I haven't read (and so haven't commented on) the specific story LK mentions. I have read comments similar in tone to the ones he quotes or paraphrases, both on my own stories, and on stories by other authors. Indeed I have sometimes made comments along these lines.I don't feel that such comments are 'wimping out" or "wishy washy". I think they indicate genuine uncertainty in many cases. In some they may indicate clear discomfort, but an attempt to express this without it feeling like an attack.
If a story is written realistically, many readers tend to react to it as if it were an account of actual real-life events. This is perhaps ill-advised, but very natural. On some level it says the author has done a good job, making the reader involved enough in the story to think of it as real. However, a story is NOT real, and in most (well at least many) cases a spanking story is specifically implausible exactly in its spanking aspects. Commentators would be well advised to remember that, often.
That said, that kind of comment often shows that the reader is nearing the edge of his or her comfort zone, i think. This is a legitimate thing for a commentator to express, in my view. Now the story may be well within the author's comfort zone, and that of many other readers. people vary. if everyone thought the same, one comment per story would be all that anyone needed. No author here need tailor stories to any particular reader, or even to the consensus, as long as they pass the staff for posting. But many authors would like to know that some readers hold such views. And the comments can sometimes be an exchange between readers, also, they need not be just reader to author (did you know that you can send a popup response to another commentator, even if you are not the story author?). So I don't think people on this site should be discouraged from posting such comments. Of course, that is only my opinion. |