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Review #3580983
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Review by Mandarine
Rated: | (5.0)
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Hello dreaming-muse. As an active reviewer I find it extremely useful to read about other WDC members' reviewing philosophy. I thought this article was really helpful for people who aim to constantly improve the way they give feedback to others. Reviewing is one the activities I enjoy the most on this site; as you said, reviewing is also writing, and it's disappointing that some members hate to read and review.

I believe writers should also be readers, and should enjoy reading other people's work. There is so much variety in peoples' portfolio in terms of style, genre, length…you name it, and it's on WDC! There's something for everyone.
Not everyone has to R & R, but those who do, should try and invest a little more time and effort from time to time and not constantly just "comment" as you appropriately called it.

I believe you covered good ground in terms of what a review constitutes, and how its beneficial, not just on the site, but also to the writer. No one likes to be talked down to, and your example of the adult in the playground is reflective of how you should approach even the worst pieces. Everyone is here to improve, just because you are writing better than another person remember there is someone who is writing much better than you. I usually disregard rude,unhelpful reviews. I don't take them seriously and urge others to ignore them instead of allow them to discourage you.

The best reviews I've received are ones that were personal and respectful. Even if they didn't like or agree with what I wrote, the fact that they took the time to discuss my piece with me, and the interest they took in the writing, is very flattering.
Your paragraph about not being impersonal is precisely what I believe in reviewing. This is why I rarely stick to one review template. I believe templates are very useful, but I change my template according the the piece I read, because I have different points I want to comment on depending on the writing.

As for the star system, I know many people have issues with it, but there is a guideline to how it should be used. IF you choose to award stars according to your own personal system, which is what I do, then I believe people should include in their review an explanation on how they rate so as not to offend or hurt anyone.

I haven't used a template in this review because I just wanted to share my thoughts. You have obviously written very beautifully, structured the piece so that it's easy to read and packed a lot of USEFUL information without fluff. I like the tinge of comedy *Bigsmile* I cannot fault it.

I encourage people to favorite this piece and remember those points when reviewing.

Thank you very much for this wonderful piece.
   *CheckG* You responded to this review 09/04/2011 @ 1:53pm EDT
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