Hmm, can I get a huge fucking grain of salt to go with this anonymous feedback?

[LunarSolstice]

Ahhh, ode to the anonymous feedbacker's.

((Comments:

Written like a high-school boy writes who thinks he's really smart, but isn't.))

Wah. This is my first negative feedback, and I know good and well from the boards to ignore this kind of pandering petty critizism. Maybe next time he will tell me my mom dresses me funny, who knows?

What possesses some people to take time out to say something to you when they have nothing to say?

 

[Heather McLeather]

Just because it was negative, doesn't make it petty or irrelevant...

This is my first negative feedback, and I know good and well from the boards to ignore this kind of pandering petty critizism.

Lunar, sorry to tell you, but such a reaction to a readers feedback is pretty ignorant. Obviously, as a writer on literotica, you are supposed to get feedback. Good or bad. So quit whining. The feedback was someones opinion and it was their honest thoughts on your piece!!!

 

[hiddenself]

I second that.
hs

 

[tonytony3]

I tend to think of the isolated (is about 10% isolated?) bad feedback as coming from people who perhaps shouldn't be reading the sorts of stories that caused them to write it (see my 'fun with feedback' post on ths board for a real gem). Another possibility is it comes from those people who cast 1s in voting. I like to track voting on new stories pretty closely. Circles, my last, gets mostly 5's, then 4's, then a handful of 1s. You can tell when they hit, it's the only way the vote average can pull down as far as it does.

If only we had the power to not let those people read our stories. . .

Have you considered not accepting unsigned feedbacks? But if you did that, you'd not have the fun of seeing what that feebacker said. Who'd want to miss that?

Tony

,

 

[LunarSolstice]

Uhm, I would like to ask what the benefits are from taking to heart criticism that basically reads: Your story was crap and you're stupid...?

I'm just saying, this being my first bad feedback, there was absolutely no insight as to why the reader felt this way. If the feedback had been pointed, listing why the story didnt appeal to them, than maybe yes, it would be valued as practical feedback.

If you simply dont like the story, thats what the 1 is for on the voting scale. Verbally accosting the writer...I dont see how there is any redeeming value in that.

And as an aside, seeing as my story is doing very well into the 4 range, I am not, as you so elegantly put it, whining. I'm just making a comment as to why somebody would take the time, brief as it might be, to write a throw away criticism with absolutely nothing in contribution as to why the story didnt work.

 

[Heather McLeather]

A little more leather please.....

Uhm, I would like to ask what the benefits are from taking to heart criticism that basically reads: Your story was crap and you're stupid...?

Lunar, fair enough. Comments like these may well be written just to piss off the author.

I'm just making a comment as to why somebody would take the time, brief as it might be, to write a throw away criticism with absolutely nothing in contribution as to why the story didnt work.

Maybe this poor fellow isn't verbally gifted. It could very well be the only way he can express himself.

As for my "elegant" comments, I'm not here to be elequent, just to point out what I think.

 

[LunarSolstice]

Well pardon me por favor, but if this "poor fellow" isnt verbally gifted, than I fail to see where he gets off berating anything.

And I made no question about the eloquence of what you said, I suppose it was fairly well articulated. I just questioned the tact of hopping on the board and telling somebody to shove their whining, which paradoxically is in itself whining, which is in turn causing me to further whine about you whining about my whining which in case furthers the paradox which may eventually become so paradoxical it causes a rift in the time space continuum which may eventually lead to the end of the world as we know it. And hence my usage of the word elegance as opposed to elequence.

 

[Heather McLeather]

Dear Lunar, you obviously have alot to say and no one to take it out on!!!

I fear the outcome of any verbal fight between yourself and your next unsuspecting victim.

Considering that I, in no way, can outwit you on that last one.. I think we may have to leave it at that.....

And, I think I may like to live for a little while longer. I am definitely not ready for the end of the world to fall upon us.

By the way, a Back To The Future fan, are we?

 

[cookiejar]

IMHO there is a world of difference between honest criticism and outright insults. If a person doesn't like my stories, fair enough, but at least have the decency to do it without childish insults. Of course that is life and there are always a-holes like this out there. I guess when you put your work out there you take the good with the bad. BTW Lunar...I read your story...not much for second person narration but all-in-all it was well written. I will keep an eye out for your work.

 

[hiddenself]

Whining

LS, you're whining. But you're not the first, nor the last. If writers could sell their ego, they would all be rich.

First you ask for feedback and when someone says your writing's crap you bitch about it. IMO, the reader's comment was legitimate. I or you or anyone else may or may not agree with it, but it's a valid point of view.

Now, your statement about the feedback being mean and not constructive (because the reader did not give you details) is pure rationalization. I didn't see you ranting about comments that say "great story, keep writing" or "the best story I've read in a while" etc. Those are equally uninformative (as to why the story was so good) but I've never seen anyone complain about them.
Finally, keep in mind that if I feel the story is crap, it's unlikely that I will sit down and waste my time trying to point things out to the writer. My message might simply be that the story's crap and the writer should not waste his/her and our time with any more efforts. Unfortunately, no writer wants to hear that -- ergo, he/she bitches about mean and unhelpful readers.

Cookie, I agree that sometimes it's "childish insult" but sometimes it's true opinion. Just like the positive is sometimes honest judgement and sometimes flattery or unwillingness to say anything negative (there are plenty of readers like that). But at the end, a brutal trashing should be equally acceptable as a glowing tribute (and noone complains about those -- EVER).

hs

 

[DarlingNikki]

Written like a high-school boy writes who thinks he's really smart, but isn't.))

What possesses some people to take time out to say something to you when they have nothing to say?

Okay. I haven't read your story and am not trying to be insulting. I have no idea if this feedback is in any way accurate and I didn't send it so of course I can't say what exactly the sender meant. And no, it's not terribly helpful. BUT it isn't "nothing to say." It says a bunch. Possibilities are that the person considered the story to be immature, pretentious or both. Take another look at your story. Could s/he be right? If not, hey, delete button.

 

[LunarSolstice]

HS...I opened saying that I wasnt taking this crit to heart, because of the shared facts that it was both annonymous and petty, a course of action advised by on numerous other threads by Literotica veterans. And I agree with your statement that Im not complaining about the positive feedback I get, true. Feedback of that sort though I basically read and say, well isnt this nice? Delete, because it is no more or less helpful than the email in question.

My main point in this thread was not to say, Waaahh, how could this happen to me? Could somebody prepare a splint for my poor bruised ego? My point was, why is feedback written that generally has nothing at all to say?

And I agree with Cookie, there is a difference between criticism and juvenile attempts at debasing the author.

Your statement: . My message might simply be that the story's crap and the writer should not waste his/her and our time with any more efforts. shows your type of mindset however, and maybe instead of informing others that they are not good enough and that they should quit, you should be confronting whatever issues it is that posses a forty year old man to take a stance that could be considered moronic at best.

From what Ive seen of Lit, its goal is to be a constructive site, with aims at coaxing others to better their writing, and on no grounds do you have the right to tell contributors that their work is crap, to quit trying. Unless, that is, you are forking out the monthly check to keep Lit operational.

I dont know what you think it is that elevates you over these fledgling writers, but instead of trying to destroy them, maybe next time vote a low score on their story, suggest something to better them, or hit the fucking back button. Because with comments like the one you made, maybe you should reevaluate who exactly is the person whose wasting his time.

 

[biggbear8]

i feel that you are right in one aspect that if ur going to take the time t write a feedback then u should also say why u liked it or disliked it feed back is suppose to help a writer better his or her work so if u send a feedback at least make sure it helps the write in some way

but they well always be people that are just hurtful and i think that because they are jealous that they cant write

 

[Sweet_Candi]

Ahhh, ode to the anonymous feedbacker's.

((Comments:

Written like a high-school boy writes who thinks he's really smart, but isn't.))

Wah. This is my first negative feedback, and I know good and well from the boards to ignore this kind of pandering petty critizism. Maybe next time he will tell me my mom dresses me funny, who knows?

What possesses some people to take time out to say something to you when they have nothing to say?

I have been writing stories for some time now, but Im fairly new to Lit and only have one posted here so far. I havent yet taken the time to read your story, but I will be sure to do it and send you some feedback.

I, too, received a comment that was not only unhelpful to say the least, but they were bashing my charactor, my way of life, and questioning my abilities as a parent. What the hell does any of this have to do with feedback on my story?? Like the feedback you got, it was just someone lashing out at someone else, for whatever reason.

I completely agree that if you are going to give someone feedback, negative feedback in particular, you could at least give a reason or two why you felt the way you did about their story. Telling you that you are immature and not too smart does absolutely nothing to help you better yourself as a writer. And if your story really does suck (lol), then I would just give it a lower rating....or not bother commenting at all.

Just my 0.02.

 

[TechNerd]

unhelpfull feedback

Just some observations:

There are many more readers than writers. Most of those readers don't have the experience, vocabulary or time to generate very useful critism. Helpful comments, positive or negative, require some knowledge of the craft of writing.

They are having a bad day and the feedback reflects their mood.

They were wanking during the story and didn't come. Obviously a bad story!

You get the idea. It doesn't pay to get too intellectual on the subject of unfiltered feedback.

 

[sweetnpetite]

Re: Whining

LS, you're whining. But you're not the first, nor the last. If writers could sell their ego, they would all be rich.

First you ask for feedback and when someone says your writing's crap you bitch about it. IMO, the reader's comment was legitimate. I or you or anyone else may or may not agree with it, but it's a valid point of view.

Now, your statement about the feedback being mean and not constructive (because the reader did not give you details) is pure rationalization. I didn't see you ranting about comments that say "great story, keep writing" or "the best story I've read in a while" etc. Those are equally uninformative (as to why the story was so good) but I've never seen anyone complain about them.
Finally, keep in mind that if I feel the story is crap, it's unlikely that I will sit down and waste my time trying to point things out to the writer. My message might simply be that the story's crap and the writer should not waste his/her and our time with any more efforts. Unfortunately, no writer wants to hear that -- ergo, he/she bitches about mean and unhelpful readers.

Cookie, I agree that sometimes it's "childish insult" but sometimes it's true opinion. Just like the positive is sometimes honest judgement and sometimes flattery or unwillingness to say anything negative (there are plenty of readers like that). But at the end, a brutal trashing should be equally acceptable as a glowing tribute (and noone complains about those -- EVER).

hs

Although i never thought of it that way, i totally agree with you here. thanks for your comments. i will be looking at all my feedback from a new perpective now.

Which isn't to say that you still don't take insults (and prais as well) w/ a grain of salt. Anyone who gives up his or her dreams/goals because a handful of people keep your day job don't have what it takes. Writing is all about taking risks and dealing with rejection- weather it comes in a helpful format or not.

 

[hornydevil69]

lol, got my first negative feedback the other day on my first story, turned the anon filter on, if someone doesn't have the balls to leave a criticism without being anon I have no interest in what they have to say. For those that are curious it went some thing like "your story is disgusting and utter shit, if you threw it in the wastebasket it would puke it back up because it is so terrible" meanwhile the story has a 4.6 rating with 2600 views and 60+ votes. You wanna criticize my story, go for it. But unless your criticism contains some info on what was wrong with the story, or what could be changed to make it better, it will go in the circular file and I'll have to hope it doesn't spit out your utter shit feedback because it is so terrible.

P.S. I am not a writer, I graduated high school with a c- in english. My job currently involves more manual labor than pencil pushing. If I can get a story published, a retarded monkey can write a decent criticism other then "you are dumb and your story sucked"