Feel the same as everyone... just adding my non-original thoughts to the list :)
As for star ratings, I have never given lower than a four - deserved or not - and I personally have never recieved anything below a four (deserved or not LOL). No one wants to come right out and say 'okay, this needs a lot of work' and so we tend to 'play nice', which makes for far less conflict but obviously does not improve story quality.
As for rec sites, I only check out some of the stories recced on the_new_library. I like that one because 1. it gives you the stories that you probably would otherwise never find, and 2. the comm has it's own 'star-rating' system independant of the story's star-rating so you can see what the reccer actually thought of the fic - you get "here's a 8/10 rec" as opposed to "here's a rec, check it out" - AND others who read that rec can also leave a rating on the comm, which IMO gives a better reflection of the possible likability (<-sp?) of the rec.
But as for other rec sites, I don't know about all of them but one in particular I checked out seemed to just be the same authors over and over with a mere few odds and ends scattered inbetween. It came off as more of a site that was created for the sole purpose of a specific group of people saying 'oh, your work is great.' 'Oh, no, no, YOUR work is great.' - I tend to refer to it as a circle jerk. LOL But anyway, after seeing that one I kinda saw no point in checking out other rec sites for fear they'd be the same (until TNL came along). I think I do pretty well finding stories on my own anyway so ~shrug~ .
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As for star ratings, I have never given lower than a four - deserved or not - and I personally have never recieved anything below a four (deserved or not LOL). No one wants to come right out and say 'okay, this needs a lot of work' and so we tend to 'play nice', which makes for far less conflict but obviously does not improve story quality.
As for rec sites, I only check out some of the stories recced on
But as for other rec sites, I don't know about all of them but one in particular I checked out seemed to just be the same authors over and over with a mere few odds and ends scattered inbetween. It came off as more of a site that was created for the sole purpose of a specific group of people saying 'oh, your work is great.' 'Oh, no, no, YOUR work is great.' - I tend to refer to it as a circle jerk. LOL
But anyway, after seeing that one I kinda saw no point in checking out other rec sites for fear they'd be the same (until TNL came along). I think I do pretty well finding stories on my own anyway so ~shrug~ .