Reviewing stories and sockpuppets

[lady_karelia]

I've written 600 words today, so don't give me glares, okay?

Lately, whenever I've felt the need to procrastinate and couldn't find a story to get sucked into, I took to reading reviews of stories by new authors. And I noticed that those who leave a not so positive review are usually the ones who don't have stories on either Ashwinder or The Petulant Poetess. And I'm not talking about constructive criticism here, either. I mean basically bitch arse highly subjective opinions often written in a rather patronising way. Something like "The subject matter is far too complex for a one-shot, you really need to elaborate on the backstory" or "I really don't like song fics" or "This is way too angsty!" I mean, never mind that I thought the first accusation was utterly ridiculous, the second story stated right at the beginning that the inspiration for the story came from a song, and the third one was in the category of angst. What really gets me is that some people seem to wait for a new author and then they lash out.

I know that one of this kind of reviewers has been known to be the bane of some archive admins. Are they just vindictive? As in "Well if I can't get into the archive, I'll simply foulmouth anyone who can" kind of thing. It's a well enough known fact that fanfic authors and new authors don't have the linguistic freedom that a lot of authors do. We don't get away with omitting a comma just to keep the flow going. We don't get away with spelling 'headmaster' once uncapsed and the next time capsed. With a good beta, we don't even get away with screwing up the timeline of our stories. We are required to fanatically follow the rules of the English language, and I'm not even talking about those archives who beta-read instead of simply admin'ing a story before validating it. It is a generally accepted standard that if your story does not follow the general rules of the English language it won't be validated. And I think that's a good thing. For me at least, it taught me one hell of a lot about writing. Just reading stories on the afore-mentioned archives has improved my vocabulary, writing, grammar, punctuation, you name it. Very often these days, I find that books don't do that any more. Have you read a fiction lately? How many typos, non-sentences, lacking commas, superfluous commas have you found? I do not believe in rules in general. I do believe in communication, though. And in order to be able to communicate, we all need to agree on a form of communication that is universally comprehended. Because otherwise, that communication goes down the route of the panda who eats, shots, and leaves. And that would be a damn shame.

Another related issue that comes to mind is the sockpuppet in archives. I read one author's profile who actually proclaimed that she has a different ID that she uses to review for whatever reason. Now, I can't quite understand it because to me, it would be way too much effort and a waste of time if I have to keep switching my ID according to whether I read or submit, but that's me. And besides, I have no reason to hide my real identity because I'm not a nasty person, I'm merely blunt. But it left me wondering if it's a common trend to have another ID under which one leaves reviews so if one leaves a not so benign review it won't backfire. Or whatever other reason.

Thoughts?

Comments

[atlantel.livejournal.com]

For me at least, it taught me one hell of a lot about writing. Just reading stories on the afore-mentioned archives has improved my vocabulary, writing, grammar, punctuation, you name it.

The same for me. Two years ago, I barely spoke English (I did use online translator to read a story (at least to help me) my reviews were what I read before (just a copy) (eg lovely story; keep up the good work etc). I really hated English in high school, at university, I only chose German and so on. Then many years later, I had problems. Now, I'm better, I even write drabbles from time to time, my English is better (I do not use online translators anymore *giggles* I read quickly books and fanfictions in English etc. It's really nice! And I also made great friends here!

. I read one author's profile who actually proclaimed that she has a different ID that she uses to review for whatever reason.

I know that acadia elle has a different ID. I don't know why, when I found out, I thought it was ridiculous. Especially the way she explains her joice in her profile (ash).

[veradee.livejournal.com]

I think it's fair enough to leave a review even if you haven't written anything yourself but there's no need to be rude. With some of these reviews I think that people are just too stupid to read the warnings or have a look at the category.

I see the point of having two ljs if you are active in two very different fandoms or something like that, but it never occurred to me to register with two names at an fanfic archive. That comes across like cowardice - as if someone were afraid to get bad reviews if they themselves left bad ones.

I don't know about the vindictiveness. I don't read enough at TPP to comment on it, but you don't have to be a brilliant writer to be accepted at Ashwinder or the other SH archives. Most of all they seem to care about grammar and spelling, which is easily enough to achieve when you have a beta.

I'd love to say that archiving my meagre amount of stories has helped me to learn more about the English grammar, but since every archive uses different rules, I can't really say so. It's more annoying than enlightening in my opinion.

[juli-min.livejournal.com]

I'm with you as far as nasty pointless reviews go. A while ago I had someone write me tons of mails just to tell me that he didn't like my story and that he thought a German shouldn't be allowed to mess with English literature.

I take the time to read the reviews to stories I like and I'm glad that most people at Ashwinder and the Petulant Poetess seem to be encouraging and not hurtful and nasty.

It's mostly on FF.net where I find very rude comments. If the story states that it is based on a song or some challenge and people complain about it I always think they are bitchy on purpose.

And yes fanfiction taught me a lot about punctuation. I still make mistakes but that's what you have betas for.

As for mistakes in published fiction. One of my favorite books includes some of the funniest typos in the world. I know they are typos because they were corrected in the paperback.

[ellaselenelupin.livejournal.com]

I can't understand people who leave nasty reviews. I mean, they obviously don't like the story, but they take the time to read the whole story and then write a review, too?

And having two accounts at archives seems a bit weird for me. As a newbie, you love all reviews and appreciated them; especially if it's constructive criticism. But if I, as a newbie, receive a great review from... let's say notsosaintly, it means the world to me.
When you get a review from an experienced, established and really good author, this review is really, really important. Well, at least for me. But if this author leaves her reviews under another name, it's just a review like all the others for me. I would be happy about the great review, but I don't have the thrill, pride and yes gratification that an author like notsosaintly likes my story; and also thinks it's good.

It's so hard to express my point in English. Wow, what a great transition to the next topic. My English was always rather good, but my grades boosted up after my three weeks in New Orlans and since then my English was almost always above average.
But I do noticed that my English got even better after I started reading fanfiction. I think more about what I want to write, especially punctuation and often syntax. I really made some progress after I discovered moderated archives. When I now read stories at "free" archives I cringe at the mistakes some authors make -even though they could avoid some of these mistakes by using a spellchecker- mistakes I would have overlooked a year ago. Okay, this last sentence reads a bit strange, but I lost my train of thoughts along the way. LOL!

*shows off new yummy Remus icon*

[larilee.livejournal.com]

I'll agree with you that I do believe there are some people who deliberately treat new authors poorly. The saddest thing I have seen is that some of them are treated like that by 'established authors'.

There have been a few new authors who impressed the crap out of me with her first story. You could read it, you can tell at there are some minor flaws, but it blows you away for first story. And then I read the review thread and find these subjective reviews that must be hurtful. But they walk that fine line between a flame and a constructive review by offering something nice with their criticism. And it's usually something stupid like: "You've had a few typos and some canon problems. You need a good beta to help smooth these over. This is a nice little tale, especially for a first attempt at trying to tell a story and I think if you keep at it, you'll write something good some day."

I'm actually quoting from a review I received. I won't say I'm established, but I have been around the archive once or twice. And I have one story that I'm very proud of and it's probably the best fan fiction I'll ever write. For a while, I sent it around to different archives where I was not known, just to see what people who didn't know me thought of it. You see, I've had it said that I only get reviews because people know me and I really wanted to test that theory. Most of the reviews echo things the people who do know me had to say, mostly extremely positive. But a couple of times, however, I received reviews like this from established writers at those sites.

I think sometimes people get jealous of new writers, especially, as you pointed out, if they couldn't get their story on the archive or if they're not capable of writing. I read at a lot of Yahoo groups and noticed recently that the people who were mostly negatively opinionated seldom had stories out on the Internet. And sometimes, I think there's a bit of jealousy from writers who do make it on the archives.

And I'll never understand having a sock puppet, especially if you link the two together and give the excuse that you don't any one to feel obligated to read you. I've never left a review hoping that someone would read one of my stories or review me. I've never worried that someone could flame me because I left a less than squee review. I do tend to hold my tongue more in Yahoo groups. :-) But my icon is certainly getting a workout today.

[queenp71.livejournal.com]

From a "non-author" (translation, I've only ever posted at grangersnape100), I have tried to be supportive when I read stories. As an educator, I know the value of positive reinforcement even when there are problems; therefore, I strive to make reviews as positive as possible. Usually, if I have an issue, I'll say something like "I'm enjoying the way you have brought the emotions out for the characters. However there are several small things that need to be addressed. You used there instead of their when you said....Again, I've enjoyed what I've read and would like to see more." However, I've never been intentionally nasty. And I don't see the point in having a second ID just for leaving reviews. I have two different IDs, but that is only b/c of a hacker incident on ONE archive so I use my queenp ID where possible and mpoe71 on the other archive...

Very often these days, I find that books don't do that any more. Have you read a fiction lately? How many typos, non-sentences, lacking commas, superfluous commas have you found? I think this is because they are moving away from using real people for the editing and are relying on computer programs to do it for them. Unfortunately, programs can only do so much...A person can differentiate between their and there and they're while a program just sees that the word is spelled correctly. It's aggravating to me when I see mistakes in a book...but that may just be the teacher in me. I see it as tacit approval for the grammar rules to be ignored.
/rant