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I promise you all that I'll keep this short. I have beaten this poor dead horse until you would think I would just give up and quit. Well, I can't quit. This poor old horse is named 'Reviewing.' I have posted about reviewing many times before. Most recently, I had one of my articles featured in 'Publishing Place.' Well, the other day I received a review that contained less than five words. Please! Will someone tell me how that constitutes a review? I have even gotten one-word reviews. That's insane. What's worse, I'm paying them for this. I'm going to continue beating this horse until something changes.  Crow My passion for writing is born solely in the hope that I may influence considerations of a heart. |
| Not everyone is qualified, or feels as though they are qualified, to provide an in-depth analysis of a piece of writing. Instead, what they offer is a reaction to the writing. There's no such thing as bad feedback. If nothing else, you learn to measure your own level of confidence against the slings and arrows of public disdain. Here's a review I received once for one of my poems (admittedly not one of my most coherent pieces, though possibly deserving of more than the rating given): Your poem is very confusing and seems to need quite a bit of work I think. I got lost at the very begining. Your rhyme scheme is put off by not giving each their on line. You should go through and figure out where you want everything to be, It might make it better. I had to read it several to even understand what you were trying to convey. Have a good day. RATED: 1.0 Anonymous, no less. I could have satisfied myself with all manner of judgements on the reviewer's qualifications, but the truth is, I learned something useful—that my poem provoked a reaction. Far better than being ignored. Take the offerings as they come to you. |
| edgework is quite correct. I think if you are on this site for long enough you are going to get those 'reviews' which say pretty much nothing, but are just a knee-jerk emotional reaction to your work; a reaction which has no thought or reason behind it. I have had the odd review where the reviewer has been rather disparaging of my work without any adequate explanation of why they dislike it and given only one star to a poem or story where 99% reviewers have given the piece a 4.5 or 5-star rating. That kind of negativity could either be simple envy, or one could evoke Hanlon's Razor which says: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity." This site is open to teenagers as young as 13. There are some of that age who are definitely lacking in any maturity and who are still profoundly ignorant. I feel your pain, but just know that however many idiots there are here at WDC there are many more people whose opinions are worth having. Ignore those reviewers who have nothing to offer in the way of considered opinion and value those who do. Have a great weekend. Amanda sparkly colours ** Image ID #2139372 Unavailable ** Encouraging the pursuit of excellence ** Image ID #2107224 Unavailable **
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I'm going to expand on what edgework  says and add that not all reviewers want to take the time to write an in-depth review, either. Sometimes, I'm ready to spend 20 - 40 minutes giving you my in-depth opinion of a piece; whereas other times, I just want to read and leave you a little message to let you know I was reading. Also, let's face it, writing a review can be as scary as letting your creative writing go out into the world. If you don't treat the author and the piece with delicacy and tact, you could end up being labeled as "that one jerk who gives mean reviews," when all you want to do is help. So leaving a short "This wasn't good," or a "This was great." just becomes easier.You could stop offering GP's for your reviews. If you do, that is. I've never bothered to offer them in the past and that seems to keep the odd reviews to a minimum. I don't know about other "in-depth reviewers" but the GPs play absolutely no consideration if I review a piece or not. None. Nada. Zilch.  ~Veritas |
| This site is open to teenagers as young as 13. There are some of that age who are definitely lacking in any maturity and who are still profoundly ignorant. While I get the point you're making that many teenagers may not have the writing experience the fully articulate themselves in a review right off the bat, I think it's not accurate to state this is strictly an age-related phenomenon. The writing maturity gap can be seen in a wide variety of demographics, and I've sometimes gotten better insights from people younger than myself compared to people with a chronological decade on me. Then again, I got heavily involved in review debates when I was in my early 20s, so I overcame the maturity gap in pretty quick time. There is a sizable willpower component to it (although the source of that willpower is a little murky; my current assessment says it's rooted in a person's ambition level). Stikabet   ![Merit Badge in cNotes
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Hey Crow  ...I'm a noob. I would love to start reviewing, but as Veritas  said, I am terrified to give critical feedback for a few reasons:1. I feel like an impostor telling established members about things that might not work as well as others; 2. I do worry greatly about backlash and being labelled as harsh or rude; even though I am not and I do use 'the sandwich method' 3. I know the kind of feedback I want -- I want to know what is wrong and what is right and why, but I don't always feel that everyone else wants to know that about their own work And I say all that with a belief that I can give at least a reasonably good review. Thus far, if I have had any suggestions for improvement or things that didn't work, I was privately emailing and not reviewing. I got some thank yous with some good feedback on my reviews, but I didn't get responses from some - those are the ones that made me worry. I review established, published authors all the time, and some of those reviews can be harsh - but I (for right or wrong) have a different criteria for what I expect. Just in case you see one and think "well no wonder you don't want to review, you really are a tough sell!". I'm not.  2017 Quills nominee image Registered Author Sig! |
| One thing to learn to not be terrified of is established members. Established doesn't always mean they're good writers, and certainly doesn't mean they don't want feedback. Mind you, I'm saying this even though I was afraid of reviewing blue cases before I became a moderator myself. For some silly reason becoming blue stopped me thinking their skills were so much better than mine and that I had to stay away. The case colour denotes the level of interaction/help on the site not the actual skill. There are some blues on here who are more focused on the members and running contests etc than writing. I heartily agree with your third point - many just want to know what is good and don't care to hear what can be improved. But there isn't actually anything wrong in writing a short review just pointing out good things. And while I like to receive indepth reviews that make me feel like someone actually read the story, sometimes those postive one-liners can be just as powerful. Especially if that one line just happens to hit the nail on the head! But, having said that, something like 'this was totally awesome' is easier to deal with than 'man, this sucked'. Yeah, we want to know what made something awesome but I think we need to know what made it suck. If someone sends that review to you, there's no reason why you can't go back and ask for some reasons why. (Don't, instead, reply 'yeah, well, your reviewing skills suck!') One final thing (sorry, reviewing is huge to me!) - I hate when I don't get a response to a review either, especially if it's a review I've done because someone actually asked for it. But the lack of response doesn't indicate you wrote a crap review. Some people just don't respond. If you reviewed me, I'd respond. In fact, I've been known to respond back to someone with more words than their review. I like talking stories! Anyway, reviewing can be seen as not for the faint hearted but maybe look at doing it for your own improvement first and foremost. You learn through the review as much as the recipient does. Cheers, Os |
| Ask yourself a question do you want to improve as a writer? If the answer is yes, then you must do five things: Be reviewed, review others, and practice, practice, practice. A good review will tell you what works and why, and what doesn't - and why. Knowing these things will allow you to build on your strengths and work on your weaknesses. Reviewing others is part of this process. It is much easier to see problems in someone else's work than it is in your own, and it is perfectly Ok to pick them up on mistakes you happily make yourself. The better you get at critiquing other peoples work, the better you get at critiquing your own and spotting the mistakes you are making. The trick with a critique is to be able to justify everything you say. Some things such as "this sentence is too large and clunky, and would be easier to read if broken into two sentences" are self-explanatory. Pointing out passive sentences can be tricker. Sentences with mixed tenses (usually past and present) can be seen as problematic once you've you've highlighted them. If you are unsure whether something is in need of attention, but you have a gut feeling that theres something wrong with it, simply say so. If nothing else, it'll get the reviewee to think about it, and that's never a bad thing. Make no mistake, the ability to review (others work or your own) is one of the most powerful tools in a writer's toolkit, and will help you advance your writing skills at a much faster pace. Never forget overall impressions. If the writing is evocative, easy to read or entertaining, say so. If the writer has a great imagination, say so. If they've crafted a story beautifully, say so. It doesn't matter how much their writing stinks, because that can be corrected with editing, and in any case they can learn better writing skills. That's what they're here for. Don't be afraid to review. If you want to dazzle your friends and family with your literary skills, or have ambitions to get a short story published in a prestigious magazine, or perhaps publish a best-selling novel, being able to review is essential. I rather like that there is karma here too - too improve, you must help others to do the same. |
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