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