This feedback really hurt...but am I taking it too personally?

[Gethsemane]

I'm wondering what people think of this.

I'm still a fairly new writer here. My second story, "Used and Abused: the Katie Chronicles Ch.02" was just published. I received a bit of critical feedback on my first story--Ch. 01 of the same tale--about the amount of graphic language I used...most people quite liked it, but a few were offended. As a result, I posted a bit of a disclamer in my second one.

Let me be a bit more specific about the language. I have always considered so-called "filthy talk" a bit of a fetish, not unlike bondage or foot fetishes or whatever. I have always been extremely turned on by the use of naughty words like "slut" or "whore" in the bedroom. I AM NOT A SELF-HATING SICKO! I can't explain why these words turn me on...they just do. I would never want someone to use them in day-to-day life around me...but in the bedroom I love it.

My impression was that Literotica was a place where we could explore our fetishes and feelings without the fear of discrimination. I have absolutely no problem with getting honest feedback about my WRITING...thus, I always have my feedback option turned on. However, the following post in my feedback has really offended me. This is an exact copy of the post:

FEEDBACK BEGINS
06/11/07 by Anonymous
Yeah sick people really get into being called very slutty things. Your symptoms of mental illness and need for self abuse place you on a one way trip to the morgue. Enjoy it while it last hun, your life is set to be a very short one with no real life or fulfillment along the path. You have so many possible endings: drugs; AIDS; various STDS and diseases; snuff; murder at the hands of some idiot; and of course one of the preferred endings for those into self abuse and humiliation, suicide. ENJOY! Since you are like a true alcoholic, you cant tell you are sick and believe you are well and have it under control, there is no point in suggesting medical and mental help. After all your very damaged mind believes you are well and doing the best you can possibly do. May God bless your soul.
FEEDBACK ENDS

I've got to be honest, but this feedback really hurt. Am I taking it too personally? Is it discrimination based on my own personal fetish? I'm sorry, but I personally think, how dare someone--on THIS website of all places--attack my lifestyle? I received a similar post on my previous story, but decided to let it go, because I received a lot of positive feedback as well. This person was not even courageous enough to leave their handle so that I could respond to them.

So what do you think? Am I being too sensitive? I'd appreciate any responses.

Hugs & Kisses,
Gethsemane

 

[carsonshepherd]

Some people have a problem distinguishing between fantasy and reality.

It's a personal insult, nothing more than flaming, not constructive criticism. Ignore it. *pats you*

 

[museofdragon]

That bit of drivel says much more about the poster than i does about you or your story. If they found it so sick, whey did they read it all the way down to where you post feedback? There will always be judgemental people, who will think that anything they do not understand is sick and twisted.

The best we can do is ignore them. Pity we can't vote them out of the gene pool, though. Or at least vote them off the internet.

gentle hugs,

muse

 

[Chantilyvamp]

*hugs* Just ignore it hon. There will always be someone that doesnt agree with the way some of us write. Having said ignore it I would say had I found that on my story I probably would have gotten pissed off before ignoring them.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

The reader is a troll...

I have had such feedback on some of my stories...and as Muse said it says much more about the them than you.

Be a duck, let it roll right off your back. Ignore it.

 

[kendo1]

There are quite a few readers out there who think that the stories posted here are real, just as some believe that soaps are true life.

I worry that these people are allowed to breed unchecked.

Keep writing.

Ken

 

[RedHairedandFriendly]

*hugs* to you.

Don't take it personally. I know that is easier said then done. I still feel the sting when someone flames me for no reason but they think they know me and they don't. The worst feedback I have ever received was one telling me to kill my children and then myself because I gave women a bad name. A year later I got the same feedback on the same story, so obviously it was just a troll (a mindless, dickless, sexless idiot) who doesn't like me or just picked me to torment for a while. I think the story dealt with some BDSM or something another. I honestly don't remember anymore.

I hope this one idiot, and the several that will follow you off and on as you write don't deter you from writing. Stay with it, especially if it is something you enjoy doing.

~ Red

 

[Angelique_Coquine]

I agree with the above posters. Do your best to let it roll off your back.



On a side note, you could add a link to your signature to help the rest of us find your work. Copy this: http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=793266&page=submissions , click on 'User CP' (upper left side of screen), click on 'Edit Signature' (under 'Settings & Options' on the left side of screen), paste in the box, and then click 'save signature'.

 

[rgraham666]

Just a troll. Like rats they're annoying and you can't get rid of them.

Laugh at them. Pity them. They deserve no more.

 

[jomar]

The more you write the more they'll amaze and amuse you. Don't let them get to you - the trolls just don't get it.

 

[Gethsemane]

Thanks everyone...it's nice to have support. I'm usually pretty good with criticism, and as I said, if it were honest analysis I would have absolutely no problem with it. I know I am still a very new writer...in any genre...and am always interested why someone did or did not like my story.

<gasp> Redhaired...I can't believe that someone said that to you!! What a slimeball!! It's crazy how people get off on personal attacks like that.

And what's more, as you have all said, there is a MAJOR difference between fantasy and reality. In my stories I make no pretence that this is a fantasy world...if real life were that exciting we wouldn't need writers!

 

[Guest]

Oh Hun... I have been there.. I think anyone that has been here for awhile eventually gets a troll so bad that it takes their breath away...

I have had my share

Like another said.... let it roll

 

[R. Richard]

The first key to understanding the negative comment is the name of the commenter: anonymous.

A troll had nothing better to do and decided to flame you. Not only does the critcism have nothing to do with writing, the troll did not even have the decency to leave a point of contact so that you could at least find out specifically what triggered the burst of hate. Was it one specific word? Was it the use of many words? Was it a particular combination of words?

 

[Diamond_Girl]

The trolls are often difficult to deal with. I've been flamed both for my stories and my trolls using alts to insult me in my threads and by PM. If they do it in the forums, I laugh out loud, reply how pathetic I think they are and thank them sincerely for giving me something to post in the "What Made You Smile Today?" thread on the Playground.

I haven't gotten anything too terrible on my stories, though I've certainly been trolled by anonymous chicken shits. Someone did send anonymous feedback to DiamondJim, my BF/co-author, calling me a whore. We are 99.9% positive it was an ex-BF. Obviously, it upset DJ waaaay more than it did me.

*Hugs* Hang in there, and remember the positives. They're what keep us going.

 

[BlackShanglan]

And don't you just love the ending? The vile little troll does everything possible to be offensive and hurtful, and then ends with a sanctimonious little "may God bless your soul." That lad really needs a hoofprint up his backside.

But yes, what the others said. This is clearly a troll - someone's whose own personal and idiosyncratic dislikes you've managed to wander into, and who cannot distinguish between things he or she personally doesn't care for and things that should be publically excoriated. I wouldn't lose sleep over it. Some people actively enjoy beng nasty, and they look for excuses for it. In its own bizarre, twisted little way, I imagine that your troll actually enjoyed itself.

Shanglan

 

[Diamond_Girl]

Another thing...

There's a writer who frequents the PG who has her own personal troll. She does LOTS of audio stories, and when this guy flames her stuff, she politely thanks him for listening to ALL 13 minutes of the story. He'll attack her for something that happened in minute 11 of 13. Try to enjoy the malicious delight in knowing that, for all the crap this troll spewed, they devoted "x" amount of minutes out of his/her life reading your story.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Yeah, what they said.

And, what amuses me about the trolls is that they have the audacity to read your story all the way through before passing judgement. I think it's always really a case of protesting too much. "Omg, you made me feel dirty! It's all your fault!"

 

[Diamond_Girl]

Yeah, what they said.

And, what amuses me about the trolls is that they have the audacity to read your story all the way through before passing judgement. I think it's always really a case of protesting too much. "Omg, you made me feel dirty! It's all your fault!"

LOL!

"I feel like a naughty little slut after reading your story and want to go fuck a cucumber, and it's all your fault!" *Said in pouty little girl voice*

Uh oh! But what if the troll is a guy? Oh, well. He might still want to fuck a cuke.

 

[OhMissScarlett]

LOL!

"I feel like a naughty little slut after reading your story and want to go fuck a cucumber, and it's all your fault!" *Said in pouty little girl voice*

Uh oh! But what if the troll is a guy? Oh, well. He might still want to fuck a cuke.

I get that a lot from the guys who read my stories.

 

[Stella_Omega]

That comment was all about its author, and had nothing to do with your story. That happens a lot, with both positive and negative feedback.

It's actually a compliment, in that the reader was able to lose himself (or herself) in the story and put aside their critical thinking facilities (not always a difficult proposition for some people) and forgot that the story was only that.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Oooh. Ms. Scarlett is under me. Not that I look down upon her of course. In fact, I'm just posting to get her on top of me. With Stella.

 

[impressive]

What they all said ... with an added: Welcome to the AH!

 

[Stella_Omega]

Oooh. Ms. Scarlett is under me. Not that I look down upon her of course. In fact, I'm just posting to get her on top of me. With Stella.

Pony ride!

 

[OhMissScarlett]

Oooh. Ms. Scarlett is under me. Not that I look down upon her of course. In fact, I'm just posting to get her on top of me. With Stella.

I just had this mental image of Stella and me riding a big black horse down the beach. Aww, romantic.

 

[Stella_Omega]

I just had this mental image of Stella and me riding a big black horse down the beach. Aww, romantic.

Would you like to sit in front?