Where have all the reviewers gone

[Marcus]

story feedback
Until last week the dozens of stories I've written over the years were a personal diversion. I came upon this site and was so impressed I decided to jump in the water, so I wrapped up and submitted 2 stories which have been read by an amazing number of people (or at least opened).

I've received exactly one e-mail from a reader, fortunately positive and asking for more stories. I now understand why readers are encouraged to respond as the silence, for me, has been discouraging.

While my stories lack little details like character development (why bother when you have a readership of one - me -since I knew everything about these people already), can they be so bad that only one kind, but obviously unbalance reader responds?

My current story in progress was started last week with the mindset of telling the story to others, but I'm struggling to keep a positive attitude.

Input from anyone would be appreciated.

Chum



You received an email! Wow! That;s probably better than most already. Actually, from my experience you'll probably get more emails than reviews, although I don't know why it's like that.

It really is amazing how few people review the stories, compared to the quantity of 'readers'. It's not as if they have to say anything complex, just a vote would be something!

I hope you keep faith with the site, as there are some good people and real talent here, even if the readership is a bit shy.


:(

[boccaccio2000g]

Chum: I've received exactly one e-mail from a reader, fortunately positive and asking for more stories. I now understand why readers are encouraged to respond as the silence, for me, has been discouraging.

Thanks for raising an issue that concerns many of us.

Yes, it can be very depressing, can't it? My three stories have been opened, some 30,000 times. But I believe I can count the number of reviews on one hand, and the number of individuals who have e-mailed me (some more than once) on the other. Many thanks to all those who have done either.

Perhaps those numbers say more about my stories than the communicativeness of our readership; :-) let's hope not.

But while we authors bemoan our fate, let's also ask ourselves a question -- how many reviews have you and I written? How many e-mails have you and I sent? Almost certainly you've read some stories here that tickled your, um, fancy, right? Did YOU drop the author a line? I've read (at least parts of) a lot of stories here, ranging from great to execrable, and my rate of response isn't a whole lot better than that of my readership. Shame on me.

If we authors alone (I imagine there must be over 100 of us) were each to sit down and pass along kudos to the authors here whose stories we have most enjoyed, (and in some cases inspired us), we'd surely be a happier band, don't you think?

In fact I'm going to check the lists and refresh my memory as to some of my favorite titles and make some comments here tomorrow; why don't you do the same? Why don't we all do the same?

Chum: While my stories lack little details like character development (why bother when you have a readership of one - me -since I knew everything about these people already),

Now that's a defeatist attitude, It seems to me; if you're going to go the trouble of writing at all, why not make your story the best it can be? Not for us, but for yourself. In the final analysis, if you're proud of your story, it shouldn't matter what the rest of us think. No matter what you or I write here, it cannot possibly please all of the varied tastes of our readers; the best we can hope for, I think, is that we REALLY please those who happen to share our own particular taste in erotica.

Finally -- I read one of your stories (forgive me, I read it a couple of days ago and I don't remember the title and I don't think I can exit this screen to check it without losing everything I've typed) and it was a nice effort. Keep up the good work! But, speaking for myself, I'd rather read a few good-to-great stories than a lot of fair-to-middling ones. So if you elect to send in a number of other stories, as I hope you do, take a little extra trouble and make each one the best you can; you'll be glad you did. And so will we.

Cheers,

Boccaccio

[Chum]

Thank you Marcus and Boccaccio for your responses.

I see what you mean about e-mails outnumbering reviews as two more encouraging messages arrived today, but no reviews. The message I got before my post on the forum didn't specify which of my two stories they liked (hopefully both), but the two today complemented "Truth be told," the shortest, and what I thought poorest of the two. Since the much longer (and I thought better) "Families compete," has had more readers overall, it is some indication that an author can't necessarily be a good judge of his own work in terms of broader appeal.

My comment about my lack of character development that Boccaccio mentioned is one of several areas for improvement that I am working on now that my goal is to write stories for the enjoyment of readers other than myself. I admit to getting lazy over the years of off and on writing for just me, and the two stories on site were written, but for rather hastily drafted endings, before deciding to join your ranks. One day I had never given a thought to publishing. Two days later, after discovering this fine site, I became so nervously enthused with the idea that I felt compelled to jump in right away, rather than holding off till a new story (or substantial revisions) could be completed.

My biggest fear now (with my current story in progress at 150K and the end barely in sight) is that I may beat the interest out of future readers with too much explanatory content in my newfound zeal to create living people and clearly imagined surroundings in the minds of my readers.

Chum

[boccaccio2000g]

As I indicated yesterday, I gave some thought last night as to which of the stories posted here I had found most memorable.

To other authors -- let me preface my remarks by saying that I spend a lot more time writing these days than I do reading -- if I don't mention any of your stories it does not necessarily mean that I didn't like them. I may very well not have read them, or not enough of them to give them a fair reading. There are a number of story codes which are red lights for me, and it wouldn't matter if the stories were Nobel Prize material -- it would not have occurred to me to open them

In no particular order --

The Viddler Stories -- I prefer stories told from the male point of view with energetic villains. And Viddler's vivid villains are more vicious than most. The quality of his stories varies, and there is a certain samenness to many of them -- you probably shouldn't read more than a few at a time -- but if you're into stories with dominant males, and like his method of telling stories through dialogue rather than through description, he's first rate. One of the few authors who, upon occasion, I have consciously tried to emulate -- in his case by employing dialogue to convey erotic content. There are "temptation scenes" in several of my stories -- for example Chapter XIII "Tempted into Cruelty" in the Jade Pavilion Book II. A belated thanks to Viddler, the master of this technique.

Tent of the Bedouin by Bedouin -- This, on the other hand, is a story with marvelous descriptions, especially at the beginning. I thought that the energy flagged somewhat halfway through (a not uncommon weakness in our genre). An excellent job of creating an exotic world. In this regard, Faibhar's stories deserve commendation as well; the erotic content in them doesn't appeal that much to my particular tastes, but the scene-setting is usually excellent.

Neighborhood Sex and Torture Club Parts I and II -- These two lengthy stories share a sexual energy that one rarely finds. The author uses descriptive language to imbue both stories with considerable erotic intensity. Both stories are quite heavy, and thus probably not to everyone's taste, and are saddled with the flaw (to my taste) that the victims are enthusiastically (and unrealistically) consensual. But even given what I would view as those structural "flaws", they are very well written indeed in terms of sado-erotic 'punch'.

(I hasten to add that in real life all "victims" should be consensual -- the dark non-consensual corners that I (we) explore here should remain the stuff of fantasy)

Librarian in Bondage -- this isn't Hemingway, but parts of this story really touched my prurient instincts. Thinking about this, it strikes me that one's frame of mind when reading an erotic story can play a much greater role in one's evaluation of it, than would be true with a conventional book, film etc. It's not unusual for me to read a story, and react with a 'WOW!' and then revisit it later only to be disappointed by its more or less obvious weaknesses. We are all writing on the quicksand of our readers' psyches, it seems to me.

Tom Justin has posted two stories here -- "Lady Ashley's Penance" was the name of one; the other one slips my mind. They are very similar -- don't read them back-to-back -- but have historical settings, which I like, and very nice descriptive language.

One afterthought -- I really enjoyed a story ("Coldwater") ? by Kallie Thomas (I hope I have that name right) -- an excellent psychological study. I intend to read more of her stories.


Yesterday I mentioned that I had read a story of Chum's whose name i couldn't remember - it was "Truth Be Told"



Chum: My biggest fear now (with my current story in progress at 150K and the end barely in sight) is that I may beat the interest out of future readers with too much explanatory content in my newfound zeal to create living people and clearly imagined surroundings in the minds of my readers.

Been there; done that. (Beat the interest out of readers, I mean)

In this forum, where there is so much competition for the reader's eye and libido, I suspect that it's very important that the first page or two be vivid. If one doesn't grab the reader's attention quickly, another author will. But perhaps I am unusually impatient in that respect -- comments, anyone? My suggestion would be to bring your expository material in gradually, rather than front-loading it into the first chapter; flashbacks are useful for this purpose.

By the same token I have come to think that the synopsis is very important in terms of attracting readership - or at least 'openership'. Especially for a first-time writer.

Continued success,

Boccaccio

[BDSM_Tourguide]

I try to review to any story that I find to be interesting and well-written. In fact, there's one right now that I read yesterday that I forgot to write a review. So, if you impress me with your work, I will let you know about it.

[Tiger]

The number of reivews is pretty low comparing to the number of readers. Here are some numbers: there are average 8000 unique readers who actually open the story text pages. There are over 2000 reviews, over 7000 registered users! And there are still more users registered everyday than the number of reviews written.

It's no surprise to get more email responses than reviews on this site. It may be because it's easier to write an email. But what most people are doing on this site? They read the stories, enjoy it or not, then leave without a trace left. That's a sad fact, especially for you authors.

I am very impressed by boccaccio's opinion: when we blame other readers not writing email/review at all, what did we do! There are over 400 authors here. If we all drop a line to the author after we read the stories, the author would be flooded by emails/reviews.

Anyway, if any of you guys can think of any idea to promote readers to write reviews, please let me know.

Jinn
Webmaster

[Chum]

Jinn said, snip:

Anyway, if any of you guys can think of any idea to promote readers to write reviews, please let me know.

Jinn
Webmaster

How about putting a notice at the end of each story:

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO READER:: If you took the time to read this far we know who you are. You are required to post a review (and an e-mail to the author would be nice, but not required).
WARNING: Failure to follow the above instruction automatically causes server to forward your address to Spam Central with a note that advises you just won the Lottery.

:) JUST MY IDEA OF A JOKE (way too much time on my hands)

Actually, now that I have 4 nice e-mails (I'm running out of frames) I'd be happy if they said which story they liked. Would it be workable to say in the author's note that a reference to the story title would be appreciated?

chum

[Marcus]

And there are still more users registered everyday than the number of reviews written.
That's amazing.

My ideas:

This is what I call 'you know what you should do' syndrome. This is where Person A thinks of an idea off the top of his head in about ten seconds and expects Person B has to spend the next X months carrying out the idea!

First find out why reviews to readership is very low. It is by any standard, even though it is very easy to make reviews.

What can sometimes make reviews difficult is knowing what is a fair points rating. An idea would be to give a better guide to rating. Here's the general idea.

1. Total s**t in terms of content, with writing skills bordering on illiteracy
2. Poor. Doesn't work very well. Poorly written
3. A mediocre story with barely acceptable grammar
4. OK, but lacks any real quality
5. OK, but has some promise, the author could improve it.
6. Somewhat enjoyable. Acceptable writing skills
7. Good. Was worth reading.
8. Very good, in terms of internet fiction. Recommendable.
9. High Quality. Very enjoyable and well written.
10. Excellent. Could compete well with published authors.

Or what about multiple choice comments so people can choose a comment that best reflects their opinion?

[boccaccio2000g]

Marcus has some good ideas there, I think.

There are a few issues that have prevented me from writing more reviews.

As Marcus says, no one is quite sure what an '8' means, for example; a great many of the reviews have been '9's and '10's (too many, by my standards). So if one gives an '8' to a 'very good' story (in Marcus's words) one is in effect, saying that it is less meritorious than all of the inflated '9's and '10's out there. Nothing can be done about the reviews that have already been done (in the past, I suspect, one did not have to register, to review?? -- the old stories have far more reviews than the new ones). But the grades should mean something -- 7 or 8 should be a 'good' score; and 9's and 10's should be reserved for stories that are really outstanding.

Obviously, everyone has his/her own standards as to writing quality, preferences as to subject matter, and concerns as to spelling, grammar, etc -- a story that might excite the heck out of you might bore me to tears or squick me to nausea. So this will never be an exact science.

Most importantly perhaps, the majority of us don't want to hurt someone's feelings; every writer has to start somewhere, and some may have expended a lot of energy producing a work that you or I might tedious. And at this stage in the author's 'career' the result might be the best of which he/she is capable, even thougè there is room for considerable improvement.

Marcus' multiple choice idea has merit, too. There are so many ingredients to writing and virtually no one will excel at all of them, but many will be strong in at least one area; it would be good to give credit for 'A' while suggesting the author needs improvement on 'B'. Some off the top of my head possibilities:

1 Content Gripping; very interesting plot, characters,
Interesting
Didn't even bother to finish it

2 Originality Original settings, characters, action
Only fair
Have seen it all before many times

3 Writing Skills First-rate use of language
Good, readable prose
Fair -- could have been significantly better
Poor -- Syntax, spelling, grammar very weak

4 Erotic quotient Really punched my buttons
Fair -- Liked the idea, but not the execution
Not my cup of tea

5 Sustained interest Read every word; look forward to more
Fair -- read a lot; may read more later
Poor -- Gave up after a few pages

This is all off the top of my head (and it strikes me that the #4 should definitely be #1 ;-). Would a format like this (together with a definition of the overall 1-10 rankings something akin to Marcus' idea) be of interest? Perhaps there should be more than 3-4 choices?

Or is this too much like a report card? I like this notion because I frequently see a story that has a very interesting idea, or works erotically (for me), even though it is seriously flawed in other respects. It would be nice to give credit for the things the author DID succeed at -- everyone deserves credit for trying.

OTOH, perhaps this format would take up way too much band width -- I know nothing of such things. Jinn?

Boccaccio

[BDSM_Tourguide]

... that people just want to read the stories. Hard as it might be to imagine, many probably read for the 'porn/erotica' content. So, they read our stories, get their jollies off and split. We have served aour purpose for these people. I just wish the more serious people would leave reviews and emails more often.

My story has been read over 7000 times, but only reviewed 5 times. I'm not a glutton for admiration or anything, but I do like knowing what people think and what can be improved. But 5 reviews in 7000 readers is like .002%

So, yes, I agree that we might could think of something to improve this statistic.

[Tiger]

Thanks to Marcus, now we have a better idea about what 1-10 numbers mean. I updated the review page and hopefully that can help readers choose the right rating numbers.

The multiple choice is also a good idea. But that could add more work to reviewers. So let's make it optional: a reviewer can either choose at least one of the multiple choices, or write a review, or do both. (This won't add much more bandwidth usage. Just need some programming work. But I think it shouldn't be too hard) In this way, we give reviewers a choice to do a review simply by serveral mouse clicks without typing a single word. Then we may need to think a good list of ingredients in writing. boccaccio gave us a good example, but should we think of more?

Give me your thought about this multiple choice idea.

Jinn

[boccaccio2000g]

Jinn: "Thanks to Marcus, now we have a better idea about what 1-10 numbers mean. I updated the review page and hopefully that can help readers choose the right rating numbers."

Wow - when Marcus talks, people listen! Quick work, Jinn!

I did a review just now, before coming into the forum, and noticed the new descriptions opposite each ranking -- a big step forward I think.

Tourgide: "Hard as it might be to imagine, many probably read for the 'porn/erotica' content."

Ya think? ;-)


Tourguide: "So, they read our stories, get their jollies off and split. We have served our purpose for these people. "

Sure; but it is no doubt good form to thank a prostitute.
And we work longer hours for less pay. :-)

That being said, I'm under no illusions that reader feedback will ever be substantial. But tiny would be better than infinitesimal.

Tourgide: "My story has been read over 7000 times, but only reviewed 5 times. I'm not a glutton for admiration or anything, but I do like knowing what people think and what can be improved."

I don't know when your story was posted; but if it was within the last six months, I would guess that your 'review ratio' is better than most -- your story was evidently very praiseworthy.

Boccaccio

[boccaccio2000g]

Regarding reviews -- Is everyone aware that one can, by clicking on the Reviewer's name, bring up all the reviews that person has written? I did not realize this until just now. Some of our reviewers are quite prolific (Hyphen 666, Engineer, and I'm sure there are a number of others). This is an interesting way to get a good overview of some of the stories presented here, and also to get an idea of the reviewer's grading methods, preferences as to subject matter etc. (For example if one were to get an '8' from someone who is not shy about dishing out 2's and 4's, that would be more impressive than getting an '8' from someone who habitually dispenses 9's and 10's.

Boccaccio

[Marcus]

Yipes! I was just innocently going about my business of posting another mean review when I saw my rating system offered to me!


Thanks to Marcus, now we have a better idea about what 1-10 numbers mean. I updated the review page and hopefully that can help readers choose the right rating numbers.

I should add I 'fleshed out' the rating system as I wrote the email thus many of rating descriptions could be improved with a little more input from you guys.

My only concern is that the reader has to be writing a review before they notice the difference! :D

However once they see it, maybe they'll feel more confident about writing other reviews.

Great work Jinn! We like to keep the webmaster busy!

[S_Couture]

I am such an idiot! I never even knew there were reviews! Thanks to all who reviewed my stories.

[Marcus]

I'm a little reluctant to share this fact but here goes:

If you want more email responses write under a female pseudonym. Unfortunately it's a bit tricky finding a suitable reply to some of the emails!

:D

[Pooka]

My all in one reply! :)

I think the new rating system thought up by Marcus and implemented by Jinn is great! I found this site just a day or two before it changed. LOL! I remember wondering if I had simply missed it with the first few reviews I tried.

It is helpful because sometimes the story idea was excellent, but the actual writing was not good (or downright distracting re spelling and grammar) or the story would be well written but the idea so old and overdone I didn't know exactly how to rate them. I tend to focus on more positive comments and want my reviews to reflect that. Having the text box to add comments at least allowed me to do that before the number system was in place. ;)

As a writer myself, I know how important comments can be. I write reviews for the stories that are worth my time to comment on. Many don't fit that criteria but I really only get to read a couple a day if I'm lucky so it will take a while to find the good ones. I tend to just stick to what is listed in the daily update and the occasional random pick and even so, I'm still working from the first or second update as it appears on the front page. LOL!

The nice thing about this forum is that now I'll look for the authors that have posted here for their stories ... *grin*

Pooka

[BDSM_Tourguide]

Unfortunately, I didn't get past the story descriptions for the August 15 update. I might have just been in a weird mood the last few days, but nothing seemed very interesting to me. I know reading and reviewing a story in the wrong frame of mind is probably not the best thing for productivity, so I skipped reading and worked on a little writing.

[Marcus]

Pooka

It's great to have your input in the forum and glad to know the rating system works for you. I hope you'll stick around and continue to contribute.

Giving the new stories a fair review can help others know whether it would be worth their time reading. I try to give reviews to new stories that are without a review for this reason.


The nice thing about this forum is that now I'll look for the authors that have posted here for their stories ... *grin*
That's assuming they write under the same name ;)

[BDSM_Tourguide]

... only without so many of those words. LOL

[Tiger]

Originally posted by boccaccio2000g
Regarding reviews -- Is everyone aware that one can, by clicking on the Reviewer's name, bring up all the reviews that person has written? I did not realize this until just now. Some of our reviewers are quite prolific (Hyphen 666, Engineer, and I'm sure there are a number of others). This is an interesting way to get a good overview of some of the stories presented here, and also to get an idea of the reviewer's grading methods, preferences as to subject matter etc. (For example if one were to get an '8' from someone who is not shy about dishing out 2's and 4's, that would be more impressive than getting an '8' from someone who habitually dispenses 9's and 10's.

Boccaccio

I think you got the top reviewers of this site already. Hyphen666 has the most reviews. And if you take a good look of the reviews he gave, you will notice that he never hesitated to give a rating of 1 or 2. And he always tells you why he thinks a story good/bad. None of his reviews is "good story" type of review.

Here are the top reviewers:

hyphen666
boccaccio2000g
RubbrSpatula
ownedgirl
Engineer
jonathan
trusser
kaleun76
Jacen

Thanks to all reviewers!

[Pooka]

Originally posted by Marcus
Pooka

That's assuming they write under the same name ;)

Oh yes! That's right. My husband posted our story (Multi-electrode imaging analysis) under Dr. Wingate actually, because Dr. Wingate is the evil herione of the story and a bit of a private joke between us.

I didn't realize we would be posting here when I created my ID and generally with BDSM sites, we just use our one 'special' account. ;-)

But I'm finding much more than a story site here so I have to figure out what to do re accounts and posting here. I just didn't know that it would be so interactive but I love it!

Pooka (aka Dr. Wingate :)

[Marcus]

But I'm finding much more than a story site here so I have to figure out what to do re accounts and posting here. I just didn't know that it would be so interactive but I love it!
Oh yes. It's a world by itself here ;)

In my view, if you like to stay active on the site you should consider a reviewer ID, writer ID, and forum ID.

Cowardly? deceitful? I don't think so. It simply means there is less likelihood of causing offence. Offensive behaviour and language on forums is such a turn-off for me.

For example, if you were wrote a stinging critique of a story and gave it a low rating it could sour your rapport with that writer on the forum. It happens that I gave the Dr Wingate story a rating before you posted on the forum so now I think 'does she think I'm mean/ignorant?' . Maybe, she'll write an even lower review to my story! (Luckily my review was on of the positive ones! Pheww!)

Ok, that would be juvenile behavior, although let's face it, not beyond the bounds of possibility for any of us. There is always the risk of taking something too personally, it's simply in our nature!

Bearing in mind the content of many stories, I don't think a person should be categorized in the forum by what he or she writes. If others feel there is no separation between their stories, reviews and forum posts, then I truly admire them.

[boccaccio2000g]

Marcus wrote "For example, if you were wrote a stinging critique of a story and gave it a low rating it could sour your rapport with that writer on the forum...

Ok, that would be juvenile behavior, although let's face it, not beyond the bounds of possibility for any of us. There is always the risk of taking something too personally, it's simply in our nature!

Bearing in mind the content of many stories, I don't think a person should be categorized in the forum by what he or she writes. If others feel there is no separation between their stories, reviews and forum posts, then I truly admire them."
*********************
This train of thought has concerned me, too. My reviews have ranged the gamut from 1-10 and I have been tempted at times to score a little higher out of concern for people's feelings. I am sure that the people's stories which (in my opinion, only) didn't succeed so well are just as nice, and just as sensitive, as those whose stories I preferred.

But inflating the grades is unfair, isn't it, to the authors who have gone the extra mile, who have spent extra hours making their sentences flow nicely, their language crisp, et? If we give everyone 9's and 10's, the scores won't mean anything to anyone.

My impression it that in the past -- most people (Hyphen 666 being a notable exception) didn't review the stories they didn't care for -- they just went on to the next one, hoping for something more to their liking. And that is certainly polite, but not very helpful to the next potential reader. So, since I suggested that we writers take the lead in writing reviews, I've reviewed almost all of the stories that I've read. And read more than formerly (and my writing has slowed as a result!).

To those who found my reviews overly critical - it's only my opinion, and my taste -- don't take it too much to heart, if you were disappointed. If my review criticized grammar, spelling, syntax and so on -- (which is usually the reason for low scores, I hope you will take that as constructive. All of those things can be corrected with a little extra effort. Some of the writers I have 'panned' have wonderful imaginations for conceiving stories; and no one wants to stifle that. But you would do your readers a great service by taking a bit more time with story A before moving on to story B.

[Pooka]

Originally posted by boccaccio2000g

This train of thought has concerned me, too. My reviews have ranged the gamut from 1-10 and I have been tempted at times to score a little higher out of concern for people's feelings. I am sure that the people's stories which (in my opinion, only) didn't succeed so well are just as nice, and just as sensitive, as those whose stories I preferred.

I like to be objective about reviewing stories and so don't review stories that don't interest me or that I didn't enjoy. However, if there is a story that I did enjoy but needed work, I would say so, but not in the manner I've seen some reviewers do it. I know I would want an honest review because I'm here to sharpen my skills, learn what turns people on and advance my writing skills. Being told something is good just to avoid hurt feelings is worse than hurt feelings -- it's undermined my attempts at writing! :)




But inflating the grades is unfair, isn't it, to the authors who have gone the extra mile, who have spent extra hours making their sentences flow nicely, their language crisp, et? If we give everyone 9's and 10's, the scores won't mean anything to anyone.



Inflating grades is unfair, for everyone, especially those that receive them! :) And it does penalize those that have done excellent work. You lose both ways.




My impression it that in the past -- most people (Hyphen 666 being a notable exception) didn't review the stories they didn't care for -- they just went on to the next one, hoping for something more to their liking. And that is certainly polite, but not very helpful to the next potential reader. So, since I suggested that we writers take the lead in writing reviews, I've reviewed almost all of the stories that I've read. And read more than formerly (and my writing has slowed as a result!).


That raises an interesting issue, that of our obligation to both readers and other writers. However, I would find it hard to objectively review a story if the story is not one I find interesting. If anything, let the reviewers each focus on the kinds of stories they like, by genre or story code. I could never rate a snuff story highly no matter how well it was written. The subject is totally non-erotic to me and I could not give a balanced review.

Having your own writing suffer as you've worked on reviews doesn't seem a positive solution either. I personally would rather see you write stories than write reviews. You are in effect sacrificing your own writing in order to give reviews to potential readers who may or may not be interested? Don't forget, some people read just to get off. I've even done that. *grin* I rarely read reviews because I know I can make my own judgment about the story and rarely does my opinion match that of the reviewers. I say, let those that WANT to review review and those that want to write should write. Once it becomes a chore, everything will suffer.





To those who found my reviews overly critical - it's only my opinion, and my taste -- don't take it too much to heart, if you were disappointed. If my review criticized grammar, spelling, syntax and so on -- (which is usually the reason for low scores, I hope you will take that as constructive. All of those things can be corrected with a little extra effort. Some of the writers I have 'panned' have wonderful imaginations for conceiving stories; and no one wants to stifle that. But you would do your readers a great service by taking a bit more time with story A before moving on to story B.



Exactly. If one is adult enough to post a story here, then one must be correspondingly adult enough to have constructive conversations with the readers and audience.

Which takes me to how to review a story ... :)

It's hardly helpful to get scathing reviews with no content. It's easy to just pan anything for whatever reasons, it's a bit harder to offer praise for good work, and encouragement or examples on the faults of the story. We aren't professional writers here and I personally know where my own weaknesses in writing are. I want someone to notice these and pass on that information because sometimes, I do overlook some things in edit after edit. It happens. That's why an entire profession exists ... that of editors. *grin*

In my own case, being given a low rating because it was the introduction was a waste of my time and the reviewers. I honestly hadn't expected any reviews until other chapters appeared. I was more curious if something other than a quick wanking story was wanted here and that is what I asked for feedback on. Being told that my attention to detail was lacking, was a positive thing for me, though Marcus, I was hoping to have one example pointed out so that I could 'see' it and check the remainder of the chapters for similar lapses.

I know I tend to forget the details and often, I have to incorporate what my husband has written as well. :) We work on different chapters and often have to spend time comparing the detail to make things 'match up' but it's fun to do.

So, that was my own long winded way of saying honest reviews are essential, even 'negative' reviews can be positive and let's be careful that we don't make review writing a chore that will ultimately make the quality of both writing and reviewing suffer.

I don't comment on really bad stories. It isn't worth my time -- especially in the case where they have not used readable English and grammar. I don't mind the occasional lapse, typo, incorrect word, but when the entire story looks like it has been written by a third grader, what's the point in commenting? If they didn't take the time to do that, then I don't have the time to comment. Some have been atrocious and no comment of mine will make a difference.

Pooka

[Pooka]

Originally posted by Marcus
[B]

In my view, if you like to stay active on the site you should consider a reviewer ID, writer ID, and forum ID.

Cowardly? deceitful? I don't think so. It simply means there is less likelihood of causing offence. Offensive behaviour and language on forums is such a turn-off for me.



None of the above for me please, just too confusing for me! LOL! I'm already getting all confused with having the two IDs. I'll make one my husband's and keep Pooka for me.

I guess I am not as concerned about causing offense. I am not the verbally abusive type and don't tolerate it from anyone else, though like you, I don't think it has a place on any forum and it is a huge turn-off for me as well. I simply do not comprehend some of the 'discussions' I've seen on the Net. It's become one huge insane asylum with little pockets of rationality here and there. *grin*





For example, if you were wrote a stinging critique of a story and gave it a low rating it could sour your rapport with that writer on the forum. It happens that I gave the Dr Wingate story a rating before you posted on the forum so now I think 'does she think I'm mean/ignorant?' . Maybe, she'll write an even lower review to my story! (Luckily my review was on of the positive ones! Pheww!)



You know, there should be some kind of review guide we could look to for how to write effective reviews.

What is our goal in reviewing a story? To attack the writer for being so stupid and belittling him? Or is it to let future readers have an understanding of what to expect, to save them time and effort?

In my book, if we bother reviewing, it should be so that readers can save some time by knowing if the story has merit.

With BDSM stuff, there's several layers. Story codes are quite useful for me in knowing whether or not a story will interest me.

I like slow build-up, sexual tension, intelligent and strong characters, hot sex, unique and interesting tortures, among other things.

These are the things I comment on and so far, I've only reviewed those stories that met that criteria and I've explained my high rating. Hopefully when readers read what I wrote about that story, they will be able to see why it appealed to me and be able to decide if their tastes coincide with mine.

Kink generates too much emotion to review those stories that don't appeal to the reviewer. I simply could not rate a story properly if it contained certain elements. *shudder* :)

However, a story with promise is another matter and I would comment on that, without trying to destroy the writer in the process. There are as many ways to point out negative aspects in a positive way as there are ways to point out the negative with negative -- the goal is what has to be kept in mind. What is our goal?

To belittle writers or to inform our readers?
Both? *grin* I know, believe me I know there were a few stories where all I could do was roll my eyes and wonder if the writer had had any education at all. But those are obvious stories that most would avoid anyway. Considering that the search mechanism will do searches on number of reviews (and readers would assume these are the stories that were interesting because of the number of reviews) it seems better to not give reviews to really poor stories. I've done those kinds of searches and it was not helpful to have stories come up with a handful of reviews, all scathingly negative. I had somehow thought that reviews were only done on stories of at least medicore quality. :)




Ok, that would be juvenile behavior, although let's face it, not beyond the bounds of possibility for any of us. There is always the risk of taking something too personally, it's simply in our nature!


LOL! I quite agree! But hey, we're also big enough to get over it too. It's a passing thing. I'm here to learn, practice, and learn how to put polish on my stories. Hopefully my ego can withstand a few negative comments, though I would prefer them to be constructive rather than simply destructive with no content. :)




Bearing in mind the content of many stories, I don't think a person should be categorized in the forum by what he or she writes. If others feel there is no separation between their stories, reviews and forum posts, then I truly admire them.

Why thank you! *grin* I love being admired. :)

I don't think there should be a dichotomy between reviewing, forum posting and writing.

But then, I haven't been doing this that long so let me get back to you on that in about 6 months. *grin*

Pooka

[Marcus]

Boccaccio wrote: But inflating the grades is unfair, isn't it, to the authors who have gone the extra mile, who have spent extra hours making their sentences flow nicely, their language crisp, et? If we give everyone 9's and 10's, the scores won't mean anything to anyone.

For those that are obsessed with score, they can always rate their own stories, and many do that!! I much prefer seeing detailed comments, where people take the time to write something meaningful instead of 'great' or 'good story'.


Pooka wrote: Being told that my attention to detail was lacking, was a positive thing for me, though Marcus, I was hoping to have one example pointed out so that I could 'see' it and check the remainder of the chapters for similar lapses.

OK, here's my explanation, which might make more sense. Hope you don't mind it appearing in the forum. Maybe 'attention to detail' was not the best way of putting it. It's more that I felt the dialogue raced along without giving a reader, or at least me (a slow-medium reader), the chance to absorb the details of the story. I've read chapters 2 & 3 and am enjoying your writing but the same still applies, my mind is probably runs a bit slower than yours ;)



None of the above for me please, just too confusing for me! LOL! I'm already getting all confused with having the two IDs. I'll make one my husband's and keep Pooka for me.

As long as we can keep Pooka in the forum, I don't mind about the rest! :)

Currently the forum seems to have a rare civility and humour even when discussing emotive topics. Long may it continue. :)

[Pooka]

Originally posted by Marcus

OK, here's my explanation, which might make more sense. Hope you don't mind it appearing in the forum. Maybe 'attention to detail' was not the best way of putting it. It's more that I felt the dialogue raced along without giving a reader, or at least me (a slow-medium reader), the chance to absorb the details of the story. I've read chapters 2 & 3 and am enjoying your writing but the same still applies, my mind is probably runs a bit slower than yours


I don't mind talking about here at all, I thought that this is what this particular forum was for. :)

And you know, you are right! In thinking back to how the story evolved between my husband and myself, I knew that I wanted to get to the 'meat' of it quickly, but had to set the scene. Setting the scene is hard for me to do, yet, I like to give clues in the process and so can't rightly skip it.

On the one hand, I don't want to reveal what is really happening at Yawla just yet, I want people to wonder if Dr. Wingate and her husband Dr. Jones are really evil, or just innocent scientists doing their thing ... with perhaps Trinity corrupting them. *grin*

I'm running into a timing issue I think. I often write too slow, or too fast. I'm having a tough time finding a good middle ground that works for the pace of the story. In some ways, I want to jump right to the meat of it, but there is such a psychological factor I don't want to overlook. LOL!

Thanks! I know I don't want it to rush along as I myself like to savor the experiences, especially when they are so appealing to me personally. :)

That's excellent feedback and I appreciate it!

Time to go read chapter four and check the pacing of it before I post it!

Pooka

[Chum]

Pooka

You mentioned having trouble finding a good pace as far as introducing characters.

I suspect most people who read this forum, and often this includes me, are looking for a story with high erotic intensity. I'm sure I've given up on some good stories just because I wasn't in the mood to engross myself in understanding who the people were, even though I know this would enhance the reading experience.

When I was editing my last story, "Dare to grow," it occurred to me that most people who opened the story would fall out in the first couple of pages, and few would probably make it to the end. But sometimes a story just won't come together in a way that appeals to everyone.

Having only published stories for the last couple weeks, it would be hard to express how grateful I have been for the handful of e-mails, and most especially for the two reviews the last story got. It it's nice to know that at least two people stuck it out to the end and liked it enough to encourage others to do the same.

I admire authors who can publish without feedback or interaction with others, but I'm not one of them.

Chum

[Marcus]

Chum wrote: I suspect most people who read this forum, and often this includes me, are looking for a story with high erotic intensity. I'm sure I've given up on some good stories just because I wasn't in the mood to engross myself in understanding who the people were, even though I know this would enhance the reading experience. What's that old saying? Never underestimate the intelligence of the reader! Or should that be Overestimate? I can't remember! :rolleyes:

I'm sure there are many site visitors that enjoy a 'good read' as well as the spicy stuff and you can include me in that number. Maybe I'm weird, but I like learning something from a story, whether it be a new word, something about a place/organisation or just new way of tormenting a woman ;). In fact, thanks to the information gleaned from Dr. Wingate’s story, I’ve nearly built my own Multi-electrode and Imaging Analyzer which is currently cluttering up the dining room table!

As an occasional writer here, one thing I am learniîg is to write for my readers: The ones that enjoy what I write. Has there ever been a writer that appeals to everybody? Not even Shakespeare! So why worry about that.

Chum, I suggest you multiply your good reviews and emails by X and give your readers more of what they and you like. (Detailed mathematical formula available on request)

This may sound repetitive, but what the hell....

To all members and guests! If you like somebody's work send them an email or review their story to let them know. To make it even easier you can cut and paste the following.

Dear writer I enjoyed your story. Please keep up the good work.

Regards, Marcus

[Pooka]

Originally posted by Chum
[B]

I suspect most people who read this forum, and often this includes me, are looking for a story with high erotic intensity. I'm sure I've given up on some good stories just because I wasn't in the mood to engross myself in understanding who the people were, even though I know this would enhance the reading experience.



Hi Chum,

Yes, I agree. Sometimes I'm in one mood, sometimes in another. The stories most interesting to me though are ones that have a slow build up. My husband is very good at verbal story telling, but finds it frustrating because unless I'm gagged, I'll question 'why' about everything. LOL!

For some reason, unless there's a believable (even if fantasy) background for what is about to occur, I don't get very aroused by the story. I need to know the type of society the story takes place in, what is accepted in that society, how the people view it, why the 'villian' would choose a particular woman, and so on down the line. All that is important to me for some reason.

I know this isn't true for other readers or writers, but it is to me.




When I was editing my last story, "Dare to grow," it occurred to me that most people who opened the story would fall out in the first couple of pages, and few would probably make it to the end. But sometimes a story just won't come together in a way that appeals to everyone.



Exactly so. :) There's a niche for everyone and I know my stories won't appeal to a lot of people, I wrote for those looking for the same elements I enjoy and I write for myself. LOL! Writers sure are ego driven, eh? The stories I tend to like are rare, which is what prompted me to write my own.




I admire authors who can publish without feedback or interaction with others, but I'm not one of them.



LOL! Working in a vacuum is difficult and if no one makes any indication one way or the other it makes you wonder why you bother at all. Of course, there is some small solace in just writing for your own enjoyment, but it sure does wear thin pretty quick especially considering the effort it can take to get it all down in readable format too!

I always have at least an audience of one so I don't feel too bad. My husband loves my twisted mind and I love his so we manage to keep each other entertained.

Pooka

[Flavius]

Hey all I am really sorry I have enjoyed many stories on the site but am ashamed to say have never reviewed one. This is because though having enjoyed the story I would not feel that I am qualified to pass judgement/comment or even be critical of any of the work which individuals strive to produce for the delight and entertainment of others. As a consumer I am wholly gratefull to those of us who have the creative spark which enables them to put together works for our benefit.
Flavius

[Marcus]

Welcome to the forum, Flavius.


Hey all I am really sorry I have enjoyed many stories on the site but am ashamed to say have never reviewed one. This is because though having enjoyed the story I would not feel that I am qualified to pass judgement/comment or even be critical of any of the work which individuals strive to produce for the delight and entertainment of others.

You are quite right to be ashamed! ;) Most writers are glad just to have a simple "Enjoyed it" review. Don't worry about making critical reviews, just comment on the ones you like.

Reading the other reviews you'll soon discover that making critical reviews is a vocation in itself. Sometimes these reviews are better than the stories. :p

If you get the inclination to write a paragraph-long review, you'll most likely make a writer's day!

[Flavius]

:o Awe dog gone it I will make it a point in future to make some effort let authors know there work is appreciated or not as the case maybe.
regards
Flavuis

[Parker]

From experience, I can tell you that there is nothing more encouraging to an author to receive feedback, both positive and negative. That was one of the things that (a) kept me writing as long as I did and (b) dictated the types of stories I would write.

So, if you come across an author you want to encourage, I highly recommend that you send along some comments. Not only will this repay the author for taking the time to write the story, but it will often have the effect of "inspiring" the author to write more.

[VladPotemkin]

It is sad to see less than one review per 1000 downloads, but I can understand it given the audience.

I have looked extensively at possible publishing models, and there are a few techniques that might work at BDSMLibrary. One is to reward prolific reviewers with privileges on the web site, for example give them some 'n' number of membership months. To make sure the reviews are of reasonable quality, you can have a grading function like Amazon (3 out of 5 readers found this helpful) or simply correlate a reviewers score with the median score.

You could also make grading a work really easy, like at Netflix.com where simply clicking on 1-5 stars automatically adds that scoring to the overall scoring. Many people don't want to go through the full review form while they might simply click a 1-5 (or 1-10) star rating. Some safeguards might make sense to prevent fake votes. There might even be two types of ratings: one by reviewers who are going for incentives and one by general readers who only want to spend a clicks worth of time.

The failed iPublish.com experiment required authors who submitted a work to review at least 3 other works. But requiring reviews leads to another problem. Erotica is an extremely personal experience with amazingly diverse "hot buttons" for readers. What is someone's perfect fantasy might be another person's worst reading experience. I would hate to see a story downgraded because the reviewer didn't find the fetish up their alley even though the technical aspects rocked.

As an aside, I really appreciate reviewers like hypen666 who comment on dozens of works. He's a statistical anomaly. You could do a sweepstakes with each review getting an entry.

[Marcus]

One thing that writers soon discover is that it is a 'two-way street'. Why write another 10,000 finely crafted words if nobody bothered to tell you they enjoyed the previous story? It may not be art but somebody is likely to have spent many hours or days writing the story, even if the grammar and spelling are not so good in some cases. (This is something I try to bear in mind before being too critical).

Flavius, we're looking forward to seeing your reviews (now I've made you feel suitably ashamed ;-) )

Vlad, You raise some good points about other sites. I also enjoy reviews on other sites such as amazon.com and the wonderful IMDB.com (where I review regularly). However, my conclusion is that the review rate is not much different at amazon compared to BDSMLibrary (maybe even lower). It's impossible to quantify at IMDB as they don't actually sell the movies!


Perhaps Jinn could let us know whether the number of reviews has gone up since this topic started. My feeling is that it has.

I think the programming of the site is fine. A link to review and another to email the author at the beginning and end of each story. What could be easier? The important thing is to keep hounding and cajoling the readers into making reviews and sending emails to authors. That's what keeps authors writing!

Maybe if we said enough nice things to him we could even get Parker to write another story for the site ;-)

[Tiger]

Marcus was right about the review numbers: There were 243 reviews in Aug., while there were only 138 reviews in July. It's nice to see people start to not only read but also participate.

I don't know if this is true or not, seems the authors get more emails than reviews. Is that correct? I need you authors' opinion about this. Could that be because readers are afraid that authors may not be able to aware his/her reviews on this site. So they would rather send emails. One thing to fix that is setup an email notification so that authors get an email whenever one of his stories has a new review, and tell readers/reviewers that the author will know about his/her review. How about that?

[S_Couture]

Good idea Jinn. I for one didn't know there were reviews until just last month. Granted, I'm not the most computer savvy, but they aren't the easiest thing to get to.

[Chum]

My three stories on the site are about a breakeven between reviews and e-mails. One story had no reviews, one had two, and one has had four, I have received a total of 8 e-mails, one of which simply let me know that the sender had posted a review of my story, while another one was a request to post my last story to another web site.

It was gratifying to receive complements, but I especially appreciated the two reviewers who made constructive criticisms. Without the benefit of such feedback, there is a large element of stumbling in the dark, at least for me.

Chum

[LadyLibra]

I read all of the stories off line, then checking out other stories by the author 's & the new stories list. I'm also hooked on the random story. SO Thank You for With out you the AUTHORS, lets not even think about it!!!
If there was an easy way to prepost review & then just click.(I havent tried the copy & paste i may try it next time) I enjoy this site so much i really dont like to ask for more. :D
PS i didnt use spell check so im sorry in advance.

[Tiger]

I have made some changes in the review function so that the authors will get an email notification whenever a new review is posted for his/her story. The authors will not get the email for review editing.

If you find anything wrong with the email, please let me know. If you don't want to receive this kind of email, please let me know and I will remove you from the notification system.

Jinn

[boccaccio2000g]

Vlad wrote -- It is sad to see less than one review per 1000 downloads, but I can understand it given the audience.
------------------------------------
One also has to be careful what one wishes for.

I've been kind of lamenting (occasionally in public here, but mostly to myself) the lack of reviews; up until a day or two ago I was running about 1 review for every 8,000 clicks. Five reviews out of 42,000 clicks on 3 stories, one of them multi-part.

Thanks to Jinn's new program, I noticed in my e-mail this morning that somebody had reviewed one of my stories (Jade Pavilion I) -- only its second review --.

I was quite elated -- that story hadn't been reviewed since its first few days of publication about four months ago-- and hurriedly click-click-clicked to access the review, wondering breathlessly if the reviewer enjoyed the setting, the characterization, or just, perhaps, the "thrill scenes" (Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.)

A few clicks later I opened the review to find a big fat 4. :-)

"I had a hard time getting past the first couple of paragraphs. To {sic} much bouncing from one subject to another. Hard to keep focused on the story line. Couldn't finish it because it was boring."

And I had been 'this' close to a Pulitzer. lol


My incipient paranoia - which is never far from the surface - made me wonder if Marcus might not have been right a few weeks ago. Perhaps it might not be a good idea to write and review under the same name; I had dished out a number of low scores of my own. Was this retaliation from a disappointed author? (operating under another name, of course)

Or was it just an honest reaction from someone who had some(hopefully momentary) difficulty spelling (or in fairness, perhaps typing) three-letter words and is not enamoured with that most intricate and complicated literary concept, the flashback? Alas, I shall probably never know.


Curiously, I happened to 'mention' regretfully to one person who is known to frequent this den of iniquity that I had gotten a bummer review; perhaps not so coincidentally a personage calling himself 'seeJeffgo' became a new member later in the day and wrote a nice review of that same story (which, remember, hadn't been reviewed in months).

"Jeff" - if you're the person I 'spoke' to about the lousy review -- thank you for trying to cheer me up, but you didn't need to do that.

And if you're not the person I 'spoke' to, thanks for cheering me up!

Which once again is testimony to the consoling power of a nice review or an e-mail to us ink-stained wretches.

Thanks to all who've taken the time to read the stories, even those 'who couldn't finish because it was boring';

And a special thanks to those who've gone to the trouble of reviewing them or dropping me a line.

Boccaccio

[boccaccio2000g]

Originally posted by Parker
From experience, I can tell you that there is nothing more encouraging to an author to receive feedback, both positive and negative. That was one of the things that (a) kept me writing as long as I did and (b) dictated the types of stories I would write.

So, if you come across an author you want to encourage, I highly recommend that you send along some comments. Not only will this repay the author for taking the time to write the story, but it will often have the effect of "inspiring" the author to write more.
===================
I read your final story not long ago and recommend it very highly to everyone (except for the reviewer who got confused about the way Jade Pavilion I jumped around --he'd REALLY be confused by 'your' story. <g>

You apparently wrote that story knowing that it would be your swan song. It's none of my/our business, but if you feel like talking about it, why did you hang it up? Any regrets? Have you ever considered taking pen (OK, keyboard) in hand again?

My compliments to one of the best,

Boccaccio

[boccaccio2000g]

Pooka wrote:

That raises an interesting issue, that of our obligation to both readers and other writers. However, I would find it hard to objectively review a story if the story is not one I find interesting. If anything, let the reviewers each focus on the kinds of stories they like, by genre or story code. I could never rate a snuff story highly no matter how well it was written. The subject is totally non-erotic to me and I could not give a balanced review.

============================================
I understand your point and agree with it to some degree, but once you have started the story and have decided to at least read a significant amount of it, I think it is appropriate to review it.

A restaurant critic should be able to review Greek food, for example, fairly, even if he or she doesn't particularly care for it. A film critic ought to be able to review "Ten", "The Ten Commandments" and "Ten Little Indians" even though it is unlikely that he would appreciate each of those three genres to the same degree. And we experts in erotica (aren't we? <g>) should be able to separate the "writing" of a story from the "subject matter";

(That's not to say that the personal erotic thrill felt by the reviewer of a story should have no bearing on a review; it's certainly a factor. But the quality of the writing should be an important factor, too).

I opened and, somewhat to my surprise, kept reading a very-well written story here that involved bestiality a few weeks ago. Not my kink at all -- but is my kink better than that author's? The setting and the characters were really well done; I gave the story a nice review even though it wasn't erotic to my taste at all.

Snuff stories are very sensitive to some; and I certainly don't search them out. But the death of a character should not in and of itself be opprobrious, I don't think, in a proper setting. A story of a thrill killing utterly without literary value is another matter, of course; that's what the reviews should do -- make distinctions between the two for the potential reader's benefit.

The stories that disappoint me most are the ones whose codes suggest that the story IS in line with my tastes -- in terms of M/F, degree of violence, degree of consensuality, etc -- but still leave me uninvolved because they're poorly done.


Boccaccio

PS Is it "Pooka" as in the Jimmy Stewart film, "Harvey"?

(Harvey was a "pooka" or "pookah" a giant white rabbit (unseen by all but Stewart) who served as something of a benign guardian spirit over the eccentric character played by Stewart, offering timely advice now and then.

[Marcus]

A few clicks later I opened the review to find a big fat 4. :-) :eek: Yuk! It's a good job we writers don't take this kind of thing personally isn't it? ;)

If there is one thing worse than being talked about, it is NOT being talked about. (Oscar Wilde)

The same applies to the stories. I'd rather receive negative comments and/or low ratings than absolutely nothing. Many of the regular authors habitually receive negative reviews/low ratings but they still keep posting new stories. Maybe it spurs them on, trying/hoping for better next time. I admire their persistance if not always their product!


Boccaccio: My incipient paranoia - which is never far from the surface - made me wonder if Marcus might not have been right a few weeks ago. Perhaps it might not be a good idea to write and review under the same name; I had dished out a number of low scores of my own. Was this retaliation from a disappointed author? (operating under another name, of course) You doubted me?? When an author writes reviews under the same name I feel it is only a matter of time before a tit-for-tat review is posted. Human nature!

I maintain a separate name each for reviews, forums and forum posting. That way I can write objective reviews without their being referenced to my forum posts. It also enables me to give credit where due to stories written by forum members without a sense of mutual 'back scratching'. Believe me, I don't always give great reviews although I hope they are constructive.

[veru_skjava]

:)
hello to all who have provided excellent dialogue in this thread.

I know for me, it was very hard to write reviews initially. I worried about not being able to meet the same apparent degree of literary insight that I have read from other reviewers.

I read a post on these forums at one point and realized the importance of providing my own personal insight.

After taking the iniitial risk in reviewing, it has become my practice to review any story i read.

I have enjoyed reading this thread, excellent points have been discussed.

looking forward to continued reading here in the forums...

veru skjava

[boccaccio2000g]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by veru_skjava
[B]:)


hello to all who have provided excellent dialogue in this thread.

## And you, too, Marcus! ;-)

I know for me, it was very hard to write reviews initially. I worried about not being able to meet the same apparent degree of literary insight that I have read from other reviewers.

## If I may borrow a line from Marcus' Twain, "It is difference of opinion that makes horse races." That's what fora like these are for.

I read a post on these forums at one point and realized the importance of providing my own personal insight.

After taking the initial risk in reviewing, it has become my practice to review any story i read.

## A commendable practice to which I have adhered since we began this thread several weeks ago (except for a period when I was plagued by technical difficulties) and which I recommend to all of the authors, in particular. If the authors alone were to review every story we read, I think our brethren and sistren would be swimming in reviews.



I have enjoyed reading this thread, excellent points have been discussed.

looking forward to continued reading here in the forums...

## I am not sure if we are permitted or encouraged to review avatars, but may I be among the first to give yours a ten? I have studied it carefully, and find it above reproach

Boccaccio

[veru_skjava]

:)
thank you Sir, I kinda like it myself. My Master/Owner loves it.

proud smile

veru skjava

[Marcus]

I've just read Boccaccio's review of Jessica Verdi's 'Plumbers Revenge. Hilarious!! :D Let's hope she has a sense of humour.

Now we need a rating system for the reviews!!!

http://www.bdsmlibrary.com/stories/review.php?storyid=1071

[boccaccio2000g]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Marcus
[B]I've just read Boccaccio's review of Jessica Verdi's 'Plumbers Revenge. Hilarious!! :D Let's hope she has a sense of humour.

I'm hopeful that in the next chapter the plumbing protagonist will tie the fetching heroine in the arousing and inescapable 'lead pipe cinch' and gently torment her with his snake until she is flushed with desire and completely drained sexually.


I'm also hopeful that Ms Verdi herself won't mind the tenor of my review.


But I must confess that it would be im-pasta-ble for a Boccaccio not to be smitten by an authoress with such an inspired name.

What fourteenth century Florentine teller of ribald tales wouldn't look con amore on a woman who shares her first name with one of the heroines of "The Merchant of Venice" and her surname with Italia's greatest composer, that smooth opera-tor, Giuseppe Verdi.

O patria mia! Viva Verdi!

I see signorina Verdi as a dark-eyed Italian temptress, a slave to the fires burning in her erogenous calzone, wearing only a wisp of black silk and an enigmatic smile which suggests, in the words of our great poet,

"Lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate." *


Boccaccio



*"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"

[BDSM_Tourguide]

I just checked one the stats for my new story and I was kind of disappointed when I saw that there had been over 7200 readers, but not one single review.

You know? It's not that I'm looking for high praise or anything, but I would like to know how I'm doing. Maybe people are just waiting for me to write more before they commit to reviewing it.

Still, I would like to see the review the story step of the reading process become a little more proactive. Maybe give the readers an annoying pop-up window that says review this story now in big letters at the top. Well, maybe not that proactive, but something.

Or maybe I'm just ranting and need to relax and just let people enjoy or not enjoy what I write, right?

[Marcus]

Congratulations on receiving your two reviews, albeit from regular reviewers. Hopefully you've had some emails as well.

It seems like a 'hardcore' of reviewers (maybe 20!) are providing the bulk of the reviews while the vast majority (99+%) continue to stay silently consuming both the stories and the reviews.

So, come on all you 'lurkers', write a nice review and make a writer's day!

[veru_skjava]

Hello again,

I have a question for the regular reviewers. When you read and reveiw, do you go back to your reviews after updates?

I am following with great interest Raiders Dungeon, and though rarely do I reply to a review, I did here.

Boccacio gave some excellent feedback to the story, and the author took note.

I am just curious, as to wether revisions to previous reviews are common practice.

Thanks everyone :)

veru skjava

[BDSM_Tourguide]

I can't think of a specific instance where I have reviewed a story that was episodic, except for Tracy in Trouble and I reviewed that one after about the 29th update.

However, if I did read a story that improved over time, I would definitely write a re-review and change my initial rating, if possible.

[Moggy]

I have a question for the regular reviewers. When you read and reveiw, do you go back to your reviews after updates?

That's a good point. I would gladly revise a review on an incomplete story. There are a few that come to mind already.

I always try to give a fair assessment of a story, but I prefer to give an instinctive mark for how much I enjoyed the story, rather than making an academic judgement.

Sometimes, I feel guilty that I haven't graded a story as high as the author would hope for, particularly where mine is the only review for the story. But it's the responsibility of other readers to register their viewpoints also.

A story's worth can not and should not be measured by only one person's opinion.

[BDSM_Tourguide]

... but it seems the reader/reviewer ratio is somewhere around 8000:1, so getting more reviews is harder than it looks.

[boccaccio2000g]

Originally posted by veru_skjava
Hello again,

I have a question for the regular reviewers. When you read and reveiw, do you go back to your reviews after updates?

I am following with great interest Raiders Dungeon, and though rarely do I reply to a review, I did here.

Boccacio gave some excellent feedback to the story, and the author took note.

I am just curious, as to wether revisions to previous reviews are common practice.

Thanks everyone :)

veru skjava
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Veru raises a good question. There are two problems.

I see now that at some point Veru appended a comment on the Review page to my review of "Raiders" noting that a 'flaw' (IMO)that I had mentioned had been corrected. But unfortunately, I had no idea that her comment had been posted or that the 'flaw' had been addressed. I'm not really asking for this, at this point, Jinn, but is it feasible that an e-mail could be sent to reviewers indicating that a comment had been appended to a review? Don't do it (yet) -- I'm just asking the question.

The second problem is that if a story is in installments and I read the first installment or two and give it less than an excellent score/review, the chances are that I may never come back to it to see if the problems (as I saw them) have been addressed. There are only so many hours in the day, and there is a constant flow of new stories. So, to answer your question, Veru, I don't believe that I have had occasion to change the score of a review that I have written. But now that you have called my attention to the 'improvements', I'll try to revisit the story in question.

My experience, in terms of not revisiting many of the installments I have reviewed, may not be typical. But surely, if others are doing similarly, it provides all the more incentive, fellow writers, to make that first installment as polished and entertaining as you possibly can -- some readers may not have time to give it a second chance. Although I think that most readers, including me, would give a new story by that same author a second chance.

I would like to second Moggy's comment that one should not normally pre-judge a story based on one person's opinion (unless you have found that your tastes coincide very closely with those of the reviewer in question). And that is why we'd both like to see more people get involved in the process; if you do, you'll find, I think, that you begin to read other people's reviews with almost as much interest as you read the stories.

Boccaccio

[Curtis]

Granted I am the most computerly inept person you are ever likely to meet (just ask Jinn), but I have one answer to the question "Why do people send e-mails to authors, but they won't review?" I have been on this site as a reader for about ten months now, but readers are not allowed to review. They ARE, however, allowed to write e-mails, which I have done to some twenty of the authors on this site. Only a 'user' may write a review, but nowhere could I find an explanation of how to become a 'user'! I hate being a bother, but eventually I broke down and asked Jinn how to become a 'user' and, of course, nothing could be simpler ONCE YOU KNOW HOW. The trick is finding out how. I would like to suggest that the information on how to become a 'user' be placed in the description of 'user' priviledges, just as the information on how to become a 'member' is included in the description of 'member' priviledges.

As an aside, I had to laugh at the comment someone made about writing under a female pseudonym to get a larger response. I have written to twelve 'female' writers at this site and gotten responses back from nine of them. Only three of the nine 'male' authors I have written to have responded. The 'females' may have a different take on why they get a better response, but my view is, they're getting back because they're willing to 'put out' for their fans and the 'males' are not.

Last point this post: I recognize the validity of what some of you have said about reviewers who give balanced reviews being a more valuable resource than reviewers (like myself) who only give 'good' reviews. My hat is off to the 'users' who take their reviewing responsibilities more seriously than I do, and I hope they die in bed with smiles on their faces. My position is that my life is too short to waste it writing a review of a story I didn't like. Objectivity is not my strong suit and I am incapable of writing a constructive review of a story that bored (or nauseated) me. Since I don't get my jollies from offending people, I abide by the "If you can't say something nice..." adage and pass quietly along to the next story. Those lucky(?) authors who have been recipients of my e-mails know that I usually include some criticism in my fan letters, but if the story isn't at least a '6', it isn't worth my effort.

I shall now step back from the pulpit...

[BDSM_Tourguide]

... even just as a regular viewer, I think.

It's been so long ago, I don't actually remember.

I do know that when you download a story there are links on the story page itself to both review and write the author an email. Unless that's changed in the last three or four days.

[Curtis]

The link is still there, but if you are just a reader/viewer all you can do is read/view the reviews. In order to write a review you have to be a user.

[Moggy]

Judging by the irrational and partizan views in the reviews in 2000 I can see that it makes sense that the reviewers are registered. It's easy to do and costs nothing, after all!

It's almost unbelievable that less than one in a thousand readers make a review, or I assume, bother to send an email to an author.

[Curtis]

I agree, it does seem incredible (and inconsiderate). I comment on maybe one story posting in twenty and I consider myself a lazy son-of-a-bee. Taking into account the breakdown between updates and new stories that would be what, maybe one in twelve stories? That's not very good. I make excuses for myself (I'm reading with one hand; if I stop to review I'll lose my hard-on), but there's no reason I couldn't go back when I've 'finished' and type a few words. As it is, usually the story I 'finish' with is the only one I give feedback to.

Really though, there are eight thousand-some registered users on this site. I registered specifically so I could post and review. As nearly as I can tell, under three hundred users have ever posted (is that right, Jinn?). If they're not posting and they're not reviewing, why did they register? Anybody? (Of course, anyone who responds would be a poster and therefore ineligible to respond! I think I'd better think it out again!)

[Powerone]

I have been posting here for over a year and it is a great site and I do get a lot of people reading my stories. But I think I have only got about 2 e-mails from 22 stories and 484,000 views. Most of my stories get at least a couple of votes, maximum of about 5.

I post on 9 other sites. I get much more in voting, on Literotica, most get over 200 votes. And at that site, I can get over 100 e-mails from one story.

I think the main differnce in voting, is that they only require a number vote, not a comment. I think people tend to be afraid of saying something. On sexstoriespost.com, they have voting (1-5) and then at the bottom of the page you can make a comment. This splits it up for those that do not want to make a comment, but would like to vote.

I am not sure what drives the e-mail. I have written with female writers on a story and she gets all the e-mail from men, I get all the e-mails from woman. I could count the number of e-mail from men on 10 fingers, while woman are over 1,000.

[Tiger]

I set it so that people can't rate a story without a comment. I know you would get much more votes if no review and/or registration are required. Maybe it's a good idea to allow anonymous readers to vote.

Literotica is no doubt a much more popular site than this one. It may have 20 to 50 times more daily visitors than bdsmlibrary. So it's no surprise you can get a lot response from them. But it is surprising you got only 2 emails from bdsmlibrary readers out of the 1000 total emails. It is indeed disappointing. But it seems people tend to send private emails instead of writing a public review.

[Moggy]

I visited the two sites that Powerone mentioned and I have to say it was an eye opener; like a village boy visiting the big city for the first time! But you know, I was very glad to return to my village at the end of it!

I never thought I'd equate BDSM aficianados with country folk but maybe there is something in it! We seem to like our little backwater away from the metropolis of normal sexual activity.

(I must also say congratulations to Powerone for the very high ratings he received on one of those sites.)

[Powerone]

You have to remember also that each site is usually geared to different readers. On literotica, they do not allow underage sex or rape. On BDSMlibrary.com, I don't think Jinn has ever rejected a story (at least none of mine and I do write a wide variety).

As far as presentation of stories, BDSMlibrary.com far exceeds any of the other sites I belong to. On Literotica, if you post a story, it is one of about 25 that day and it goes off the "new" story section for only 5 days. The only way to get high numbers is to get high voting average so it will stay on the Top list, but even then, it is difficult because it runs 5 pages and only the first page will get you high views. Literotica only allows about 5 word intro's, most sites do not allow any, a far cry from BDSMlibrary.com.

I also think that BDSMlibrary.com has a higher caliber of writers. Some sites post stories that are barely legible, never mind interesting, written in 10 minutes. BDSMlibrary.com has a fine group of writers, each week getting better. I am enjoying Cortez's stories lately.

[Tiger]

Thank you for your compliment. Although your stories stay in the news section for much longer time, they may still get less exposure to readers than on Literotica. Just this site is oriented to bdsm fictions, the readers might appreciate the bdsm-related stories more. But who knows. I reject stories mainly based on the quality. It's true that some stories on this site are not that good, but believe me, you haven't seen the worst. I thought my criteria for rejection was set pretty low, but everything has a limit. And for me, it's a sad thing to say to the authors that I can't accept their works (well, most times I don't get any reply from them either).

[Curtis]

Now THIS is interesting! (I may be going off-thread here.) I have never attempted to submit a story, but I had no idea that there was any screening process involved prior to posting. (Eeek! Naivite check!)
I had made the assumption that you had to submit a story in order to learn the guidelines for submitting (apparently, I assume a lot). Jinn, is it possible to get a copy of the guidelines without having a story ready for submission?

[kittenfemme]

Jinn: I agree with not allowing a rating without a comment. I also think that allowing anonymous voting is a good idea. Perhaps require an e-mail address instead? Or maybe even have the e-mail address as an optional field?

Curtis: I'm new here, but remember checking out the submission page while considering submitting some of my own fiction. I don't know that it will answer your questions but it's here:
http://www.bdsmlibrary.com/stories/story_submit.php
Though Jinn and others here are most likely MUCH more knowledgeable about such things than I. *shy smile* Perhaps there are other guidelines or a list of them elsewhere?

[kittenfemme]

BTW, I ran a forum search and couldn't find anything mentioning this topic and this seems as good a place to post my question as any.

Are readers limited to one review per story? Are we allowed to post additional reviews that will reflect in the overall rating of the story as the story progresses? Or are we limited to responding to existing reviews?

Example:
http://www.bdsmlibrary.com/stories/review.php?storyid=1293
I posted a review to Taking Carol on April 20th. A new chapter has been posted since my review. I love, love, love, love, LOVE this story and, having taken in the latest chapter, would like to ad an additional review. May I? Please? Or is this forbidden/ bad taste?

[Curtis]

kittenfemme, I think I can return your favor. As you said, there are others who are much more knowledgable about these things than I am, but my understanding is that a given reviewer may only review a given story once. HOWEVER, they may update their review as often as they like (and, of course, respond to other reviewers). Hope that helps, and I'm just about to check out your suggestion.

[kittenfemme]

I agree Curtis. Thank you for the reply. I noticed the "edit" link after the reviewers' name on the review listing page for each story only today. I think that serves to support the hypothesis.

Also, this forum's e-mail notification when someone replies to a thread feature kicks! Love it.

[Faibhar]

As Powerone mentioned email responses consistently are outnumbered by ratings/reviews (R&R), and these by the number of hits. The significance to the writer in gauging his/her audience reaction reduces by the time you get to the anonymous hit score because there's obviously no way of telling if the reader actually read the piece or just clicked on the d/l.

Actually R&R and email are just like frosting on the cake, the original pleasure coming in the conception and crafting of the story. R&R and emails are certainly nice whenever they occur because they frequently hint at what the particular emailer/reviewer enjoys reading best. Assuming that others feel similarly, then it can help tailor future submissions to the tastes of the bsm library audience. It gives an idea of what provides the most pleasure and what does not, something it would be presumptious to assume.

And of course it's always nice to receive feedback.

[Moggy]

My two cents worth: If somebody wants to rate (and review) a story then it really isn't a hardship for them to be registered. Using a hotmail style email addr means the person can be as anonymous as they want to be.

Besides, I like the feature that lists a reviewer's 'history'. It gives an idea about whether to trust a review. This would be lost if the site returned to unregistered reviewing.

Faibhar, I'm impressed by your relaxed attitude to reviews. I assumed a prime motivator for posting on this site is for the reviews and feedback. Even though it seems a paltry amount in comparison to the actual downloads.

[kittenfemme]

Originally posted by Moggy
I like the feature that lists a reviewer's 'history'. It gives an idea about whether to trust a review. This would be lost if the site returned to unregistered reviewing.

Those are quite valid points Moggy. It is very nice to see a person's review history.

[Faibhar]

Quoting 60/70's lyrics??? Oh well, with every season there must be a change, or something like that.

Moggy, getting reviews/feedback is not a prime motivator for submitting stories to this site-at least, not for this writer. Not to distance myself in any superior way from other fine writers who may require reviews/feedback for motivation I have found that at least for me it is the conception and proper delivery of a story that makes for satisfaction. Getting responses from readers is a secondary, although at times very valuable, benefit.

If any of the above makes any sense, the bromide about not quitting your day job remains sage advice.

[Curtis]

Just to flog a dead horse, I am returning to Marcus' comment on writing under a female pseudonym to increase your e-mail response from readers.

I have now sent e-mails or PMs to 13 pseudonymously male authors and received replies from 5. On the other hand, I have contacted 19 ostensibly female authors and received replies from 16, six of whom have entered into prolonged exchanges (vs one of the males).

I realize that this study sample is minute, but as it grows the results are remaining consistent. This tends to confirm my earlier hypothesis that the reason women receive more e-mails is that people are more likely to write to people who will write back to them.

(Aside to Faibhar: Trying to keep up with your allusions is exercising my faculties. It took me days to realize that your remark concerning lyrics from the 1960's was directed at me! The subject line of that post was, of course, a response to the Thread subject line. But then, you knew that <wink>.)

[Powerone]

But I think your test was biased. You are a male writer sending to a group of males and a group of females. Try the same test, but this time have a male send a e-mail to a female writer and a female send an e-mail to male writer. I think you will find equal participation by the writer.

I am a writer and I have written numerous stories with female writers. I have found that in 95% of the case, male readers write to female writers and female readers write to male writers.

The few e-mail's I receive from male writers usually are asking for help on writing.

Powerone

[Curtis]

Interesting point. It's a lot of labor to ask someone else to undertake, but there may be a couple of female posters here willing to give their all for science. I'll ask them if this project would appeal to them.

[Faibhar]

Nom de plume's, fake genders, whatever, frequently are necessary to this genre.

That much said, an author's hinted at, or blantanly neon'ed signature should not detract from the story itself unless reading and writing takes second seat to some other motivation.

(Aside to Curtis: Faculties need to be exercised routinely. Or is that the brain that needs frequent workouts? I forget.)

[boccaccio2000g]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Curtis
[B]

Curtis: I have now sent e-mails or PMs to 13 pseudonymously male authors and received replies from 5. On the other hand, I have contacted 19 ostensibly female authors and received replies from 16, six of whom have entered into prolonged exchanges (vs one of the males).

I entirely agree with your impressions, Curtis.

Women, in general, are much better communicators than men.

Gross over-simplification alert: :-)

Men, in general, like to talk about their specific interests -- sports, cars, beer, hunting and fishing, dancing girls -- you know -- the important things in life.

Women, in general, IMO, enjoy the intimacy of conversation, of sharing thoughts and feelings, even if there is no specific topic of conversation, lighting on topics -- (work, shopping, family, girl friends, shopping, their love lives, shoes, weather, shopping, diets, shoes, weekend plans, shopping etc ) -- like a butterfly, lingering for a moment and then flitting off to something else.

Another reason (IMO) that most men are less responsive on our particular subject -- the dark side of sexuality -- is that many men harbor feelings of guilt and/or shame for having such thoughts and fancies at all. Even (especially?) those who have written stories about them. Some, I'm sure, are fearful that their fantasies might come to public light. That Big Brother (or little wife?) might one day sweep down and go through all the e-mails and reviews and forums, track everyone down and publish names and photos in everyone's local newspaper. Fortunately, I think, our numbers (those of us latter-day sexual revolutionaries) are now so large, and so entrenched in every walk of life, that such a possibility seems more and more remote all the time.

One of the nice things about a forum such as this is that one finds out that one's cohabitants in our shadowy corner of erotica are both numerous and, for the most part, pleasant, talented, and intelligent people -- not drooling troglodyes.

I haven't received e-mails or reviews from too many people; but a surprisingly high percentage of the ones I have received have led, over time, to an interesting and friendly and unthreatening exchange of thoughts, at first just about the story in question, the Library and BDSM in general, but often leading into other shared interests.

Gentlemen -- if someone drops you a line, take a minute to write back. Your 'fan' will be pleased that you did, and you may well strike up a more-or-less-enduring e-friendship.


Boccaccio

[Faibhar]

Guilt in its many forms springs from religion, sex, too much time in the East forty, and so on.

However Marcus Welby-like Boccaccio may appear, he does make some good points on the differences between sexes(the French say it better but with their recent politics and all...).

Marked contrasts do exist between the two genders and that makes communication sometimes all the more of a challenge. Fine style variations also exist in the presentation of stories.

[passenger]

I only write E-Mails to authors here, because mails give you the chance to really get in contact with her/him. Ok, I could do both, mailing and reviewing, but I'm a bit lazy.
I didn't count the number of people I mailed, probably ten, and have a regular "conversation" with one of them, and it is developing better, than I hoped for.
I've been here for only a few weeks, so I seem to be very lucky:D

[Powerone]

What we need is a female writer and get her response. I know a few (not on this site) and they get loads of e-mails from men. We have been having a discussion on the strange e-mail received on this other fourm. This is from a female writer:

"Most of my e-mail is pretty tame, often of the "please write more" variety. To these, I send a simple thank you, and a promise that more are indeed on the way.

I've got a couple of long 4 or 5 page letters, filled with pathos, from guys who were wrestling with their desire to actually try and bed their young teenage daughters. These guys got a longer response, where I tried to give them a little insight into the difference between fantasy and reality. The basic suggestion was for them to leave their daughters alone, and jerk off to my stories instead.

There was one letter that topped them all - I got an email from some guy who proposed marriage! He gave me all his personal information - address, phone, income. He then revealed his "Master Plan." He wanted me for a wife in order to create the ultimate incestuous family. He was to be my "Daddy," and would inpregnate me with children who we would raise to be our sexual playthings! Yikes!"

As you can probably guess, she writes incest stories. I think that men are more likely to write to female writers (and also to hit on them) and 95% of the e-mail I receive is females, with very little from men.

Powerone


Originally posted by boccaccio2000g
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Curtis
[B]

Curtis: I have now sent e-mails or PMs to 13 pseudonymously male authors and received replies from 5. On the other hand, I have contacted 19 ostensibly female authors and received replies from 16, six of whom have entered into prolonged exchanges (vs one of the males).

I entirely agree with your impressions, Curtis.

Women, in general, are much better communicators than men.

Gross over-simplification alert: :-)

Men, in general, like to talk about their specific interests -- sports, cars, beer, hunting and fishing, dancing girls -- you know -- the important things in life.

Women, in general, IMO, enjoy the intimacy of conversation, of sharing thoughts and feelings, even if there is no specific topic of conversation, lighting on topics -- (work, shopping, family, girl friends, shopping, their love lives, shoes, weather, shopping, diets, shoes, weekend plans, shopping etc ) -- like a butterfly, lingering for a moment and then flitting off to something else.

Another reason (IMO) that most men are less responsive on our particular subject -- the dark side of sexuality -- is that many men harbor feelings of guilt and/or shame for having such thoughts and fancies at all. Even (especially?) those who have written stories about them. Some, I'm sure, are fearful that their fantasies might come to public light. That Big Brother (or little wife?) might one day sweep down and go through all the e-mails and reviews and forums, track everyone down and publish names and photos in everyone's local newspaper. Fortunately, I think, our numbers (those of us latter-day sexual revolutionaries) are now so large, and so entrenched in every walk of life, that such a possibility seems more and more remote all the time.

One of the nice things about a forum such as this is that one finds out that one's cohabitants in our shadowy corner of erotica are both numerous and, for the most part, pleasant, talented, and intelligent people -- not drooling troglodyes.

I haven't received e-mails or reviews from too many people; but a surprisingly high percentage of the ones I have received have led, over time, to an interesting and friendly and unthreatening exchange of thoughts, at first just about the story in question, the Library and BDSM in general, but often leading into other shared interests.

Gentlemen -- if someone drops you a line, take a minute to write back. Your 'fan' will be pleased that you did, and you may well strike up a more-or-less-enduring e-friendship.


Boccaccio

[LaJan]

Wow, I feel very fortunate indeed. I have received gobs of hate mail regarding all my stories and I've gotten some really nice reviews. Not sure why the disparity but the hate mail is usually instructive in some way so it's not a waste. And I thank every single person who has taken the time to write email or a review.

I have a tough time writing reviews, tho. I started writing them for each and every story I read. It was fine when the story was a good one. But, when I found the story lacking, it was difficult to put my name on the review. Not that I feel uncomfortable standing behind my opinions but the fact that I am a writer as well, I feel like a shit when I tell a fellow author that I didn't like the piece and why.

I've almost registered a fake "reviewer personality" just to be able to give honest feedback and maintain the ability to not look like a 'hit man'! It's the only way I can see to not piss off people I write with or look like a total ass (since names are mandatory with reviews).

Now that I've said this, I'm sure some of my reviews are going to be read with a hypercritical eye and I'll be blasted with yet another round of hate mail. But I was honest when I reviewed stories and, if I am to be reamed for that, I will take my punishment with my head held high.

Unfortunately, I am shying away from LaJan reviews and I doubt I will write another one that's critical of a story. Sucks but I'm stumped unless I created "PudWuddie" to write reviews with immunity as well as honesty.



Originally posted by BDSM_Tourguide
I try to review to any story that I find to be interesting and well-written. In fact, there's one right now that I read yesterday that I forgot to write a review. So, if you impress me with your work, I will let you know about it.

[Faibhar]

I'm sure some of my reviews are going to be read with a hypercritical eye
La Jan writes of some trepidation in posting Reviews of authors with writing styles she finds fault with. Any writer with
any sense of security may not like or approve of criticism of his/her posted work but surely will be pleased that someone cared enough to respond in written form.
Besides, what's the point of writing Reviews if you cannot be totally honest? Such honesty is appreciated by all.
Keeping mind for Reviewers and writers alike that what one writes is not going to float the boat of everybody else is also important to remember.

[LaJan]

Thanks for the supportive reply. :) Actually, I haven't been buried by the landslide of hate mail I was dreading. But I have been known to say things in a rather abrupt manner and those comments, while true, have been sometimes unkind in delivery. When I've written reviews to authors, I have been direct; when I have written reviews for other readers, I have been much more detailed about why I had my personal opinion.

I love the critical responses to my work, for those are the ones that show what I need to consider when writing for that particular taste in the future. I don't wear my heart on my sleeve as a writer so I feel good about any responses. And you're right: if a review isn't honest it's completely useless for everyone concerned.

Yet, I have looked at the most popular writers and I have written reviews critical of [nevermind!] being honest and open about my feelings. I still believe my criticism stands but I also don't wish to start a pissing match where honesty will be the first casualty.

Faibhar, your response helped me look at the thing I meant to do all along and see it for the proper thing to do and say. I just hope I grow the breasts to continue to do so. (Since I'm male, I've already grown the balls. Ah, those pesky pronouns....) :D



Originally posted by Faibhar
La Jan writes of some trepidation in posting Reviews of authors with writing styles she finds fault with. Any writer with
any sense of security may not like or approve of criticism of his/her posted work but surely will be pleased that someone cared enough to respond in written form.
Besides, what's the point of writing Reviews if you cannot be totally honest? Such honesty is appreciated by all.
Keeping mind for Reviewers and writers alike that what one writes is not going to float the boat of everybody else is also important to remember.

[Faibhar]

More than welcome LaJan, and continued success with writing and writing those Reviews.

No "hate mail" yet, (hope, hope!), but this morning offered something close. It seems that for the first time a writer, how shall remain nameless, responded somewhat hastily to one of my attempts at reviewing. The backlash from this writer gave a taste of what you may have experienced before, and I do hope that similar responses to Reviews are not experienced by anyone taking the time to express themselves after reading a story.

p.s. good luck with the upper torso, too.

[LaJan]

The chest didn't take long at all, thanks! I grew it almost as soon as I read your last post regarding backlash.

As we all know, women are the stronger gender so becoming a female was the logical thing to do since I'm going to be ripped and need the strength. My new breasts belong to a new BDSM Library member who can write all the reviews she wants without endangering LaJan's balls. And, of course, LaJan is more concerned about retaining his balls than being heartwarming in all his reviews....

So, if you see someone getting ripped for telling the truth, check her bra: if you see nothing more than balls of courage, you may have found me. Don't tell anyone...



Originally posted by Faibhar
More than welcome LaJan, and continued success with writing and writing those Reviews.

No "hate mail" yet, (hope, hope!), but this morning offered something close. It seems that for the first time a writer, how shall remain nameless, responded somewhat hastily to one of my attempts at reviewing. The backlash from this writer gave a taste of what you may have experienced before, and I do hope that similar responses to Reviews are not experienced by anyone taking the time to express themselves after reading a story.

p.s. good luck with the upper torso, too.

[Faibhar]

L. J. posts land on foreign soil here, although I vividly recall a young "person of color" applying for a truck driving position on the telephone and adding that he also looks pretty good in stilletto heels (doesn't the latter interfere with double-clutching a semi?).
Anyway, your advice to check a female ripped reviewer's underwear is well heeded. Thanks for the tip.

[brace [EDQ]]

But while we authors bemoan our fate, let's also ask ourselves a question -- how many reviews have you and I written? How many e-mails have you and I sent? Almost certainly you've read some stories here that tickled your, um, fancy, right? Did YOU drop the author a line? I've read (at least parts of) a lot of stories here, ranging from great to execrable, and my rate of response isn't a whole lot better than that of my readership. Shame on me.

If we authors alone (I imagine there must be over 100 of us) were each to sit down and pass along kudos to the authors here whose stories we have most enjoyed, (and in some cases inspired us), we'd surely be a happier band, don't you think?
Boccaccio

Yes, it's been a while since you posted this (just got my account activated).
I have a few questions. You freely admit that you didn't write any reviews. Why not? Was it lack of caring? Lack of time? You were off-line at the time?
I don't know about when you did the post, but I'm sure there's a lot more than 100 authors going to this site now.

- bracemaiden