'Helpful' comments

I agree with you FiBlue, most of us are amateurs as so called 'Spanko' writers, or at least 99% of us. We all make mistakes. So the few grammatical errors in our writings should be forgiven. Thank you for stating this.

Popups are always enabled but you have to remember that some authors are not actually members of the site and in those cases there's no-one to actually send the popup to.

Thanks Februs for clarifying that.

I agree completely with Fi. Spelling and grammar errors, unless they're egregious, need not be pointed out except "nicely". No need to pee in the punchbowl. Real substantial criticisms, if you have an issue with the plot or something, are OK, in my opinion, even if you may hurt someone's feelings. I like to save criticism for a private pop-up message if possible, although that's led to a few back-and-forths and maybe some hard feelings (I hope not) but I feel the "comments" should largely be limited to complimentary remarks and stuff you feel strongly critical about could be done privately in a pop-up (if possible). Some authors, it's true, don't answer comments nor pop-ups, whatever their reasons may be, but at least you've offered your opinion one way or another. Having said that, I think a lot of reads and little or no comments, either positive or negative, is rather discouraging for an author. I'd almost (almost!) rather have a bunch of negative comments than none at all.

I'd also decry the overuse/overdependence on grammar/spell-checkers. They don't do context well at all and often lead to the kind of "discrete/discreet" or "road/rode" errors some find so annoying (myself among them). Still I don't think such errors are worth obsessing about unless it's clear that the author doesn't understand the difference. In that case, a pop-up "heads up" is more appropriate than a public criticism...

Speaking as an author, I would much rather have people point out errors and other complaints in the comment section, so that others can weigh in as well and it opens a discussion. I like this.

I am actually in the "take it or leave it" camp. Unless something is wildly wrong, I am happy for the reader to just move on.

I think I know (or did some tens of years back when I was at school) most of the rules of grammar - I can still have bad dreams about those little cards we had to make to learn and practice all the rules. In my writing now, I choose to violate many of the rules; it lends to my style, my expression and my uniqueness. I do not need this pointed out by a reader because I know. If a word is misspelled, I can live with that too.

I'm in agreement on this concept, although by "errors" I don't mean minor 'typos' or misspellings, but rather problems like sudden, unexplained changes in verb tense or point of view, which can significantly affect the reader's comprehension and hence lower the literary quality of the work.

As for "other complaints," those could be criticisms about plot elements or characterizations, but they also might simply be reactions to particular events, attitudes and behaviors, which wouldn't strictly be complaining as opposed to merely commenting.

While I'd appreciate being able to occasionally engage in a 'group discussion' type of interaction in dealing with a particular intriguing or controversial story, this Library doesn't appear to be structured for it--at least it's hardly encouraged, except for two-person (reader-author) private exchanges.

Personally, I don't at all mind commenters being critical toward aspects of my stories, as long as they're not point-blank insulting... --C.K.

I was happy, when a reader in a comment gave the right word, where I had made a mistake. This might help the next reader to understand.

Is it actually possible to change a story once it's been posted?

There have been times I've spotted an error, or thought of a better word choice, on seeing the story in 'print'.

If it can't be changed, there's little point in mentioning spelling errors etc, unless someone is consistently using the wrong word (hoard for horde, peaked for piqued, complement for compliment and so on).

The occasional typo is a fact of life...

I only comment if I enjoy reading a story and I use it as a thank-you, and I try to make a brief comment to any story I've really enjoyed reading, particularly if I pick them up later on Lucky Dip.
I would never consider commenting on a grammatical error as I'm a reader not a critic.
However I did find it valuable when a US author told me that 'holiday' had a different nuance in the US than the UK. I have also very occasionally mentioned such nuances to non-UK authors.
I was told that bum also has a completely different interpretation in the US but I knew that anyway, and I'm not going to stop using it as an affectionate abbreviation for bottom, as my stories are firmly UK orientated.
I personally never comment on stories I don't enjoy as I can tell from the reading and comment figures that others do. Each to his own.
I obviously value it when a reader takes the trouble to say thanks for an enjoyable story, it is really only polite. However I don't take comments very seriously (partly because many of my stories were posted in the very early days when commenting wasn't a big thing), but I really value favourites.
It was also valuable when I misquoted 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes', and this was very politely corrected.