fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3380 ]

[ SECRET POST #3380 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3380 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 031 secrets from Secret Submission Post #483.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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05. http://i.imgur.com/s16fhVY.png

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting."

There's no reason other than stroking your own ego to say more.

I don't think that's always true, and I think that's kind of an unfair assertion tbh

Okay. I think it sounds like OP is fighting the urge to feel superior and call out -- granted, gently so -- a reviewer for reading their fic wrong.

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ketita - 2016-04-06 00:33 (UTC) - Expand

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diet_poison - 2016-04-06 01:25 (UTC) - Expand

Not OP-- I had a reader scold me for that very response. "I put so much work into leaving a thoughtful comment, and I get this generic response?"

(Said comments contained so many tangents I was never sure whether the reader liked the story--or in fact had actually read it. I am grateful to have any readers but I wasn't totally sorry when that one quit commenting. )

For that reviewer, I'd have no problem then giving a be careful what you wish for and responding appropriately. But there's no reason for an initial reply that's anything like "you're doing it wrong," and if that's all you have to say, best to be generic until a response like the one you describe comes up.

I'd respond to that with a statement along the lines of "Your comment was something I felt did not feel a need to engage in a debate over so I gave a simple response of thanks instead."

Because I look at replies of "Thanks for reading" to review/comments of mine and think that (as I said before) is probably their underlying reason. It is certainly a frequent reason why I end discussion threads around here with no response sometimes.

That's a really interesting take on events! Thanks for reading and commenting.

Ah yes, I used to get these "reviewers" too back in the day. And by back in the day, I meant the LJ day when everyone could see all your comments and replies, so I always worried about wording my responses as neutrally as possible so some other reader seeing them wouldn't think I was equally boneheaded.

You don't have to reply to them at all. The way I see it... readers only continually leave comments because they know that the author will reply to them or maybe they feel like their input is wanted.

Unless you're one of those authors that has to thank every single comment to inflate you're comment count, you don't have to reply to everyone.

I wouldn't say that everyone who thanks every reviewer is doing so just to inflate their comment count. That might be the case with some people, yeah, but I think for the most part saying "thank you" is an automatic thing for a lot of people when they get comments. If I were on a site like that, I would thank everyone simply because I appreciated them taking the time to say something.

And I'd hate to make people feel like their reviews weren't worth replying to if all they say is, "This was awesome! Loved it!" and don't go any further than that.

Fuck you. I reply to every review to be polite; it has nothing to do with review count. Jag-off.

Ooh, someone's defensive.

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(Anonymous) - 2016-04-06 01:25 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2016-04-06 04:30 (UTC) - Expand

I had a commenter like that once. They never commented publicly, just through PMs, and I did try to be nice and generic with my replies initially, but when they kept conversing and showed that they clearly had zero reading comprehension skills, I gave up and stopped replying. I mean, the things they came up with were literally the exact opposite of what I had written and to this day I still have no idea how they drew the conclusions they did from my story.

Is there a way to steer the discussion in such a way that it highlights what you were trying to get across? You can gently respond/say something like "actually, I was going for X" or "I hope people were surprised by ____ as a plot twist!"

Are you sure they're even a native speaker? I got one reviewer I'm pretty sure isn't, but I still really appreciate it. I even got one review in Spanish. But really, it's all cool.

Just say thanks and move on?

So native-speaker reviews are superior to non-native? Wow, I shouldn't bother you with my non-native 'fuck you' because then you'll feel the need to patronize me and tell me that it was not what you meant.

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(Anonymous) - 2016-04-06 06:56 (UTC) - Expand

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kallanda_lee - 2016-04-06 07:17 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2016-04-06 09:50 (UTC) - Expand

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mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com - 2016-04-06 16:46 (UTC) - Expand

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(Anonymous) - 2016-04-06 20:53 (UTC) - Expand

I had a reviewer call a really fucked up sex scene romantic, and I was just... "Uh, thank you?" And then I checked with some writers whose judgement I trusted to make that that the issue really was the reviewer and not me failing to hit the mark. After that I noticed the reviewer regularly failed to understand things, so now I smile a little because she's... not a comprehensive reader, but she's still sweet and enthusiastic so I thank her and move on.

While I get the feeling of wishing some people would just STOP, as long as they're not being malicious just smile, nod, and move on. Trying to explain anything is not going to accomplish anything.

If you absolutely MUST comment back, just say "Thanks for the review!" and leave it at that.

Well, if you respond to every review except theirs, that's a pretty solid (if passive-aggressive) hint. Or, you could just say "Glad you liked it," and move on.

Congratulations -- you've made it far enough for your work to be misinterpreted! I'm pretty sure that's a milestone of some sort. I think the next step is for a high school lit class to analyze it and imagine symbolism all over it. You wouldn't, by any chance, have included a river or other body of moving water in your story? Rivers always symbolize something...

There'll always be someone who doesn't get it, for whatever reason, but you're better off not responding no matter how tempting it feels, OP.

People reading the work may have a different take on it, than to what you originally proposed. It happens all of the time. Damn, isn't this what fandom is essentially about? I'm sure Lawrence Kazden didn't write the scene between Kylo Ren and Rey to be in any way 'sexual' but there are loads of 'Reylo' shippers out there. I'm sure the Supernatural creators are not going to ever make Destiel happen, but it doesn't stop the fandom from seeing it, in the episodes.

Damn, look at JK Rowling, and the different interpretations people have of her work, even when she has made clear what is canon and what isn't.

Sometimes, I find reviewers seem to be off the mark, with what I'm trying to achieve. I'm just glad they're enjoying it. Sometimes reviewers are kind of 'off the mark' but have interpreted the fic in such a brilliant way, that I start to remodel further chapters, based on their suggestions (which are better than I had come up with).

Sorry, OP but this secret, to me, comes across as a little arrogant. Isn't it good enough that the person is enjoying your fic? Even if they have an entirely different view of it, as the reader, than you are, as the writer?

I had something sort of similar. I wrote a fic where multiple characters respond badly (humorously) to a situation. And most of the reviews had everyone falling over themselves to justify how Fandom Fave's reaction was totally 100% reasonable and the smartest and best reaction and such a nice contrast to everyone else's bad reactions.

Character A: This baby is crying, what do we do? Knock it out?
Character B: No, don't knock it out, put a pillow over it!
Fandom Fave: Throw it down the garbage chute!
Character D: Feed it potatoes, babies like potatoes, right?

Reviewers: Aww, it's so cute how Fave obviously is the only one who knows what to do with a baby! Babies love slides, and the soft garbage will soothe the baby and give it something to play with to make it happy!

Though really, the only reading comprehension fail I get annoyed at is - "This fic was a request for X. I am not taking new requests at this time." "Omg u should write this for me!!!!"

"This is male/male. It's gay. It's really really gay. It's Elton John riding a unicorn over a rainbow so the unicorn can buttfuck another gay unicorn gay."
"OMG I read it and it was GAY! I hate gay stuff! Gross. You should warn ppl"

lol I love this. So many times people just ignore descriptions or any kind of indications in the story. But at least they read it and made time to give feedback.

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