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Post by Me-Nuriko on Sept 12, 2004 2:29:27 GMT -5
The author who got threats to her and her family: She writes well, the story was rated 'R' on ff.net but NC-17 on other sites. She had two versions of the chapters where the sex were involved, that explains the difference in ratings. I have read the story and liked it a lot, there is nothing in it there should cause anyone to threaten her. It's a multichapter story with a well developed plot. I can't imagine why anyone would threaten her for it.
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Post by filthy on Sept 12, 2004 5:17:58 GMT -5
I don't leave flames, but I still get called a flamer every now and then. I guess I can be a bit harsh at times, at least when I stumble over a story with a Mary Sue and canon-rape. But I always try my best to give good pointers and con-crit. That's the reason why I get so pissed off when I get an angry mail from an author that I reviewed, where he/she pretty much tells me to sod off because I didn't just praise the story.
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Post by kanshu on Sept 12, 2004 9:50:47 GMT -5
Well... Criticism or a negative opinion about a story isn't a flame.
Unfortunately, a lot of inexperienced authors got the notion that anything negative is a flame. Also, inexperienced authors don't seperate between them and their story - so anything negative said about their writing becomes automatically a personal insult.
However, what Me-Nuriko and Salmastryon described, definately stops being a flame and goes outright into criminal charges. It's called "mobbing" or "bullying".
The only thing an author can do, other than run and hide, is standing firm - ignore the MF suckers - and waiting until the criminal elements lose their interest in harrassing. Switching off anonymous reviews for a story is a good idea, too. And death threat mails can just be sent to the mail service where the crminal element has their email address. If you are in the mood, you can get your lawyer to work and file a criminal charge for harrassement.
The only thing one as a reader can do is encouraging the author, maybe by a private mail, and NOT join into whatever discussion breaks lose. That will only fuel the criminal elements into more bullying.
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Post by Me-Nuriko on Sept 12, 2004 11:00:48 GMT -5
Yeah, I did just that. I wrote to the author in a personal e-mail and tried to encourage her.
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Post by Me-Nuriko on Sept 14, 2004 11:49:32 GMT -5
Hmm, I've just got a review that I guess is not a flame, but the way it was written gave the impression of being one. Here it is: The reviewer (anonymous of course) told me what she (or possibly he) thought was bad, and that is all right, but the way she did it was so incoherently that I had to read it through several times before I got what she meant. If the reviewer had written down her opinion in a more readable way, I would have respected her for her opinions. But in this form it made me laugh, and I don't think that was what she intended. I didn't get this on ff.net. What do you guys think of reviews like these?
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Post by kanshu on Sept 14, 2004 14:14:05 GMT -5
Well... outside of the comments about "Show"&"Tell" - that one counts as a flame, IMO. It had a lot of personal attack in it, which makes me wonder why that person read the fic in the first place.
How to deal with this kind of persons... depends. Either, you can ignore them. Or, if that is possible, delete the post. If you delete it, it might cause more flames, though.
What I think of those reviews... "Don't like it, don't read it, stupid. And learn how to use the speeeelchecker!"
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Post by kellen on Sept 14, 2004 20:39:15 GMT -5
I think the weirdest review I ever got was simply: "what are you on" Not a single comment saying "What are you on? I want some, this is good" or "What are you on, that you could come up with such junk?" Just "what are you on". Not even a question mark. Fairly useless, I thought. Just like this post cheers,Kellen
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Post by Me-Nuriko on Sept 15, 2004 2:05:01 GMT -5
Hey, Kellen, stop calling your posts useless or pointless. They are not. If they were then we all are guilty of that. It's not everything that have a deeper meaning, but it still can be interesting.
The flame you told us about was useless, though. I got one quite like it once, it said: 'This was long'. So... is that good or bad? As you said, pretty useless.
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Post by kanshu on Sept 15, 2004 2:36:59 GMT -5
Agreed... Kellen, your input is valued. This board is for communication to voice your opinion. Saying "it's pointless" or "useless" is like saying 'sorry that I exist'. Kellen, Me-Nuriko: Yes, some reviews contain cryptic messages that makes one wonder why the poster left them in the first place. I file those under "brainfarts" and tend to ignore them. Though, some are fun to read. And a "I like it/I hate it" review at least gives some usable information.
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Post by kellen on Sept 15, 2004 3:02:02 GMT -5
*smiles* Yes'm. No more comments on my own uselessness. Hmm... brainfart reviews... LoL. I can almost understand the "what are you on" review; it was left on a three chapter story about killer cheese wheels, but an indicator of like or hate might be appreciated. cheers!
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Post by therhoda on Sept 15, 2004 14:56:51 GMT -5
I have yet to get a flame *knocks on head, the cabinet and the floor just in case* to my story. But I am getting reviews that are not really coherent. Not that I am complaining I get a new review i dance around my chair in happiness. I think I could become a junkie, review junkie is there a step program for that?
I think that as My story is fluff, hopefully enjoyable fluff. That it dosn't get the attention of the angst ridden flamey types. Cause If you are looking for angst of anybody but me the author you are in the wrong story with Sing. But then again that is why I am writing it. I got tired of the rehashing and angstfying (my own word) of characters. But I think that humor is needed in a series where the character do have angst. Just look at what the breakroom is allowing Karot to do with Saiyuki and how we all adore and rejoice when a new chapter comes out.
I truly believe that their are people who are so jealous of other they leave flames as a way to try and make themselvs feel better. Which I personally think is rather sad.
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Post by iapetus on Sept 15, 2004 20:06:34 GMT -5
I have never "flamed" anyone in my life. Now, if someone misrates a story somehow, I WILL give them a "stern talking to" about it, because misrating a fic is just WRONG.
Sometimes it's just an accident. Sometimes people are just too lazy to put it in. ><
By biggest gripe is when people don't mark shounenai/yaoi. I personally did not used to like it, and I totally respected the people who did. If they wanted to write/read it, fine. Just mark it, and I'll leave it alone and continue my search for a general or het romance fic. But there were occasions where it wasn't marked, and it really offended me. You don't even have to say "shounen ai" or "yaoi." Simply stating the couple would clear that up.
Now-a-days I DO like that stuff, but I'm still not forgiving on those who do not mark them. I'm sorry, but I just can't. It's important to respect other people's opinions, even if they are not your own.
As for receiving flames, I've gotten about 4, and they were all for the same story. However, I understand the reason that I WAS flamed, and despite the extensive disclaimer that I posted for it, people seemed to ignore it. -_-
-Iapetus
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Post by Ganheim on Nov 20, 2004 9:55:33 GMT -5
I have this little policy whenever I read a story: when I think it has potential, I review and so encourage the author to continue in some way. If I don't think the story has any future potential, I don't review it. That's why I get depressed when nobody reviews my stories. Anyway, whenever I decide to leave a review I've read the chapter, occasionally read the next chapter, and I go back to the beginning of the chapter and look for things like grammar / spelling errors, out-of-characterisms, or other things like that. I think of it as my way to help that other author improve their writing. Maybe that's why the vast majority of my reviews are probably pages long. It's not often that I review a story and all I can say is "good job, keep on going". Still, I think such reviews have to be good. I know I enjoy it whenever I get a review. If I don't get any, I figure that nobody wants to read my story, and therefore I don't update. I never leave flames. If I think the story is worth leaving a comment, I'm going to leave something helpful to the author. Of course, not all authors seem to take well to constructive criticism, I've had this experience with one or two authors who sent me a load of flames after I left a review at their story that wasn't entire glowing praise. Fortunately, they could only leave one signed review each, I deleted the anonymous reviews that were obviously from them due to the matching style, and they gave up after I deleted four or five flames. I even sent them an email in rebuttal against their flames, and I think that might have been one of the factors in what made them stop. I consider it a good idea to define what a flame is: something that has nothing to do with the story, or something that does nothing but say how much the reader hates the story without giving any reason why or suggestions to improve. I have left a few reviews where I said that I didn't like what the author did with the story idea, but I always left several suggestions. It's a shame how rarely I see people actually decide to pay attention to my reviews (and I'm talking about when I leave grammar/spelling fixes), but at least I know that I tried. I'll always remember an anonymous "review" (flame) that I received. It was so short I couldn't figure out who wrote it, or even really what it was about. All it said was: "a bad one". For a moment when I saw it I thought it said "abbadon" (if I remember correctly, it's Hebrew for "destroyer"). I wouldn't have minded if somebody didn't like what I was doing if they were a little more specific. I'm overjoyed to get feedback, whether it's something like "I liked it, keep going" or "I didn't like this part". If the review contains criticism, I always try to take it seriously and recognize that it's probably meant well. The problem with "standardizing" reviews is that fan stories are a pretty broad category of entertainment, with different personalities doing reading and writing. While a rating system could be useful, it could just as easily be abused by "flamers" as the current system. However, I do like the idea of reviewers answering questions. I also have to agree with Kellen's idea of having the writer propose questions. It's always nice to be able to receive specific feedback (something that I regret not getting enough of for Life of the Silver Tear on Fiction Press). The problem is I don't really know what questions to ask.
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Post by Blood_Debt on Nov 23, 2004 21:25:09 GMT -5
Ahh... my reviews tend to be 'chats' as on animespiral, logged authors can review as many times as they want... I think I am 3/4 of Optimooses's reviews on her Slaves of Fate story ^_^ Teeheeeeee!!! Falmes are bad. One of my many mantras. I try and be constructive now, as nicely as possible. But some I just can't find fault with.
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Post by lazy elven dreamer on Dec 10, 2004 3:00:02 GMT -5
When I first started reading fanfic, I generally didn't bother reviewing. I didn't bother with it and couldn't see why - I was getting what I wanted out of the stories -the story itself- and therefore couldn't be bothered to tell someone else if I liked it or not. Yes, I was, and still am, a lazy person. Then I started writing my own fanfic, and started to appreciate how much reviews meant to an author. I still didnt review much though. Now, I review most stories that I read. I don't ofter read a bad story, as I skip generally anything that involves, in Saiyuki, "the gang meets a girl....is she all she seems?" or anything similar. I've only started this review-most-stories thing lately. Generally I try to compliment it if I like it (almost all the time), what I like about it, and say what I think could be improved on, like grammar. Constructive critism and all. I try to be polite and not be too blunt, though often I really feel like I've been too direct, as I personally take any form of criticism pretty badly, (though as of yet I haven't received an insult over the net) so I like to think I'm pretty careful with other authors' feelings. I have never flamed anyone and have never received one. Then again, I haven't received very few reviews either. For each story I think I can count my review on my fingers. No toes needed. *sigh*
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