Author Topic: Grr.  (Read 5047 times)

Talia

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on: July 01, 2010, 06:23:33 AM
I'm not sure what's with the string of super nasty comments in story feedback lately (or at least, I've percieved such a thing. Maybe its just me), but its upsetting to me.

I wish people would chill out and learn the difference between constructive criticism and being nasty.

(and yes, I realize its mostly the new people doing this, I just needed to bitch. Sorry).

It just really defies civility. Goodness, people.



Alasdair5000

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Reply #1 on: July 01, 2010, 09:00:14 AM
Oh so very, very seconded and thanks, from pretty much everybody behind the scenes, for making this point.  The thing is, to repeat both what I and Dave at least have had to say on more than one occasion recently, having a bad opinion of a story isn't just fine it's inevitable.  Not everyone likes the same stuff, that's why discussion happens, that's what makes them fun.

But.

We've had a lot of comments over the last few weeks which have broken one of the two rules we have here and which have tipped over from surly into flat out bullying.  Some of it's been directed at me, some of it's been directed at others, NONE of it is even a little acceptable.  We have just two rules here, reproduced below:

1. Be civil and respectful.

That's our Big Rule. Let's give some examples.

Insulting somebody?  Then you're breaking The Rule.  Knock it off.  Trolling?  That would be in violation of The Rule, too.  Quit it.

Disagreeing with somebody?  Posting about how much you disliked a story or disagree with someone else's perpsective of the story?  Well, that depends.  Are you being an asshole about it?  No?  Then all is well.  Feel free to voice any opinion you may have, just keep it clean.

Simple, right? That's our only major rule on these boards. You can read more into The Rule like be respectful and polite to others, don't spam, don't post images of pornographic or NSFW material (or, if you must, put it behind a link with a disclaimer), etc. But really, it all boils down to being respectful.

Examples of bad behavior:
This author has always written sappy, below average work.  Why editors haven't figured this out yet is beyond me.
The author clearly suffered from a bad break up and wrote this to cope.
The reader sounds like they have a clothes pin on their nose the whole time.  Tell them to breathe or edit it out of their recording afterwards if you're able to.
Keep your day job.
You must be running low on submissions.  This story was a heap.
That's not at all what the author is telling us in this story.  You either weren't paying attention or you're letting you're self importance cloud your judgement.
How dare you disagree with my assessment.  You can't even spell correctly.


2. Have fun!

Break rule one, you stop other people following rule two.  Got a negative opinion of a piece?  Brilliant, I've rarely met a group of people more willing to debate and dissect narrative and I always learn something by following story threads.  But please follow rule one.  It's not difficult, it's not proscriptive and it's certainly not much to ask.