Overly critical feedback from non-authors

[yukonnights]

Yep, and only against personal criteria.

I guess that's where the saying, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder", comes in handy

 

[Grimjack01]

Non author feedback

Sorry, I am a non author in these genres but I have been reading since the 60's, that should tell you that I am a long term reader. I know what I like and don't like, and can flat tell you I don' like wimpy men, especially in the interracial genre. I could go on but know this I have bought one story line book that I first found on this site and would buy more if I could find them, so I am serious.

 

[gordo12]

Sorry, I am a non author in these genres but I have been reading since the 60's, that should tell you that I am a long term reader. I know what I like and don't like, and can flat tell you I don' like wimpy men, especially in the interracial genre. I could go on but know this I have bought one story line book that I first found on this site and would buy more if I could find them, so I am serious.

Serious about what? You really didn't say anything. The subject is overly critical comments. Are you saying you post things like that? Or that it's justified because you don't like wimpy men and you're serious? Neither sounds very good to me!

 

[KeithD]

Sorry, I am a non author in these genres but I have been reading since the 60's, that should tell you that I am a long term reader. I know what I like and don't like, and can flat tell you I don' like wimpy men, especially in the interracial genre. I could go on but know this I have bought one story line book that I first found on this site and would buy more if I could find them, so I am serious.

Fine. One opinion in a million who read here. Noted and filed where it belongs.

 

[lovecraft68]

I've never understood these types of threads, other than its just another example of thin skinned people who click 'accept feedback' but then don't like the fact some of that feedback doesn't stroke their precious ego.

You don't have to be an author to have an opinion as far as like/dislike. That's all subjective and no one is right or wrong other than for themselves.

You don't have to be a writer to point out someone is improperly using their/there/they're or then when it should be than etc....and making a comment along the lines of 'might want to get a second pair of eyes, or take another pass through your story.

You don't have to be a writer to point out Mary had red hair on page one and black hair on page two.

I think you get the point, mistakes can be seen by anyone who knows how to read and understands spelling grammar at a rudimentary level, and has read enough novels/stories to notice inconsistencies, poor grammar, bad story telling, and overall lazy writing.

When I've had comments/e-mails saying I made a mistake on spelling or misuse of the word, well...odds are I did. No one is perfect, and I don't get insulted someone pointed it out.

If someone starts in about the story itself "so and so should have..." well that's not even feedback, that's their opinion and now nothing they say is relevant.

We're all allegedly adults here, and as adults should have the ability to weed out the merit of any given feedback as in, is it true? Are there glaring typos, were there inconsistencies in appearance...did Sue's dress go from blue to black? If it did...well, why are they wrong? You made the mistake.

Is the feedback nasty and insulting and personal? Then its an automatic tune out, move on to the next.

Why is this hard? Why is there endless threads posted by butthurt writers going 'wahhhh' they criticized me. Is what "Billynutsac85" thinks that important to you?

This thread is another in a long series of evidence that Laurel apparently needs a 'accept only glowing ass kissing feedback on my story feature'

You know, there is a type of person, I'm one of them, that have learned from some of this 'unqualified feedback' and I've also used the negative for a little extra motivation, as in "Fuck you, how do you like this story? Or how about that sea of Red H's, contest win yada yada.

Than again, I'm from a time long ago, and a place far away where people didn't spend all day whining.

If you don't like the feedback you get, stop allowing it. Otherwise take it as it comes, and stop thinking you're so goddamn amazing 'non writers' can't judge your precious work.

Rant over, carry on with the crying.

 

[GroverLang]

Private feedback

I can understand those that switch off comments and I can understand those that accept every comment. I can understand those who delete any bad comments so people only see the good.

But what I can’t understand is someone only accepting private feedback.

I’ve never seen it before, although more long term inhabitants will no doubt have seen it, but I’ve just come across a new writer with half a dozen submissions in the last few weeks under their belt. At the beginning of one story they thanked their readers for all the nice comments they were receiving and I couldn’t understand why they wanted to keep favourable comments secret.

I love seeing the compliments at the end of my stories as I’m sure do others.

I am aware it’s their choice. Just before anyone feels it necessary to make the obvious statement.

 

[KeithD]

I

I am aware it’s their choice. Just before anyone feels it necessary to make the obvious statement.

So, I wonder why you are posting your lack of understanding why anyone would do this. If they do and you recognize it's their choice, why do you post about it? What I don't understand is why folks can't just let other folks alone to use the Web site as they are permitted to. The site permits either accepting comments or not.

 

[GroverLang]

So, I wonder why you are posting your lack of understanding why anyone would do this. If they do and you recognize it's their choice, why do you post about it? What I don't understand is why folks can't just let other folks alone to use the Web site as they are permitted to. The site permits either accepting comments or not.

.
It was people like you I had in mind when I concluded my last comment with, “I am aware it’s their choice. Just before anyone feels it necessary to make the obvious statement.”

I raised a simple point. If someone is receiving favourable reviews why would they want to hide it? You chose to ignore the question and submit one of your opinionated egotistical comments, as you have gone many times in the past.

 

[KeithD]

.


I raised a simple point. If someone is receiving favourable reviews why would they want to hide it?

Because they want to, the system permits them to, and it's none of your business(?) Was this a trick question?

Why do folks feel compelled to post on what others choose to do and the system permits them to do?

 

[SimonDoom]

.
It was people like you I had in mind when I concluded my last comment with, “I am aware it’s their choice. Just before anyone feels it necessary to make the obvious statement.”

I raised a simple point. If someone is receiving favourable reviews why would they want to hide it? You chose to ignore the question and submit one of your opinionated egotistical comments, as you have gone many times in the past.

Your question was a perfectly reasonable one. You weren't being insulting or dismissive toward those with a different approach. Just curious. It's perfectly legitimate, out of a sense of curiosity, to inquire why people do what they do. I wonder exactly the same thing you do.

I think the answer is that authors here have very different experiences with comments and criticism, and they also have very different tolerance levels for criticism. And different attitudes toward privacy.
So they respond in many different ways.

For instance, I have a thick skin and an extremely high tolerance for criticism. I embrace the good and laugh at the vicious and try to learn something from all of it. Others take a different approach, and that's fine.

 

[GroverLang]

. It's perfectly legitimate, out of a sense of curiosity, to inquire why people do what they do. I wonder exactly the same thing you do.

I think the answer is that authors here have very different experiences with comments and criticism, and they also have very different tolerance levels for criticism. For instance, I have a thick skin and an extremely high tolerance for criticism. I embrace the good and laugh at the vicious and try to learn something from all of it.

I have never, relying on my imperfect memory, ever deleted a comment, good or bad, from any of my stories. I’ve left the future reader to decide for themselves as to whether they agree or disagree. Perhaps writers who have a thin skin don’t think like us?

Edit: I value every comment, nice and not so nice, and take heed of them all, whether I agree with them or not. The only ones I take exception to are those containing offensive language.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Perhaps writers who have a thin skin don’t think like us?

They don't.

I've sat several different psychological evaluation tests (one with 500 cross-referenced questions which would appear in different combinations, forcing different responses -which were timed), which ascribe different personality characteristics. Like any big dataset there are classic bell-curve distributions, so for any single attribute 80% of people think much the same as the bulk of people around them, with outliers in both directions. If you're a one-percenter in either direction (as I am on a range of characteristics) it's safe to say that most people don't think the same way you do.

Knowing where you sit relative to the bell-curve is useful, because it explains those times where you think, "Bloody hell, why don't these people get it?" It's because they think differently, that's all.

 

[Fervid]

Overly critical feedback

I'm a newbie here, but before I posted anything I noticed that a few comments seemed overly critical to the point of being totally unreasonable, even troll-ish. As a result, I disable comments on my stories since I'm here to have fun, not get flamed. But I do enable star ratings, and now that I'm publishing a few things, I've noticed two interesting mechanisms at work:

One is obvious, I guess. If you have a story that rates, say, 4.8, and someone gives you a 3, it takes 10 straight 5's to return to 4.8. It's hard to maintain high ratings with even a few really picky readers!

Less obvious is the fact that nothing seems to perk up a story's average rating more than having the number of ratings go DOWN. In one case, a story went from 4.79 to 4.82 when the number of raters declined from 115 to 114. I asked Laurel how the number of raters could ever decrease, and the answer was that they try to eliminate fraudulent ratings. I would think fraudulent ratings would normally be high ones, such as 5's posted by the author him/herself, or duplicate ratings by readers who really liked the story and re-read it. But no; it's more like ratings by trolls are being tossed. Interesting.

 

[gordo12]

I would think fraudulent ratings would normally be high ones, such as 5's posted by the author him/herself, or duplicate ratings by readers who really liked the story and re-read it. But no; it's more like ratings by trolls are being tossed. Interesting.

Both get tossed. The fraudulent 5 votes as well as the 1 bombers. On a free site, people try to manipulate.

 

[GroverLang]

I'm a newbie here, but before I posted anything I noticed that a few comments seemed overly critical to the point of being totally unreasonable, even troll-ish. As a result, I disable comments on my stories since I'm here to have fun, not get flamed.

You are doing yourself a disservice by disabling comments. Constructive comments will be very helpful to a new contributor and comments you don’t like you can delete. You’ve then got the best of both worlds.

You did well to get a response from Laurel. . You’ve made a lot of people very jealous.

 

[Damoiselle]

There were a few negative comments on one of my stories that I found hilarious and would have opted to keep if I could have, but they eventually disappeared. They were nonsensical, so I suppose I have to admit it's probably for the best that it happens. But...there are a few comments in there defending my story against a now disappeared negative review and I just think the controversy was more funny when the sequence was complete. I miss reading through it.

 

[kinkbugs]

There were a few negative comments on one of my stories that I found hilarious and would have opted to keep if I could have, but they eventually disappeared. They were nonsensical, so I suppose I have to admit it's probably for the best that it happens. But...there are a few comments in there defending my story against a now disappeared negative review and I just think the controversy was more funny when the sequence was complete. I miss reading through it.

I'm quite new so I don't have many comments, but I did notice that a couple of comments that were a little disorganized had disappeared from my stories. I thought that it was just people removing their own comments though.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm quite new so I don't have many comments, but I did notice that a couple of comments that were a little disorganized had disappeared from my stories. I thought that it was just people removing their own comments though.

No, the only people who can remove comments are you as the story owner and the site administrators who will do so if a comment is reported or otherwise flagged to their attention. A person leaving a comment can't withdraw it.

 

[SluttyMommy77]

I've had a few funny comments from people who explained - in detail - how they'd change my story (to the point that it was a totally different story). If you want to read a totally different story, maybe go read a totally different story, not mine.

I've also had someone say they didn't like the title of my story and therefore gave it a 1 star rating.

 

[gordo12]

I've had a few funny comments from people who explained - in detail - how they'd change my story (to the point that it was a totally different story). If you want to read a totally different story, maybe go read a totally different story, not mine.

I've also had someone say they didn't like the title of my story and therefore gave it a 1 star rating.

LOL, welcome to Literotica la la land. The 1 star excuses are endless but at least they gave you a reason. Most just slam them with 1 star and crawl back under their rocks.

 

[SluttyMommy77]

LOL, welcome to Literotica la la land. The 1 star excuses are endless but at least they gave you a reason. Most just slam them with 1 star and crawl back under their rocks.

It's kind of pathetic because they even specified that they didn't read the story. How much of a loser do you have to be to go through a forum doling out 1-star ratings to stories you don't even want to read?

 

[gordo12]

It's kind of pathetic because they even specified that they didn't read the story. How much of a loser do you have to be to go through a forum doling out 1-star ratings to stories you don't even want to read?

It is pathetic. But Lit is a free site and unfortunately the 1* trolls are abundant and vocal. Especially in some categories.

You need a thick skin to be an author here. If you can laugh at them, which it sounds like you're already doing, that's the best medicine.

The site goes through at regular intervals and sweeps the stories removing all the 1* votes so in the end... it's you that wins.

 

[Abbafan]

Does anyone else get irritated by overly critical feedback from non-authors? It compares to food critics who can't cook. I feel the voting/comments system should be altered. One should have the choice of allowing everyone vote/comment on their works. Or allow only fellow published authors to vote/comment.

You don't have to be a chef to be able to tell whether its a good meal or not.

That said, there are some real knuckleheads who show up in the comments. You'll see even some of the more polished authors get trashed for things like grammar and spelling, for example. I'd just try not to pay attention to the trolls.

 

[Abbafan]

I've had a few funny comments from people who explained - in detail - how they'd change my story (to the point that it was a totally different story). If you want to read a totally different story, maybe go read a totally different story, not mine.

I've also had someone say they didn't like the title of my story and therefore gave it a 1 star rating.

Yeah, along with the grammar police they are one of the worst sort of commenters. If you want realism, why are you reading a story about a brother and sister over 18 who switch bodies?

 

[SimonDoom]

I've had a few funny comments from people who explained - in detail - how they'd change my story (to the point that it was a totally different story). If you want to read a totally different story, maybe go read a totally different story, not mine.

I've also had someone say they didn't like the title of my story and therefore gave it a 1 star rating.

This is very common.

The one positive thing I try to take away from the nuttiness of these kinds of comments is that it illustrates just how seriously fictional stories can affect people, and that's a reminder of the power and influence that you have as an author. And that's kind of a neat thing.