rusty_halo | Work is boring

I hate people who use my site to leave nasty reviews. Not negative-but-fair reviews, that's fine. Debate and discussion and disagreement are all important, as long as the debate is fair and doesn't descend into personal insults.

But *nasty* reviews, where they insult the writer, or demand that the writer write to the reviewer's own personal specifications -- those piss me off so much. Because not only is it rude and horrible and casts all fic readers in a bad light, but they're using *my* review system, that I put so much effort into building, to insult the wonderful writers of stories that I carefully chose for my site. And they're insulting stories that I spent all this time archiving and building a database for. AND, they're hurting the feelings of REAL PEOPLE over a piece of fiction. It feels like a personal violation, because they're using *my* site to spread their stupid immature self-important egotistical venom.

Yeah. I really hate those people.

(I was trying to figure out why this upsets me so much, and that's what I came up with).

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Smooch! You're a sweety.
I suppose I'm not the only one who got flamed, huh? Well, don't worry about me, you saw in my LJ that I took that review with a pinch of salt. But I do feel sorry for people who are not as thick-skinned.
Mind you, I'd probably throw myself under an oncoming truck if someone really articulate said the same thing (with fewer exclamation points and a fancy vocab)... ;-)

There were three today (well, two were from the same moron, but still). I'm glad you didn't take the one you got too seriously.

I know that, intellectually, I'd just laugh and dismiss something like that. But emotionally, it'd probably hurt my feelings a lot. On those (rare) occasions when I've done something creative, I've been very protective and sensitive about it. So I can't blame an author for being upset, and I wish reviewers would take that into consideration. (I mean, it's not even like they paid for a bad product; it's FREE! No one is tying them down and forcing them to read it.)

I'm sorry that you're having to deal with that on your site. It's like you built something beautiful, then some jerk spray paints graffiti all over it. I hope you aren't too bummed about it.

I've always found that the stories you've chosen to archive are extraordinarily well-written.

Is it possible to delete the venomous ones? I mean, it's your site, you shouldn't have to host ignorant egotistical vitriol ...

Or is there an easy way for you to have a quick gander at the reviews posted each day? If you're going to have to hunt for them, it's just more work for you, which would be a further burden for something you shouldn't have to worry about in the first place.

Oh, I do definitely delete the venomous ones. But sometimes the authors see them before I can get to them, and sometimes they're not explicitly profane or anything, so I feel like maybe I should leave them.

I have them all emailed to me as soon as they're posted, but I can't check my email 24/7. And even when I do delete them right away, I'm still just offended that someone would even dare to use my site for something like that. That someone would even *think* it's okay to throw a whiny fit or to leave a rude review for an author who is writing for FREE just because the writer didn't happen to write what the reviewer wants.

Well, yes. What part of "volunteer work" don't they get?

Or how about "you want another story? Write one yourself!"

These people are probably twelve, of course ...

I think there's no reason you should host anything that makes you uncomfortable. It doesn't have to be profane to be venomous. But what a shame that you have to waste time hesitating, thinking about it, and seeing it gumming up your site ...

Any way you can ban people who do this more than once?

This is what stops me from sending my fic into the big wide world. I posted a link to one of my pieces on a (non-Buffy) bulletin board, asking for beta reading, and someone replied that it 'ought to be hit with a hammer'. I can take constructive criticism - and even non-constructive 'hated it' remarks - but that was just mean. Ow.

It's amazing, the things that people will say to each other online. I sure hope they don't talk to others like that in person!

I'm sorry you had to deal with a nasty review. I really don't understand what motivates bashing like that. Constructive criticism helps to improve the writer's ability, but bashing ... ? What good is it? I guess it feeds into a bullying personality type or something ... feel good by making others feel bad. :(

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