Since I've been trolled lately....

[TxRad]

You know you've been trolled when the score with 9 votes is 4.8 and the 10th vote drops it to 4.5......

 

[Sapphire_O]

I disagree - and feel a certain liberty in doing so because I've had the same thing happen. The E quite surprised me. I knew that the story wasn't really "erotic" in the traditional sense, and I was playing around with the narrator's perspective more for my own interest than anyone else's. Would I personally rate the story higher than the 2.45 it was at the day it came out? Yes. Do I believe that people could honestly believe it deserved a 1? Yes as well. I wanted quite different things from the story than most of its readers were likely to.

I don't deny that trolls exist. But when we blame every negative score on them, we do ourselves a disservice. Sometimes a low score is a sign to us to go back and reconsider our decisions when writing a story. Sometimes it's a nudge reminding us that not every story is written for a broad audience, and that when we write what best pleases us, we have to set our own standards and accept that others are looking for something else. Those are both important messages to anyone who really wants to improve as a writer, and sometimes we need to let our defenses down and hear them.

I've been reading a bunch of the poetry lately and noticed that almost every E is below 3 and rarely is such a low score deserved. I figure the E attracts more viewers, but maybe they just don't get the difference between stroke writing and writing for art. *Sigh* Personally, I think both are valid genres. Seeing all those good poems rated so low is kind of depressing.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

If any story you post has a score above 3.8 while on the "NEW LIST" you have or are about to be trolled.

I actually love my trolls. They are the only ones who read my shit

 

[TxRad]

If any story you post has a score above 3.8 while on the "NEW LIST" you have or are about to be trolled.

I actually love my trolls. They are the only ones who read my shit

Your trolls read? Boy are you lucky...... Mine don't even look at the pretty pictures....

 

[elsol]

If you post to the AH about trolling... you might be under troll attack.

 

[Guest]

You might be under a troll attack if you have ever gotten into a fight or spoke your mind about another AHer... and the scores on your stories plummet.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Or maybe not AHers in some cases. Personally, I find such behavior reprehensible. No matter what differences I had with a fellow writer, I wouldn't troll him or her. One even accused me, falsely, I might add, of making a death threat against her. I never trolled her, and I wouldn't. I just don't believe in such dishonorable tactics. But I damn sure have been trolled by a certain writer's fans, though I won't say his name. He knows who he is and what he has done. I have very good reason to believe that it is his doing.

In any case, I don't hate anyone on the AH. I dislike some people, but am very fond of most of you. I have some painful memories of being hurt by one or two, but that is about it. And some part of me still wants to repair those friendships, but it would take time in those cases. And some of you I am really close to....but I'd never troll any of you, under any circumstances. That's just not me.

I admit that I used to leave bad comments purely because of content earlier in my writing career, but even then I didn't go anonymous. But that was years ago, and I have long since tried to keep the negatives to egregious lack of realism and terrible writing in my feedback. That was also back when I had some writing mistakes that I have since corrected, so people learn on that sort of thing. Nowadays, I have learned that some stories are just going to anger me, so there's no point in reading them and complaining about it.

 

[Avery_Reynolds]

Severusmax,

I have been reading your work for several weeks now, as well as that of many of the other posters on this thread. I have to say that I have been enjoying the wonderful stories and think it's a crying shame that this thread is necessary.

Keep up the good work.

A

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Severusmax,

I have been reading your work for several weeks now, as well as that of many of the other posters on this thread. I have to say that I have been enjoying the wonderful stories and think it's a crying shame that this thread is necessary.

Keep up the good work.

A

I very much appreciate that. I can only assume that my fellow writers feel the same way. I wouldn't have put this up, honestly, except out of exasperation and lashing out...lol. Thanks for the compliment, friend.