Yet another ratings thread... or is it?

[Winter_Fare]

Being Tilan's alt seems to be the box to tick, so just put it down as that. Anything to save NoTalentHack from having to fill in another form. It's ok, there's no beef, relax. If there was, you'd know it.

This explains sooo much

 

[MelissaBaby]

Hate to break it to you, but her posts and even some of her reviews were venomous, even if she did try to ingratiate herself with some authors who are suckers for praise, which isn't really a shocker considering all of our egos here.

Is it maybe just possible that some of us wrote stories that she thought were genuinely good?

You ought to quit while you're ahead, dude.

 

[Winter_Fare]

Is it maybe just possible that some of us wrote stories that she thought were genuinely good?

The two standpoints are not at odds. The opinions shared were valid, but the delivery was arguably as disruptive and malicious as possible, all to get a reaction.

 

[Voboy]

And I am about to improve on it

@Thavipah Let's assume what you are saying is the truth, that you are a group of readers/reviewers who socialize on Discord. You have basically admitted what I was saying all along, that you are the ones behind the bombing of my stories. Tell me, please, why exactly do you think that anyone would take anything you say in good faith after basically admitting to that? I"ll quote just to make it clear:

"She doesn't give a fuck about the OP anymore, but there are those at my end who are less than impressed. You want to put it behind us? Some acknowledgement that you were out of order would right the ship."

This is basically what she was taunting me with the whole time, and this time I'll post some screenshots to prove it. But before I do that, tell me, what should I apologize for? If I apologize for accusing her of bombing, she, or the group she is associated with, will stop bombing me? Do you not see the contradiction? Before the bombing happened, there was nothing I should have apologized for. All I've said is that she was coming off as entitled and that I've found her project of grading and ranking us amusing. You are now trying to paint her as a martyr who only wanted to share her opinions and do good while we maliciously attacked her for no reason but for our own inflated egos. Hate to break it to you, but her posts and even some of her reviews were venomous, even if she did try to ingratiate herself with some authors who are suckers for praise, which isn't really a shocker considering all of our egos here. On to the screenshots now. They were deleted for being off-topic in a different thread. There, I responded to the original poster by saying how everything we do here has consequences and then said that I was being bombed for speaking my mind on a forum, without naming Stacnash or anyone else. She replied to my posts immediately with this:

View attachment 2265181

View attachment 2265182
Make your own conclusions about her personality and the tone of her posts. About her or this supposed group being behind these bombings as well.

THIS is a useful post. On-topic, too.

I'll take issue, though, with your "suckers for praise" label. As a guy who she reviewed positively, I'm going to agree that she tried to ingratiate herself. I found it in very poor taste for her to do so publicly; Bramble told her so, which I appreciated, and when I reached out to her privately she seemed contrite.

I did respect the fact she came here. I'd love to hear more from people who comment on peoples' stories, whether good, bad, or indifferent, and they come here all too seldom. Her tone sucked, but at least she showed up and took the hits. An interesting interlude.

 

[MelissaBaby]

The two standpoints are not at odds. The opinions shared were valid, but the delivery was arguably as disruptive and malicious as possible, all to get a reaction.

Show me the disruptive, malicious part. Explain to me why I should consider this anything other than a sincere review.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I wonder if those hanging about AH are bothered by the constant clicking sound of a one path to eternity? Does the somewhat rhythmic pounding of keys drive their heartbeat to frenzy? Is their mind stimulated by the tap, tap, tapping of the keyboard to continue their oft-told tales with some unique twist or another? Or is the destress of one-bombs and sordid reviews demeaning their abilities, sending them into the deep, dark depression of despair?

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I'll take issue, though, with your "suckers for praise" label.

I think we are again in that "conveying something over the internet" situation. I said what I said in the sense that we all crave praise for our writing skills and stories. What I meant is that she was using it to ingratiate herself with some authors, trying to buy some bona fides that way because of the way she did it in such a blatantly public way, as you have yourself observed. I most certainly didn't mean to insinuate anything else. Sucker for praise applies to all of us, more or less, it is a trait of the trade even, I would say, so it was not meant in a derogatory way, more in the ironic, "that's how we are" way.

 

[Winter_Fare]

Show me the disruptive, malicious part. Explain to me why I should consider this anything other than a sincere review.

Look at the bigger picture, that's all Melissa. There are no average reviews. Everyone is either "the best" or "the worst" and if you don't react she tracks you down (no joke) on other unrelated threads and shit stirs. I left her review up on my story even though it was downright abusive, take a look if you like.

https://literotica.com/s/bite-me-7

I honestly wish she'd have a go at writing her heart out, putting it out there. I'd really enjoy reading a savage story like that.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I know not who this Stancnash is. They have never let me a comment that I know of.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I think we are again in that "conveying something over the internet" situation. I said what I said in the sense that we all crave praise for our writing skills and stories. What I meant is that she was using it to ingratiate herself with some authors, trying to buy some bona fides that way because of the way she did it in such a blatantly public way, as you have yourself observed. I most certainly didn't mean to insinuate anything else. Sucker for praise applies to all of us, more or less, it is a trait of the trade even, I would say, so it was not meant in a derogatory way, more in the ironic, "that's how we are" way.

The review she wrote about my work was balanced. She said she liked it overall, but pulled no punches about a few things she didn’t like and picked me up on some style points.

One thing I recall was her saying something like “you don’t have to prove to everyone that you are intelligent all the time”. That was direct, but well-observed. It’s just one example (she wrote a long review).

I didn’t feel she was flattering me, just that she saw my writing as pretty good for a beginner. She says she gave me five stars, but she must have pointed out six areas for improvement, five of which I agreed with.

YMMV of course.

Em

 

[AwkwardMD]

I have a feeling she is well aware of how some of her reviews are perceived. In fact, if I recall back when she started her review thread she warned of how harsh she was and people were lining up to get taken down like it was a fun game, and it is in a way and to where I think its become a schtick. I'm going to hazard a guess she gets a kick out of it. But on both notes, I've been here longer than she has and have 'known' her in a sense from day one. Your account started this month and you have 18 posts so I think I know the background better than you.

But welcome, and please be prepared for NTH to call you an alt because you're new and he's seeing them everywhere he looks right now.

You don’t know me at all. You have never known me, and you didn't try. What you have always done is equated me with other people you have known, and let your knowledge of them fill in the gaps. It's never been accurate, and it's never been fair.

Fun fact: I started my thread, at least partially, out of guilt because I felt like I came down too hard on MelissaBaby specifically. I felt like I took for granted that my advice (and by extension, the style with which I give it) was wanted by default. It wasn’t, and I learned, and now I do things differently.

Just because you can't imagine why I do what I do does not make it okay for you to presume and suggest that being mean to others is a source of joy for me.

 

[SimonDoom]

This thread makes me think of my Ogg event story from several years ago, where my fictionalized Ogg character reaches the outskirts of the allegorical town The Hangout, described (tongue firmly in cheek) as follows:

"The Hangout was a wild and unpredictable town, a rude and ramshackle jumble of houses, huts, and bars. It was known throughout the Land of Literotica as a place of short temper, unrestrained depravity, and around-the-clock drunkenness.

But, most of all, the Hangout was known for the gang that controlled it: The Authors. No one knew where they came from, or who they were, but they had descended on the Hangout and taken it over two decades earlier, giving names for themselves that everyone knew were not authentic but that no one dared question. They wrote stories -- degenerate stories -- and they ruled the Hangout without mercy or morals."

 

[MelissaBaby]

Fun fact: I started my thread, at least partially, out of guilt because I felt like I came down too hard on MelissaBaby specifically. I felt like I took for granted that my advice (and by extension, the style with which I give it) was wanted by default. It wasn’t, and I learned, and now I do things differently.

I learned as well. I felt like I took some unfair criticism from a number of people. Your comments touched a nerve that others did not. No doubt, in retrospective, I over reacted. But I think that kerfuffle did motivate me to work harder at improving as a writer.

Four years or so later, you've given lots of people very helpful advice in your thread and I've had a pretty successful Lit "career".

So it's all good. Maybe I'll solicit a review in your thread sometime, if I ever write another story under 50k words.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I’ve received a mostly positive and very detailed review from stacnash - she made some constructive suggestions as well, which were mostly on the money. I also PMed her to say thank you and she was lovely to talk to.

Didn’t really know about her broader reputation, but her interactions with me were totally pleasant and supportive.

Em

Likewise.

I for one appreciate @Thavipah for providing that background, for the record. That's all I wanted to know, who is this mystery reviewer.

Stacnash was belligerent in the forum, but no worse than others we've had drive through, and no worse than some who remain. A permanent ban is excessive in my view; a bit of self-moderation and community moderation would have been enough, and Ignore is always your friend.

 

[mirafrida]

I'm often struck by how much anger there is in the world these days, and how eager we seem to be to find things to feed that anger. Skimming this thread is one of those times.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Likewise.

I for one appreciate @Thavipah for providing that background, for the record. That's all I wanted to know, who is this mystery reviewer.

Sure he did, all in good faith, no doubt. We should definitely believe everything these people with one forum post say. It is not like anyone ever lies on the internet, or pretends to be someone else. Here is one more screenshot for you, one that shows what she/they intend to do if/when I ever start publishing stories again.

 

[Voboy]

I'm often struck by how much anger there is in the world these days, and how eager we seem to be to find things to feed that anger. Skimming this thread is one of those times.

It's the internet. It seldom takes long for vitriol to emerge at the best of times. @AwkwardlySet is not wrong to point out that there are egos in the AH; that's frequently a volatile combination.

Here's the antidote. Go on over there and smile.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Since I got namechecked, I feel it's only fair to respond.

I believed Stacnash was an alt of Tilan and/or an alt of another writer trying to stir up shit in AH. I'm not going to go into all of my reasons for any of that, but they existed, and I still feel they're strong. I'm still not convinced I'm wrong about any of it. The fact that the account got banned at the same time as Haubitze and as Tilan caught what looks like a temp ban leads me to believe that even if I was off-base as to who they were, they still had said enough egregious shit to deserve one anyways.

I can't buy into "they were banned so they must've deserved it". That's a bit too much Just World Fallacy for me.

I acknowledge that Stacnash was abrasive, here and in some reviews. I'm not eager to say that, because they gave me a nice review and I have no beef with them personally. But looking at some of SN's interactions with others, "abrasive" is fair.

I've had Tilan on my ignore for a while, so I only got occasional glimpses of his contributions, but he was being abrasive here for a lot longer than SN ever was. My impression is that he had a tendency to go past saying mean things about people's stories and into a personally threatening vibe, which isn't something I recall seeing from SN.

All in all, unless there was a lot I didn't see, it feels like SN got a lot less slack than Tilan before copping a ban. Looking at some of the other stuff that used to fly here, and continues to fly here, it's hard to convince myself that SN's behaviour was that exceptionally toxic.

Fun fact: I started my thread, at least partially, out of guilt because I felt like I came down too hard on MelissaBaby specifically. I felt like I took for granted that my advice (and by extension, the style with which I give it) was wanted by default. It wasn’t, and I learned, and now I do things differently.

Just because you can't imagine why I do what I do does not make it okay for you to presume and suggest that being mean to others is a source of joy for me.

FWIW, I can remember a couple of times (one review-related, one not) when AMD asked me in private for a second opinion because she was concerned she might be being too harsh on somebody. None of us are perfect, but I can vouch for her as somebody who tries to be fair and constructive.

(And at the risk of derailing further, if indeed one can derail a thing that's already been derailed, I think the line between "blunt and forthright" and "mean-spirited" is sometimes drawn differently for women than it is for men.)

 

[Voboy]

Just to clarify something, but I don't mean this in a nasty way. We don't actually need any of you like that. Stacy's got no friends here except us, and the couple of friends I had on Lit from before I met Stacy's crew left a long time ago. She's not against making friends here, she's told me that as recently as an hour ago.

Your mysterious collective has its opinion. I've got mine. It's mirrored by others here, so I'm not sure why I should hew to your view of it rather than the views of people I've been interacting with for years.

Surely you can see why that's the case. A big part of why SN ran into difficulty here was because she didn't know and respect the norms of what is, in its weird little way, a community. No doubt you folks see yourselves as being above that somehow, but then... why descend and interact with hoi polloi such as we?

I'm certain you think you mean well in your explanations. Frankly, from my end, they're not helping me understand your motivations. If that's your intent, you're fucking it right up. That's my "review;" shall we see if you can accept it with the equanimity you seem to expect from us?

Good luck in your endeavors.

 

[EmilyMiller]

(And at the risk of derailing further, if indeed one can derail a thing that's already been derailed, I think the line between "blunt and forthright" and "mean-spirited" is sometimes drawn differently for women than it is for men.)

Amen!

Em

 

[SimonDoom]

I think if the publisher goes as far as to pull a story because it breaks the Terms of Service, then a one-star score is right on the money. I'd be surprised if any of you disagreed. But if you do, just read Chloe's story and draw your own conclusions.

How can we read the story if it's been taken down? The story that's up is, as I understand it, the revised version.

I can say definitively that I do NOT vote this way. I leave it to the Site to police whether the story satisfies content rules. I don't care. My evaluation is based primarily on my perception of the technical skill shown in the story and the degree to which the author accomplished what I think the author was trying to achieve.

 

[Winter_Fare]

we're not idiots and we're a long way from incompetent.

The evidence does seem to suggest otherwise.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Your mysterious collective has its opinion. I've got mine. It's mirrored by others here, so I'm not sure why I should hew to your view of it rather than the views of people I've been interacting with for years.

I'm still trying to figure out motive, to be honest. Sure, it's nice to get a thoughtful, albeit idiosyncratic review, on a story, and to discover that my story might be on some list or other, in some other writers' community (which appears to be behind a paywall, from my quick look at Discord).

But we here in the AH have no context for any of that, because none of it was explained, and now a representative appears to be dropping by but immediately fucking off.

So it's just odd. I'm not unsettled by any of it, but I'd just like some transparency into what the fuck just happened, to be honest. It's a funny way to go about your business (whatever that business actually is).

 

[Voboy]

I'm still trying to figure out motive, to be honest. Sure, it's nice to get a thoughtful, albeit idiosyncratic review, on a story, and to discover that my story might be on some list or other, in some other writers' community (which appears to be behind a paywall, from my quick look at Discord).

But we here in the AH have no context for any of that, because none of it was explained, and now a representative appears to be dropping by but immediately fucking off.

So it's just odd. I'm not unsettled by any of it, but I'd just like some transparency into what the fuck just happened, to be honest. It's a funny way to go about your business.

I think they think they're the Metrons.

We are either Kirk or the Gorn; I don't think they care which.

 

[Winter_Fare]

I'm still trying to figure out motive, to be honest. .

Well, Thavipah is Tamil for troll. Sooo you work it out x