On Wed, 04 Dec 1996 05:58:59 +0000 Marisa Price said:
: >I didn't put many explainations why I gave the scores that score. I felt
: uncaring in this.
:
: Then why are you reviewing?
This is a valid point of criticism. If you don't want to help the
author, but just "rank" the fic on some personal scale, You're
bound to hurt somebody's feelings, because then it's not
*constructive* criticism any more.
: If you are going to criticize someone's fic, do it personally, don't post
: it to the list!
Wrong. This list *exists* by definition for the exchange of
criticism of fics - if no C&C is posted to it, it is obsolete.
That means, if you don't want public criticism on your fic, don't
post it here.
: Unless it is USEFUL criticism and not just "Not much of
: anything to give me the urge to read on."
:
: That is just screaming "INSULT INSULT!!!"
That's a whole other kettle of, um, wiggly things with tentacles
and those nasty poison stingers.
The *quality* of C&C varies of course. In Piccolo's case, this
was a simple grading of stories by personal preference, a practice
that I dislike since it provides nothing but an ego-boost to the
authors graded "good" and an insult to the authors graded "bad".
: It all comes down to this: If you can't say anything nice, don't say
: anything at all, or else send it to the person privately.
No. Please don't. This list is for C&C, not praise. C&C is not
always positive and it shouldn't be. Nice or not, it belongs
here.
The rule should be "If you can't say anything USEFUL, don't say
anything at all" You said something similar in your mail, so I
think you'll agree.
Please, Misa, think about what you're saying here: Do you really
want all negative C&C to vanish? Have your stories never once
gotten *better* due to the pointing out of weak spots? No,
negative C&C is necessary AND belongs on the list, where it can be
discussed and opposed by people thinking otherwise.
I am on this list to get a chance to improve my stories. I don't
want it to degrade into a mutual back-slapping-and-praising group.
It's the "This suckz" messages that should vanish, not the ones
saying "I think there's something wrong, and here's how to fix
it..."
Sebastian