The need for more honest reviews

[CJ Crawley]

I'm new to the forum but I've been commenting on the stories for a while now...but most of my comments haven't seen the light of day. Generally I find that if you write, "Wow! Great job!", "Really fantastic piece of writing! Keep it up!", "OMG, that was like toootally AWESOME..." - you get the drift - the comment will unexceptionally be published. Say something slightly negative...the comment disappears into the ether.
I feel this is unfair and irrational - if comments are allowed then negative as well as positive ones should be published without discrimination.
Also, and more importantly, the author gets a fairly accurate take on his particular effort if negative views are permitted; he/she may not like the negative ones, but at least it gives them some idea of how to proceed in future...more of the same, or a change of approach.
This is so self-evidently obvious that (to me) it hardly merits articulating.
What does everyone think? (negative views are allowed!)

[Waylander]

I think that you're absolutely right about there being no point in leaving feedback unless it's honest and fair, because there's nothing to gain by just consistently praising every story. Nobody likes criticism but if delivered in the right manner, it is the best way to learn. As a writer you will never be able to please everybody otherwise we'd all be writing best sellers, but it does help to hear a wide spectrum of perspectives about your writing.

I have always tried to leave honest but positive comments, and I hope they've always be construed that way. Unfortunately different people react badly to negative comments however well intentioned. Some time back I left what I thought were fair comments on a piece of writing and the writer took it so badly that they sought out an old piece of mine that had made the winners' circle and left some really negative comments about it, just I'm afraid out of spite it would seem as all the other comments that had been there some time, were very positive. Had the comments been left at the time I would have understood and taken them on board but I'm afraid these were just the result of an immature reaction. I also had unpleasant e mails from another one who took umbrage at what I said. So I can understand why people feel reluctant to leave anything but positive comments, but would agree with you that as writers we will only grow if we are prepared to take the good with the bad in the spirit in which they are offered.

Having said that, I stand by my comments for December's stories all of which in my opinion were very good, although I would have put them in a completely different order.

What do others think?

Jeff

[PWhite]

Well if it’s negative but constructive then I don’t see a problem and I would agree that such comments should absolutely be published and are just as valuable (if not more so) to the author than positive ones.

But if it’s just bashing, then no I don’t see the point in publishing it on Spinetinglers

To clarify, to my mind this should be  acceptable:

While the story did have some good points I found the characterisation weak and the plot a bit hard to follow, as such it didn’t engage my interest as much as it might have. Also, it did strain credulity a bit in places, I mean why would anyone go back to the house? It didn’t make sense to me.

Whereas this should not:

Man this story sucked! All the characters were stupid idiots and I couldn’t tell what was going on half the time. Boring as hell. Reads like it was written by a ten year old.

[Waylander]

So it was you who left the comments on my story, Peter!!

Only joking - I agree entirely with your depiction.

Jeff

[Nemi]

I guess the hardest thing about leaving written critisism is that the person reading it can't hear the innotation of the writer.  What you may think is a perfectly acceptable thing to say could come across as sh!ty to the other person. 

I have yet to leave any negative feed back, there have been stories I didn't like but you can't just write - "nah didn't like that and here is why"

In a strange way it would be nice to see some more "constructive" feedback - I can't believe everyone who reads these stories agree with the editors who chose them. 

Of course this could all change if I get a story submitted and it gets a lot of negative feedback

[steven the git]

I think that is a change they made after some nasty interaction. Back when I was about more (2007 especially) comments went up fine and many could be quite cutting. There was also a particular writer who blew his nut over the bad reviews he got (they were deserved and he always does that).

Personally, I think any feedback, good or bad, needs to be constructive and explained. Why do you love/hate it, why does it work/fail. As the people behind Spiney have told me and others, this place is to help writers develop, so they need true feedback, not just comments.

So for me that's a shame if comments are being stopped. Even blunt criticism is mroe helpful than none. Still, I can understand why negative comments are being policed.

[Pennywise]

Generally I find that if you write, "Wow! Great job!", "Really fantastic piece of writing! Keep it up!", "OMG, that was like toootally AWESOME..." - you get the drift - the comment will unexceptionally be published. Say something slightly negative...the comment disappears into the ether.

I completely agree. I would be very frustrated if I were to submit a story and valid feedback was deleted in order to make me feel better.

What would really make me feel better is feedback that would allow my next story to be an improvement on the last one.

[JLdeGarie]

The biggest problem I'm having with leaving feedback is that, apparently, you can't copy and paste from the stories. So I can't print the story off in an easy to read format (copy-pasta into Word, and then a bit of reformatting) and I can't copy and paste text into reviews. *sigh* Maybe the problem is that I have a hard time leaving a short review...    I like to include details and examples, and the style doesn't seem to be compatible with this site. Not knocking the site - I generally quite like the site design - it's just not really geared towards feedback and interaction on posted stories.

[PMD 1]

Over these last few days I have been looking at the content of the various platforms and in particular the style of wording and comments used.  I am quite taken aback by the literary prowess of the individuals concerned and the maths involved in fulfilling ones aspirations in becoming a recognised published author. If one truly wants to be something and devotes time and effort to that end will it at some time all magically come together or must one be blessed with a modicum of luck in achieving their dream.