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Aug. 10th, 2006 10:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
constance_bSeen quite a few entries on my flist the last couple of weeks about a kerfuffle, which is just a lovely word. I'm not really in the loop fandom gossip wise and I haven't had the online time to follow links and find the sources of the kerfuffles (look, it plurals) and I certainly don't want to get involved in other people's disagreements but I have a thing or too to say about reviews. I'll put it behind a cut because I'm kinda opinionated for a newbie.
The word, to me, means something critical. A book or film review in a paper for instance will mention the good and bad in the piece and generally say whether or not, in the opinion of the reviewer, they are worse reading/watching. A review is a useful thing, a guide for the potential audience. Now I get that feedback is a slightly different case, the only payment an author receives &tc, but surely it should be something more than payment. If people don't feel free to give an honest opinion then how are you supposed to judge how well you've done with your fic? Okay, so some people are so frustratingly stupid you want to beat their brains out with a hammer, by which I mean the people who read fics on Spuffy only sites and then leave reviews saying they don't like Spuffy. And okay, some people are nasty which makes you want to be nasty right back, but that's life. When the spotty boy down the road from me calls me an ugly cow I don't go home and start cutting on myself, I think he's an obnoxious twat. If you put your fic, or your anything, in the public domain you have to be prepared to take it, the alternative is hiding in a box.
That isn't to say I think people shouldn't disagree with, or even rant against, a review but how it gets from an argument to a kerfuffle is beyond me. I don't really understand how someone can be really upset by a bad review, unless it's from someone they admire. And even then, someone taking the time to comment on your fic is a compliment all of itself. I'm too lazy to leave bad reviews, if I don't like a fic I stop reading, as a writer I'm grateful to the people who bothered to correct my American or offer advice and flattered that some people liked my fic enough to keep reading despite the annoyances. If I have a comment from someone who enjoyed my fic then I sit and wriggle with happiness, which is all well and good but achieves nothing. If I have a comment telling me how I could have done better then I go away and (try to) write something better. I've learnt stuff. But still I'd like to know the opinions of the people who didn't like it enough to comment. Maybe other people feel differently but again, how do you get from feeling differently to kerfuffle? And how on earth can you get from any one comment to half of fandom being up in arms?
Opps, did I just insult half of fandom? Lucky my LJ doesn't have a big enough audience for me to cause a kerfuffle of my own. I hate Americans, by the way, and religious people and nonsmokers and cat lovers and anyone who thinks babies are cute. I'm kidding, honestly, I love my fandom. And LJ. People are kind and helpful and supportive and friendly so why give a piss about the ones who aren't. It would be a terrible thing if the internet was a place you had to be afraid to say what you think and it would deny those of us that want to learn to write an invaluable resource.
So I want to make it clear: I love concrit. I also love flat out criticism, opinions that I don't share, opinions that I violently disagree with, arguing, sniping, insults, lurkers, swear words and whispered endearments. And Spuffy. I don't hold to the 'if you have nothing nice to say, keep your mouth shut' adage. ALL comments are welcome on this LJ. If you don't like my fic, say so, please, if you can spare the time to say why even better. Disagree with me, dislike me, I take offence at nothing and it makes the compliments all the sweeter when people feel free to really speak their mind.
The word, to me, means something critical. A book or film review in a paper for instance will mention the good and bad in the piece and generally say whether or not, in the opinion of the reviewer, they are worse reading/watching. A review is a useful thing, a guide for the potential audience. Now I get that feedback is a slightly different case, the only payment an author receives &tc, but surely it should be something more than payment. If people don't feel free to give an honest opinion then how are you supposed to judge how well you've done with your fic? Okay, so some people are so frustratingly stupid you want to beat their brains out with a hammer, by which I mean the people who read fics on Spuffy only sites and then leave reviews saying they don't like Spuffy. And okay, some people are nasty which makes you want to be nasty right back, but that's life. When the spotty boy down the road from me calls me an ugly cow I don't go home and start cutting on myself, I think he's an obnoxious twat. If you put your fic, or your anything, in the public domain you have to be prepared to take it, the alternative is hiding in a box.
That isn't to say I think people shouldn't disagree with, or even rant against, a review but how it gets from an argument to a kerfuffle is beyond me. I don't really understand how someone can be really upset by a bad review, unless it's from someone they admire. And even then, someone taking the time to comment on your fic is a compliment all of itself. I'm too lazy to leave bad reviews, if I don't like a fic I stop reading, as a writer I'm grateful to the people who bothered to correct my American or offer advice and flattered that some people liked my fic enough to keep reading despite the annoyances. If I have a comment from someone who enjoyed my fic then I sit and wriggle with happiness, which is all well and good but achieves nothing. If I have a comment telling me how I could have done better then I go away and (try to) write something better. I've learnt stuff. But still I'd like to know the opinions of the people who didn't like it enough to comment. Maybe other people feel differently but again, how do you get from feeling differently to kerfuffle? And how on earth can you get from any one comment to half of fandom being up in arms?
Opps, did I just insult half of fandom? Lucky my LJ doesn't have a big enough audience for me to cause a kerfuffle of my own. I hate Americans, by the way, and religious people and nonsmokers and cat lovers and anyone who thinks babies are cute. I'm kidding, honestly, I love my fandom. And LJ. People are kind and helpful and supportive and friendly so why give a piss about the ones who aren't. It would be a terrible thing if the internet was a place you had to be afraid to say what you think and it would deny those of us that want to learn to write an invaluable resource.
So I want to make it clear: I love concrit. I also love flat out criticism, opinions that I don't share, opinions that I violently disagree with, arguing, sniping, insults, lurkers, swear words and whispered endearments. And Spuffy. I don't hold to the 'if you have nothing nice to say, keep your mouth shut' adage. ALL comments are welcome on this LJ. If you don't like my fic, say so, please, if you can spare the time to say why even better. Disagree with me, dislike me, I take offence at nothing and it makes the compliments all the sweeter when people feel free to really speak their mind.
