Deleting Comments

[lovecraft68]

With respect to comments and scoring I cant care less what you do or why you do it. I don't read your wares tho I sampled a few long ago to assess your talent.

With respect to your thinking about my mental health I cant care less, you have no competence to render an opinion, whereas I have a fund of test results and professional opinions that negate whatever I suspect you believe. For what its worth I have low blood sugar and it makes me irascible, so I keep hard candy at hand. So go fuck yourself.

I've seen a few shrinks over the years, but I still default to what my 6th grade teacher told my foster father after a fight I got into, "He's a smart kid, and he's quiet, but when someone gets on his nerves he's batshit crazy."

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

What readers are informed enough to do is render their opinion.

They liked it, didn't like it and they can tell you why they didn't like it. No one needs training or credentials to render their opinion.

What we as authors do with that opinion is up to us. I have had feedback where I've rolled my eyes and said, "Yeah, whatever" but I've had many comments that made me stop and think, "YOu know, they have a good point."

That's what feedback is supposed to be for, not just a pat on the back (or a nasty insult) but something to tell us what we are doing right or wrong, what is working and what is not.

And to me, the arrogance of that statement is if the readers are so unqualified and stupid why are we putting our work here? If we were truly writing just for us like some claim, then these stories would never leave our computer.

Everyone who posts stories here is doing so to "see what people think" if they say otherwise they're lying to themselves.

They're also lying when they say feedback means nothing to them because if it really did they would disable voting and comments and some have. But the ones that haven't it does matter.

But again its up to us whether or not we let it get under our skin when its smearing negative crap or to not be so thin skinned that we can't handle "Joe Smith" saying we need an editor or the character wasn't realistic etc...

We're in control not them. I've gotten a lot of good feedback amongst the "you suck and you rule" that has really helped me.

So the dismissal of all readers is a mistake if you want to continue to learn and grow.

MY V-day contest entry is a great example. I have a long time reader who always sends very detailed and well thought out feedback to me, mostly positive, but he will list whatever couple of things he disagreed with as well

he pointed out in this one that one line I put in near the end put a damper on the story for him and he explained why and I thought on it and....he's right, I wasn't thinking, I had the character make a joke about the situation, but the fact was I blew the "feeling" in the scene with that joke.

Since then two public comments have called that out, so the guy was right. To me that is an "informed" reader who knows the category well and is 'qualified' to this works this might not.

If I ever got informed opinions I'd agree with you, but its never happened, and the LOVE IT-HATE IT crap is useless to me. I wanna know what ingredients and recipes made the judgment. I have different experiences from you so your counsel is lost on me.

 

[GoldenCojones]

If I ever got informed opinions I'd agree with you, but its never happened, and the LOVE IT-HATE IT crap is useless to me. I wanna know what ingredients and recipes made the judgment. I have different experiences from you so your counsel is lost on me.

I do get some informed opinions in comments on my stories. Most of it is crap, but every now and then you get a comment that is real. Those gems are reason enough for me to leave public comments on. A lot of the other stuff makes me laugh.

BTW: I only delete comments that are personal attacks against another commenter. No reason for me to leave those up. They don't have anything to do with my story. If I got a comment that broke Lit's rules I'd delete it too, but that hasn't happened to me yet.

 

[lovecraft68]

I do get some informed opinions in comments on my stories. Most of it is crap, but every now and then you get a comment that is real. Those gems are reason enough for me to leave public comments on. A lot of the other stuff makes me laugh.

BTW: I only delete comments that are personal attacks against another commenter. No reason for me to leave those up. They don't have anything to do with my story. If I got a comment that broke Lit's rules I'd delete it too, but that hasn't happened to me yet.

I have reason to believe we are all losing control over what we leave up there as certain comments are being removed regularly by the site lately.

The "freedom of speech" mantra of this site and years of letting people spew their pure hate via comments has had some results that should have been expected, but I'm sure weren't

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I do get some informed opinions in comments on my stories. Most of it is crap, but every now and then you get a comment that is real. Those gems are reason enough for me to leave public comments on. A lot of the other stuff makes me laugh.

BTW: I only delete comments that are personal attacks against another commenter. No reason for me to leave those up. They don't have anything to do with my story. If I got a comment that broke Lit's rules I'd delete it too, but that hasn't happened to me yet.

Laurel removes comments that offend trolls. But as I get no useful comments I turned off all comments and voting, comments only serve to scare timid readers or help with their confidence. I have no use for timid readers.

 

[sr71plt]

With respect to comments and scoring I cant care less what you do or why you do it. I don't read your wares tho I sampled a few long ago to assess your talent.

With respect to your thinking about my mental health I cant care less, you have no competence to render an opinion, whereas I have a fund of test results and professional opinions that negate whatever I suspect you believe. For what its worth I have low blood sugar and it makes me irascible, so I keep hard candy at hand. So go fuck yourself.

Just going on your own posts and your own stories and your own limits put on response to your stories.

So, this is yet again your ability to give it but not to take it. (What a surprise.)

I don't think you need to inform anyone that you're irascible.

 

[sr71plt]

John Truby is right, most readers aren't competent to offer informed comments, and your Ma aint gonna be honest and hurt your feelings. So whats the point in inviting crap (arrows and flattery)? Truby recommends writers focus on the craft and ignore readers.

I don't agree with this persecution-complex quote (well, quoting it reflects a persecution complex) either. Comments by readers who are actually commenting on the story without an external ax to grind against the author--and who aren't just 180-degrees off in the basis for their comment--have their comments stick on my stories. Others are free game for deletion--and not on the basis of their ability to objectively assess the specific story but because of either being completely off base in the basis of their comment or being malicious on an agenda going beyond the specific story.

 

[lovecraft68]

My trolls here aren't bright.

When they refer to em as "LC" or on occasions slip and reference a particular comment I may have made on the boards they give themselves away. I sign my author's notes "LC68" or the full name.

I think at this point some readers refer to me as "LC" but its still mostly the boards where I'm known as that.

I have ideas on who they are, there's two by their style, but I could care less about proving it.

I let them stay there so other people can laugh at their ignorance. Comments fall under

"Sticks and stones, bitches"

 

[GoldenCojones]

My trolls here aren't bright.

When they refer to em as "LC" or on occasions slip and reference a particular comment I may have made on the boards they give themselves away. I sign my author's notes "LC68" or the full name.

I think at this point some readers refer to me as "LC" but its still mostly the boards where I'm known as that.

I have ideas on who they are, there's two by their style, but I could care less about proving it.

I let them stay there so other people can laugh at their ignorance. Comments fall under

"Sticks and stones, bitches"

There is a comment on one of my stories that says something like "I would never read anything by this author." That had to come from someone I offended on the boards. I haven't been here very long, and I don't try to offend people, but I don't take shit lying down either. I thought it was funny that he dislikes me enough to seek out my stories and then post that he would never read anything I wrote. It really did crack me up.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I don't agree with this persecution-complex quote (well, quoting it reflects a persecution complex) either. Comments by readers who are actually commenting on the story without an external ax to grind against the author--and who aren't just 180-degrees off in the basis for their comment--have their comments stick on my stories. Others are free game for deletion--and not on the basis of their ability to objectively assess the specific story but because of either being completely off base in the basis of their comment or being malicious on an agenda going beyond the specific story.

As we say in the psychology trade: SOMETIMES FOLKS REALLY DO WANNA KILL YOU, EVEN PARANOID PEOPLE ARE MURDERED. I go further. I think aggression outlets are more popular than sexual outlets.