Why is 'anonymous' feedback so rare?

[Ian Sinclair]

I know many threads on this forum deal with feedback in one form or another. I have requested direct feedback myself on this forum and received a terrific response.

However, I have now had 5 stories posted, and according to this sites own stats, they have together totalled nearly 1/4 million views.

I have received less than 10 anonymous feedbacks.

How can so many people read something, and yet, not be bothered to spend a few seconds saying something about their 'free' reading experience?

Do you think people are embarrassed at reading erotic stories, and don't trust the anonymity of sending comments (maybe they beleive they will leave a tell-tale trace of cookies behind them)?

What do you think?

Ian

 

[Octavian]

Ian

The number of views does not correlate to the number of reads.
It is deemed to be a view as soon as the page is displayed.

You say you have had only 10 anonymous feedbacks.
Does that mean you have had other feedback that was not anonymous?

Octavian

 

[sirhugs]

Wow!

5 stories, 250,000 views? My top stories are only at 30,000 views. I think the total views says something. Of course, it may just be that you give good title.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I have a story with over 150,000 views. I have received a grand total of about 100 feedbacks on it and 600 odd votes.

You're getting a lot of feedback.

The average webgoer will never give the slightest thought to the person who wrote it. Quite a few them don't respect intellectual property and think copyrights are a thing of the past.

*shrugs*

That's the joy of the Internet.

 

[English Lady]

I really am quite ashamed to admit it but i read erotica here for many years before i began wandering the threads and i never used to vote or send feedback on stories.

It has only been since i have been submitting work here myself and reading other authors thoughts and views that i've bothered to vote or send feedback.

Most people just read the stories to get off,and lets face it is hard to write feedback with one hand.....

 

[gauchecritic]

My view/votes/reply ratio is pretty similar to your own Ian (less cos some are from the same person for different stories, is that a fan club?) but not a single one of them is about the writing, just that it/they were hot, made me wet/hard etc.

I think this fact equates well with Muffins view.

So the optimistic view of this situation is that I (or any one with the same feedback) write well enough not to draw criticism but merely slavish praise.

That's how I look at it anyway, but then I AM...

Gauche

 

[randdude]

feedback

I am new to this site, even newer to being "published" on it (2 stories, more in the works) and I love the feedback part most of all. Interesting that my 2 submissions have equal average ratings (4.4) and fairly equal "reads" but one got 10 feedbacks, the other just 1. I asked my 10 responders to let me know what they thought of my other story and several of them did so.

It seems that one of my stories ventured into an area (male/male between straight guys) that struck a chord (or was it a vein?).

And I agree that too many people just read them free and can't be bothered. If it is any consolation, Xblogs is FAR worse. I'm published there as "anonymous" out of once having been fearful that my privacy was at risk.

Anyway, I will look you up, read your stuff, and respond when i have a little time. Please check mine out too!

 

[Singularity]

It's the Category, I Think

I took a peek at Ian's member page. All of his stories are in the ncest category.

Based on my observations, the number of reads that Incest stories get is significantly disproportionate to what the several categories I follow get. They seem to be very, very popular on Lit, more so than the other categories.

I think that the Incest fans swarm over the stories, but apparently few give feedback. Why that is, I can't explain.

Singularity

 

[TechNerd]

story feedback

A few thoughts on the amount/type of feedback.

Most readers are not critics! They "know what they like" but they probably don't have the vocabulary to comment on specifics of style, characterization, etc. "good, bad, makes me wet" may be the limit of their ability to express themselves.

Folks are just not aware of the importance of feedback to the writer. It is, after all, the only "pay" online authors get. I don't think many people have thought about the ecomomics of this type of publication and may think there is some form of payment associated with it.

Never ignore the importance of inertia in human events. Not giving feedback is easier than giving feedback, right?

I am a TechNerd

 

[gauchecritic]

Re: story feedback

Most readers are not critics! They "know what they like" but they probably don't have the vocabulary to comment on specifics of style, characterization, etc. "good, bad, makes me wet" may be the limit of their ability to express themselves.

I am a TechNerd

Rather sweeping statement there for a virgin Tech, however true it may be.

One question sprang to mind. If they haven't the vocabulary to send feedback, how do they read the stories in the first place?

Now if you'd said "don't have the nous/wherewithall/semantics degree to send feedback" I might have not been so

Gauche

 

[jack_straw]

anonymous feedback

I don't generally like anonymous feedback, because most of the anonymous feedback I get is sarcastic and negative, usually along the lines, "you're a moron and your work sucks." Although I guess I should be flattered that they're reading my stuff. Besides, I do like to communicate back w/ those who ID themselves.

 

[hiddenself]

The only times when I do something anonymously is the rare occasion when I'm flaming someone that I'm convinced is an idiot and deserves no better.

All my real feedback is signed, no matter how bad it may be. The problem is that most people find it very difficult to sign a really scathing critique. To a certain degree, it may be cultural. Oh, and don't tell me that "it's crap -- you'd better look for another line of work" is not legitimate "constructive" feedback. Many authors get ecstatic about simple statements like "it's excellent, keep them coming", although it is the same kind of (non)constructive feedback. The only difference is that it's positive.

Now, all that applies to people who can string a couple of sentences together in the first place. I seriously doubt if most people can do so -- it's one thing to be able to read something, a very different thing to be able to intelligently form and articulate a critique.

Sign me an elitist.

hs

 

[TechNerd]

feedback vs criticism

"Now, all that applies to people who can string a couple of sentences together in the first place. I seriously doubt if most people can do so -- it's one thing to be able to read something, a very different thing to be able to intelligently form and articulate a critique. "

Quoted from hiddenself



I will take that as a second to my comment/opinion stated yesterday

 

[NorthwestRain]

I feel that as writers, we should all endevour to provide non-anonymous feedback for every story we read.
Let the readers read and wank, let us help each other to improve.