Andy Skuse wrote:

Okay, I have been reading all the comments on this topic, and it looks like
I am definitely in the minority here. No problem with that. I'm here to
learn :)

The feeling was pretty unanimous: pre-readers are a good thing right now.
But what was interesting was that almost everybody who advocated
pre-readers also said that they do so because the list itself wasn't
providing enough C&C.

WHY NOT?

Because intensive commenting is work.  It takes time and creative 
energy from your own fics.  I work over maybe one fic a night on 
average.  That's out of, what, ten? fics being posted in an average day? 
Twenty?  Sometimes I stop commenting at all for a week or so because 
I've got other things on my mind.  Naturally I do my pre-reader fics in 
preference.  I've made a commitment to them, and the people writing them 
have a better chance of actually listening.  There is after all, no 
guarantee that anyone will appreciate the work I put in.  In fact, some 
people are really touchy.  

You want to know what gives you the best chance of being commented on by 
me in detail (barring a pre-reader request)?  A fic segment short enough 
that I can quote it, but long enough that I have something to comment 
on.   That means between 15 and 30 kb.  

Unless I'm a pre-reader for it, I'm not going to do a detailed 
commentary on a 100 kb fic because all that cutting and pasting is 
murder.  I'm not going to comment on fics that aren't word wrapped 
(except to drop a note saying, "this fic isn't wordwrapped so I had 
difficulty reading it).  I'm not going to comment except in a 
perfunctory way on fics that are in attachments (because I can't quote 
attachments.)  I won't even read Word 97 attachments.  I'm not going to 
do a detailed commentary on a fic when I can't find anything wrong with 
it as is.  I'm not going to comment on a fic I've already pre-read.  I 
won't comment a fic which asked people not to comment, and that includes 
people who don't welcome typo/grammar corrections.  Lastly, I'm not 
going to comment on any Dragonball fics.  

Thoughts?

Andy Skuse

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