fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2505 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2505 ⌋

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Notes:

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Comment culture is dying. It sucks, but it's reality.

I mean, these days the only "acceptable" reviews to leave are basically praise or gushing praise, even when the author actively requests critique. I hate that so many people's opinions are basically reduced to Kudos, but seeing as that's the only thing they're allowed to express I can't really blame them.

I have mixed feelings on concrit. I mean, obviously you need constructive criticism at a certain point in the process, but I'm not sure a comment on a finished work is the place for that.

When I post a fic to AO3, it's finished. I'm not going to go back and edit the piece based on a comment, no matter how kind and eloquent the critique contained therein might be.

I'm not particularly interested in having a public discussion of a piece's flaws attached directly to that piece. When I see an author explicitly ask for constructive criticism, and I feel moved to give it, I message them privately rather than saddling the public comments section of their work with whatever my crit is. It just seems polite.

For me, constructive criticism isn't about going back and editing that particular piece, but rather providing criticism that the author can take to the next piece. That's why I loved concrit from readers - they're commenting on the 'finished product' and their feedback isn't something I have to explicitly 'address' or edit in this fic, but really helpful to keep in mind for the next one.

And...I guess to each their own? Personally I think it makes the most sense to have that kind of discussion right there, and I also rather find the idea of messaging them in private something they asked for in public to be a little...evasive, I guess? I honestly can't see how it's meant to be "polite" (if anything it's neutral bordering on impolite due to inconvenience), and it feels like a cop-out. But considering the way some people react - including fellow readers (some of the most backlash I have gotten for concrit came not from authors but from other readers who saw my concrit) I can see why you would prefer to message them and avoid that kind of wank altogether.

Yeah, I see your point. I should say that I'm absolutely interested in improving as a writer, and to that end anytime somebody takes the time to help me out I'm almost pathetically grateful, no matter what form it might take.

But it's an open question whether the comments section of a posted fic is an appropriate place for that. I agree that it's an obvious place to put crit, but I don't see what's evasive about messaging a person privately. If anything it's less evasive, since you're directing the crit to the only person who really needs to see it. When you post crit in public, you open yourself to accusations of trying to score points off of pointing out someone's missteps or embarrass them or whatever, whether or not those accusations would be fair. I must admit that I don't see much upside to public critique that's meant to help the author improve.

I think there's a sort of sub-conversation here about nomenclature -- on FF.net comments are called "reviews," and I can't help but feel that that changes the tenor of discussion somewhat. The term "review" feels more explicitly aimed at other readers of the work, whereas comments feel more like messages to the author that happen to be public.

I don't know. It's complicated.

Like I said, leaving a comment in public does open yourself up to a lot of vitriol, so I can see what you would do it...I just don't see that as being a polite thing to do, but merely a defensive/self-protective measure. That said, I liked to encourage discussion of my works, not just between me and readers but amongst my readers, so that's why I feel like a private message is an evasive maneuver - an understandable one, but still evasive.

And oddly enough, for me it's the other way around - I feel like "Review" implies some kind of analysis of a fic that's primarily targeted towards the person who wrote it, and other people seeing it is just incidental. o.O

[ SECRET POST #2505 ]

no subject

I blame that on the death of concrit culture

Re: I blame that on the death of concrit culture

Re: I blame that on the death of concrit culture

Re: I blame that on the death of concrit culture

Re: I blame that on the death of concrit culture