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.