Negative comments

KJM

I was going to ask about this in the Challenge forum; there are some pretty distinctive writing styles here and I would have thought those entries are pretty severely 'challenged/handicapped (maybe a positive,maybe a negative handicap).

The last thing I wanted to do when I wrote my entry was to try and lead with a non-natural style, but mine will stick out like a sore thumb/bum

Far be it for me to query the rules, but it does make me wonder.

I've had some moans about my M/M stories or elements, but if readers dive in before the verification process completes then they are taking a risk and must expect to come across the odd theme that they don't like.

Generally when I get a negative comment (about one of my non-spanking stories), sometimes I just have to say thanks and walk away. The worst comment I ever gotten was a death threat and I took that seriously and reported it to the sender's ISP.

I do not mind what you are calling negative criticism at all. Sometimes it shows me a problem with my story that i had not noticed, such as plot holes and inconsistencies. it can also show me where I could have put more effort into elaborating a plot or scene point. For example, if I have a story where X does not happen because Y intervenes, and people ask me why X did not happen, then maybe I am at fault for not making Y's intervention more clear.

rachelredbum

We always have problems with our roads in Toronto at this time of the year...the plot holes are a real pain.

That kind I like, indeed I value more than the "Great Story" comments.

However i was thinking of comments such as "The hero is a sadistic bastard, how could you" when I've tried to write the protagonist as a loving spanker.

If you are referring to me and the comment you wrote on one of my stories, I merely pointed out that your comment was sarcastic. I don't mind constructive criticism at all but sarcasm is never appreciated and certainly doesn't constitute what you call 'polite constructive criticism'.

If the reader is offering helpful suggestions (which I really don't consider "negative"), or constructive criticism, or pointing out something obvious that can/should be fixed, I am appreciative.

If the reader seems to be attempting some constructive criticism, but I disagree with what's suggested (which is USUALLY the case, because who could possibly know better than I? Come on, now folks.), I'll say thank you, and polite explain why what I wrote is "right."

If comment is just plain negative, I'll usually reply with a terse "Thank you for commenting." (After all, it still counts in my comment total, and what else matters?)

On balance, I MUCH prefer laudatory comments, even though I must admit that helpful criticism is, well, helpful.


He must really have disliked your story. Geesh!

I don't think anyone likes negative comments - even constructive and helpful ones. But, if we are asking readers to consistently comment on our stories - indeed, even requiring them to do so at least once every 500 times - then I think we should accept and embrace these negative comments as much as the positive ones. Kind of a "you asked for it, so now you've got it" acceptance. When we say we want our readers to comment, I think most of us are realistic enough to understand that at least some of our readers might not like our story as much as we did, and that some of them might even put some of these thoughts down on paper, or whatever passes for paper in this virtual community - for all to see. I doubt many of us expect to only get "way to go" comments - better authors along all genres have their stories criticized, for better and worse. Why would we be any different? And, as NJRick pointed out, with his tongue firmly in cheek (I think that's where it was, anyway) they all add to our comment total.

Except, of course, if the comments are personal in nature, or, as in the case of DarkRiver, a threat to life or limb (there HAS to be something more to this than just disliking a story!). A well known author might have to wrongly endure some of these types of comments, but people in THIS community do not. Don't comment on the author; comment on the story.

All in all, I would rather get a negative comment - constructive or helpful would be even better - than no comment at all. At least then, I can respond to the commenter if I choose, whether to say he/she had a good point, or to disagree with him/her, and say why I think he/she was wrong, or just to say thanks for reading. I would estimate that, out of every 10 comments I get, 7 are favorable, 1 is negative, and 2 are a mix of both. I suspect that the negative ratio would be a bit higher though, if some people were less reluctant to comment when they didn't like some aspect(s) of one of my stories.

I mostly give favorable comments. But I have given some negative ones as well. As others have said elsewhere, I try to say something positive about every story, even when I also have something less than favorable to say. I try to be constructive, focusing on pace, or style, or organization, or sentence/story structure, and how I think one or more of these things could be improved. But I also might point out inconsistencies in the story - a sudden change of the main character's name, or a sudden change of a character's age from the beginning to the end of the story, or maybe an inconsistency in the setting. (BTW, these are errors in consistency which I have made from time to time too).

I will rarely, if ever, lodge a critical comment about a plot (unless there is some sort of inconsistency in it, or if something didn't make sense to me, and even then, I will most likely pose it as a question, e.g. I didn't understand how John managed to find out that Mary . . .) This is because I think the plot is solely the author's idea, the crux of his or her's creativity, and should really be limited to that author's thoughts. I'm not going to question a plot, because I didn't think of it, or write it. I also try not to leave comments which read something like "I would have liked to see John do this, or Mary do this. . . (I may have done this on a rare occasion, but I can't think of an instance off hand. I think the author is in charge of his/her characters, and if I make suggestions on that, I'm really just piggybacking on that author's sovereign turf (I think I am mixing metaphors there, but you know what I mean - I hope).

In any case, I try to infer that whatever I say -positive or negative - is solely my opinion, and I am as likely to be wrong as I am to be right. The author can think about what I say, or he/she can ignore it, and he/she wouldn't be wrong doing either.

I agree with DLandhill about the challenge entry comments. I might be a little more critical on those stories, because I am assigning a vote for each, and, because I am doing so, I feel I should comment on each story, and explain why I liked it alot, or why I thought it was good, but how it might have even been better etc. And, when reading 50 or 80 stories on essentially the same topic, I tend to give more points, and more favorable comments, to those well written stories which are also the most creative or unique. As someone else pointed out, it is even more a of a challenge to leave a comment on a contest story, because there are no other visible comments to get ideas from. I think my own comments on the challenge stories are probably more thought out for that same reason.

This comment is long enough to be a story of its own. I look forward to your letters . . .

I was already beginning to think that the whole comment thing was getting out of hand but this is disgraceful!
I've said it before and I'll say it again; If you like a story be grateful and say something nice, If you don't like it then move on to another.And if after 50 or more story's you haven't liked any then you're on the wrong site.