Observation on feedback

I tried that here on the Forum some time ago. I think the thread was called, 'Let's celebrate our favourtie stories'. Unfortunately, it became sidetracked, and people were posting about stories the Library doesn't have, which wasn't actually the pont of the exercise. It was intended to encourage readers to look at something other than the 'Latest Loaded'. Needless to say, it didn't work.

Perhaps you need something a little more formal than a thread on the forum Linda. Like a top ten stories chosen by one reader at random. It stays there for a week then someone else gets to choose. Its not perfect and totally personal of course, but its different from reading the latest loaded.

I like that suggestion blimp ... 'This Week's Top Ten from blimp" or whoever ...

Seegee is right, Like him I love to receive feedback 0n my stories, as I write them for my and others enjoyment, that being said I am secure enough in myself to know when to take critique and when to ignore it. I really do appreciateany and all comments I receive as I take the comments to heart and try apply the criticism to my stories.
So please lets have more comments, both good and bad.

Mario

I like that idea. Yes, it would be the personal choice of the reader concerned, but if it changed each week, we would see all tastes reflected.

I guess I cannot resist chiming in - always gets me in trouble, which may be why I do it.

I love comments on my stories - I almost never get them on my verses because nobody reads those much, even though they contain more variety, humor (parody), emotion, and sex than my stories can.

I think a forum like what Linda tried might be the best: something that featured a particular writer once a week, a critique by one of our regular readers who has some things to say of interest to other readers AND to the author. For example, I read a lot of Grace's work (because she writes a lot) and appreciate her work because it's brief, it's kid-oriented, and it seems an attempt by her to wring all the possible changes out of a particular kind of spanking scenario. OTOH, I don't look to her for anything very sexy or for adult-spanks-adult material.

I'd love to see essays by authors telling us more about their real life and how they integrate this secret part with RL. There is no category "Essay" in this library, but many of our authors must have strong opinions about the subject which might be interesting to us all, if they were willing to share them.

And I would probably venture into more of the lengthy stories and serials if I knew somebody else thought it worth while to do so; I avoid serials only because they threaten to take up too much of my time. But there might be, somewhere in the library, the greatest of all time, or the greatest long story, thousands of words, but deliciously written, and I have no idea how I could find it, so just a post that says "Check out "......." if you like "........" would be helpful.

The moderators and readers here do a fantastic job, so this is not a whine asking them to do more. We al know what you should get for whining.

Hi js - we have the category 'Article' which covers essays, and I made a forum post a couple of days ago asking for volunteers to write us a few articles ....

Thanks flopsy and Februs for the full replies. You've obviously thought long and hard about the issues over a period of time and have explained clearly why things are as they are. I can't ask for more than that.


Februs's suggestion of allowing some members to make unvetted comments is reasonable. If a reader posts five or ten sensible remarks over time, it's unlikely they'll turn into a flame-throwing psycho overnight.

The ethos of protecting and nurturing authors above all else is commendable in itself and crucial as you build up the catalogue. But the emphasis may shift as the site grows in size and confidence. There may come a time when writers are clamoring to have their work represented here, and the fear of losing authors won't be so great. In that case, the idea of ranking stories might be less threatening.

I like Blimp's idea too. It is a version of the 'editor's choice', so beloved of news and entertainment sites. But in this case, 'guest editor's choice'. Perhaps you could have more than one running at the same time, reflecting various orientations: M/F, F/M etc. Given enough notice, I'd happily give you Tomslipper's top 10 schoolgirl stories. There could be Admin's hot picks or flopsybunny's seven sizzling serials. The possibilities are endless and it could be fun. The difficulty might be in getting people to actually deliver a list. The obvious place to start would be with the story validaters. They are probably familiar with the archive, having read, one suspects, hundreds if not thousands of stories. A list of favourites or outstanding pieces might come easily to them.

Just a quick note to say I've already implemented the "approved commenters" list so just a case now of adding people to it, I've made a start with that and will add others on an ongiong basis.

I'm a newbie to this website, and would like to offer some observations based on experience:

1. At another spanking site where I've posted, most stories generate 2-20 comments, almost all in the, as someone said earlier in this thread, 'critique = praise' category. Very seldom do you see any true criticism; poorly written or off-putting stories just seem to be ignored. But everyone has a good time, and feels good when they see their story praised.

2. What the reader may offer as honest constructive criticism, the writer may see as a humiliating attack on his/her writing skills. At an erotica website where I've posted, one common complaint is the trolls: person A who invariable give a low rating to person B's stories simply because in the past, person B had the temerity to criticize person A's story.

Which brings me to my real question: do you think most posters here want suggestions to improve their writing? To better gear their stories to the audience's taste? Or are they merely writing for the fun of it, and like the idea of seeing their story on the web? I see nothing wrong with making comments along the lines of, 'I liked this part of your story best,' or 'I liked the line about the pajama tops.' But we're only doing this as a pastime, so I wouldn't want to offend anyone or ruin their day. What do you think?