is the latest feedback on my series. Stuff like this makes me really frustrated.
'Your first line throws me.



"Dinner, I guess this is dinner, goes well. Quiet, but it goes okay."



Does it go 'well' or does it go 'okay'? If you're going to state it twice, use the same word, because even subtle differences make a big difference to how something reads.



Mood plays a big part in setting a scene. You mention it goes well. Quiet, BUT, well. So there is some disappoint, and maybe some reservation about how well the dinner actually went, but it went well with an asterisk of quiet. If you're going to shift the perception of dinner from well to okay, do so cleaner.



"Dinner, I guess this is dinner, goes well. Quiet, so maybe not as well as I believe.'



You don't say, "He's sprinting fast. Graceful, really quick." So, you don't say something went well, then okay and expect it to mean the same thing or have the same impact on the scene.'

I keep reading what I wrote and I meant what I wrote.
I don't think they understand my character. Mara is a young girl, barely 18, she's immature and has been thrown into adulthood due to the world ending.
And even without her circumstances, Mara is always second guessing herself. And like I said immature. So her first thought is dinner goes well, but then she thinks well it was really quiet so I guess it goes okay.
Mara is allowed to change her thought in a split second.
Dinner was well, but maybe really only okay. The dinner after she found out the last man on earth that she thought loved her but maybe only sees her as a fuck, yeah she's allowed to change her mind.

That comment bewildered me too.

Then, I don't speak English at all, so likely not qualified to discuss it. I may not experience distinction between "great" and "okay" the way native speaker would, but also in my own logic any lower affirmative judging include all higher at least as possibility, so I did not see it as contradictory at all, not even as notable mood change. It was great, with caveat of quiet, at least okay. I see no problem at all, even before considering the character in who's head we are.

Also, not the case here, but in total isolation I might at most suspect it as slight subject drift: the food was great, the event as a whole okay.

 

[John988]

[This content has been removed due to a copyright violation.]

 

[LittleKay]

Little while back deleted a comment that nitpicked my use of hay instead of straw (I've got rabbits, I'm used to saying one over the other) for bedding in a barn, and said "Don't write about what you don't know"

I've... lived on a horse farm. Its really not a big deal what you call it, people around you know what the hell you're talking about.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

Little while back deleted a comment that nitpicked my use of hay instead of straw (I've got rabbits, I'm used to saying one over the other) for bedding in a barn, and said "Don't write about what you don't know"

I've... lived on a horse farm. Its really not a big deal what you call it, people around you know what the hell you're talking about.

I use them interchangeably too and I know I shouldn't. Kind of like when my daughter is out somewhere and someone will say Nice skateboard and she'll say It's a longboard...

But point noted! Working on my post apocalyptic story and we keep discussing getting hay for the animals for the winter when we really need hay AND straw, hay for them to eat, straw to keep them warm

I usually only write about stuff I know, but I've loved this series and now I am getting in kind of over my head with some farming stuff, google has been my friend.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Little while back deleted a comment that nitpicked my use of hay instead of straw (I've got rabbits, I'm used to saying one over the other) for bedding in a barn, and said "Don't write about what you don't know"

I've... lived on a horse farm. Its really not a big deal what you call it, people around you know what the hell you're talking about.

Not nitpicking here, isn't hay something horses eat and straw is what you put down for bedding and to soak up pee and such?

That's what my wife told me. She grew up on a farm in Kentucky. I figured she would know things like that. Does she?

 

[gunhilltrain]

Little while back deleted a comment that nitpicked my use of hay instead of straw (I've got rabbits, I'm used to saying one over the other) for bedding in a barn, and said "Don't write about what you don't know"

I've... lived on a horse farm. Its really not a big deal what you call it, people around you know what the hell you're talking about.

If people only wrote about what they had perfect knowledge of, not much would get done.

There is a certain "joy of nitpicking." Sometimes authors change things for the sake of artistic license. As in that John Updike story about two people meeting on a train (I can't find the title now): you can think, "Hey, John, the New York Central and the Santa Fe didn't exchange sleeping cars in Chicago; they didn't even use the same station."

Did Updike know that and does it matter? If he did know, maybe he just wrote the story as he wished it to be.

 

[furrybert]

I love when you get anonymous comments like this gem on my latest story:
"it may be good as idea, but there are too many grammar errors, plot nonsenses, one verb for another ... rewrite it in "english" ... or choose another language"

Several errors in their own comment that they are accusing me of making. Plus I know I'm no absolute expert but I do proof-read many, many times before I post.
Stinks to me of another author trying to downvote your story to get theirs above yours. Or am I just being paranoid?

 

[MelissaBaby]

Little while back deleted a comment that nitpicked my use of hay instead of straw (I've got rabbits, I'm used to saying one over the other) for bedding in a barn, and said "Don't write about what you don't know"

I've... lived on a horse farm. Its really not a big deal what you call it, people around you know what the hell you're talking about.

I got nitpicked about the difference between a rock and a stone.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I got nitpicked about the difference between a rock and a stone.

Hey, what about pebbles?

 

[Bramblethorn]

I saw a glorious nitpick recently for one of the Bourne films:

"When Bourne is in the hotel in Goa, his fluorescent light buzzes at a frequency of 50 Hz. However, electricity in Goa is supplied at 60 Hz so the light should be buzzing at that frequency."

I can only bow in awe at that attention to detail.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I saw a glorious nitpick recently for one of the Bourne films:

"When Bourne is in the hotel in Goa, his fluorescent light buzzes at a frequency of 50 Hz. However, electricity in Goa is supplied at 60 Hz so the light should be buzzing at that frequency."

I can only bow in awe at that attention to detail.

That truly is astonishing. I wonder where it was actually filmed (or foleyed - I can't imagine live sound would pick it up easily).

 

[gunhilltrain]

Maybe that person is an electrical engineer or in some related field.

Sometimes when it's your job (and for some hobbies too) is doesn't seem like a detail anymore.

 

[Kantarii]

If you go off and your anon, I generally delete you. I've had a few good catches and I made corrections and moved on, but most are just annoying. And you are right about British and English, common one for that is spelling of gray/grey.

From an artistic stand point, there is a difference in gray/grey. Gray is achromatic meaning it’s a mixture of black and white. Grey is chromatic meaning it is a mixture of colors red/green; orange/blue, purple/yellow etc. - basically colors opposite on the color wheel.

That said, Different words and spellings don’t bother me in the least.
Examples:
Color/colour
Panties/knickers
Ass/arse
Gas/petro

I know what is being conveyed from the author and I respect how they write. 25% of the people who follow my stories are from either Canada, Australia, or the UK. Not one of them has ever complained about the spelling of certain words in my stories.
Kant

 

[ElectricBlue]

I know what is being conveyed from the author and I respect how they write. 25% of the people who follow my stories are from either Canada, Australia, or the UK. Not one of them has ever complained about the spelling of certain words in my stories.
Kant

Intelligent readers won't complain, because they understand that English, whilst being a universal language, is not the same in all parts of the world. There's a common feature to those that moan about these differences...

 

[Naughty69M2M]

Great thread.

I don't mind a critic with a name but I laugh at mighty "Anonymous user" and any feedback. Even if you have a user name, I take any comments with a grain of salt.


Do I have illusions of grander in my writing? No, I write porn, most of which I don't even submit. I really write to an audience of me, or if I am role playing then to my partner(s) as well.

Spelling and grammar mistakes? Sure I make them. I run my stories through spell and grammar checkers but they are not perfect.

 

[LanaBehave]

I love this thread!

1. It's entertaining! Lots of funny, ironic, and stupidly amusing nuggets, some intentional, others...otherwise
2. I agree! I love to hate stupid feedback, especially the ones that are anon, or lazy, or simply miss the point of what I was writing.
3. Have some of the lazy and lame feedbackers actually come into this thread, to give more limp, defensive, and annoying feedback on feedback grousing? Yes! and welcome! It needs to be discussed, thrown open, aired out in the wind...
4. In the oyster, it's the irritant that creates beauty, right?

Good job Strong USMC getting this one going, and honorable mention to Worthless Toad, just...because

 

[Innateecstacy]

The first story I posted got some hate. It was my first writing experience and English is not my first language, so I made mistakes. I would have appreciated some constructive criticism, instead I had someone anonymously comment 'This sucks'.
On another story, I used the correct term but someone commented saying I was wrong. I replied, explaining that the term was correct but I don't think that person was going to bother checking back. It annoyed me a little.
I make it a point to check my facts before commenting on someone else's work.

 

[TornConflict]

Pardon me if I vent a little

I have been writing erotica since high school, I am now in my late 30s. Most of it from back then was just bad and cliche. As I have gotten older I think my writing has much improved. I like to think of myself as a writer but I am pretty clear that I am not a professional. I am also pretty quick to admit my faults or mistakes. One of my recent stories, My Neighbor's Keeper Ch. 1, I rushed out way too quickly and made a few huge mistakes. (Never use google find to change a characters name last minute, it changes every word that sounds like the new name too) I appreciate the advice "get an editor", but when you can see three or four people already make that comment you don't really need say it again. Maybe offer to be the editor not just be an anonymous dick.

I try to be thick skinned but I get really annoyed by both anonymous feedback and feedback by people who have never written and posted a story. Often the feedback is rather shallow. Like write better or you made mistakes. Like what? Please tell me what I did wrong? Often I find they just didn't like the way I worded a sentence.

My favorite recent feedback was an anonymous email that I couldn't tell if they were being snarky or helpful. My male character was fingering a female character and I described the process of feeling around for the g spot. I referred to it as a bundle of muscles or something like that. I got like half a page explaining to me that it is a bundle of nerves and not muscles. Not want word about if they liked it or not, just a lecture on anatomy.

Sometimes feedback is good too, like my valentines day story has a male character who lost his wife. I referred to him as a widow in some dialog. I did not know that the male term was widower. I am going to go back a fix that when the contest is over.

 

[Innateecstacy]

My first story was rushed and the comments I got were hurtful. I didn't know how to react at the time. Then some really good people defended me and provided feedback on how I could improve. I also tried to find a few volunteer editors, some said they'd help but stopped responding. One person actually did and I'm grateful to him.
People who write nasty stuff anonymously annoy me. Also some of them have never written a story and when they comment 'this sucks' or 'this is shit', it again pisses me off. I'm trying to be thick skinned now and only respond to constructive criticism.