Reviewing with River

Well, I believe I have an ethical responsibility to not be a crappy human.

I always try to find a positive. Understanding the message, a turn of phrase I liked, something. I stopped using my templates because they were too limiting. It's not how I think, and it made me not want to review.

How I review also depends on who I review. If I know them well, or they have specifically asked for 'give it to me straight' reviews, I have no issue with that.

I also know it took me a LONG time to tell my ego to go stand in a corner and be quiet when receiving criticism, so I try to keep that in mind with people I don't know and newbies.

I'm also much better now at separating out the "this is solid critique" from "you're just being a jerk" reviews I get.

I got one that said "I'm really sorry to say this but you just don't understand poetry". I did answer that one. I said "Okay, thanks, I'll look at working on that". And then I blocked them because I don't need that in my life.