On Thu, 31 Dec 1998 16:54:58 -0500, Nightman wrote:

I think a lot of it's quite good, but I'd recommend you describe
'constructive criticism' slightly differently. I'd say that criticism is
constructive when it points out problems you genuinely feel the story
has, and is phrased sincerely and not in an inflammatory way. It often
is very specific and may have a pointed suggestion, but sometimes it 
points out what you feel is a problem without being able to offer a
specific repair suggestion, or even without being extremely specific
about the problem.

My definition of "constructive" clearly needs some work, as both you
and Ronny pointed out. I agree with you that it doesn't necessarily
mean you need to suggest a specific solution. I'll think about how to
reword that part.

As to the MSTing issue, I wanna say again for the record I personally
don't like them, and think that, per the Mystery Usenet FAQ, MSTers
should always ask first. I notice a LOT of people ask for MSTs and
that's great, but when they don't ask up front, or say 'give me -any-
feedback or comments on this,' you should ask. It's just good manners.

Other people also suggested that there needs to be more on MSTings in
this FAQ. I'll work on that.

I think you should also add in something about the author's asking for
certain kinds of comments. It just seems to me that some commentators
have had a problem with authors only being interested in certain kinds
of comments (especially when the author has expressed what commentary he
wanted as the fic was posted...). For instance, some authors may not
care about spelling errors being pointed out to them because when they
post to the FFML, they aren't at the 'final polish & spellcheck' stage. 

I think I did say something about that. I agree that if an author says
flat out that he/she isn't interested in comments on a certain aspect
of a story, C&Cers should respect that. I hope authors would do this
sparingly if at all, as it may cause some readers to simply delete
their fics unread.

Anyway, sorry I couldn't get more concise with my suggestions and
examples; I hope you can glean something useful from them though. 

I sure did; thanks for your help with this!


Gary