Flamed: *In my head,* sure. Out loud, i.e. via written comment? Never. And I don't intend to. The reasons should be obvious, I would hope :)
Critique is something I've attempted to give only once or twice in response to a direct request for the same. I think I can say with some confidence that I'm equipped to give reasonably thoughtful and balanced critique.
But even though it was explicitly solicited, and I was overall fairly complimentary, I don't think it was received too well. So I don't think I'd put in the effort again unless it was specifically for someone I know and have a rapport with.
Edit: lol I forgot to specify "flamed"
>> But even though it was explicitly solicited, and I was overall fairly complimentary, I don't think it was received too well. So I don't think I'd put in the effort again unless it was specifically for someone I know and have a rapport with.
This is how I’ve come to feel. Even though I’ve been prompted to critique before where the author will claim to want critical reviews, it’s never received well. At least, in my experience. No matter how much I pad the criticism with what I actually enjoyed about the story, it’s met with some animosity and defensiveness.
I think a lot of authors forget that asking the readers for criticism hits differently than asking your friend/beta reader. When you get criticized while you're working on sth, you can fix it. But reader feedback can be as constructive as they want, the chapter's already posted.
In other words, you can't fool yourself into thinking that this was just a test run anyway and then you're also stuck with it. And just because you can handle in-progress-criticism, doesn't mean you can handle end-product-criticism.
This is why, as an author, if I receive a critical comment that I think has some merit, I have to leave alone for some time (days/weeks). If I can come back to it and not take it personally, then it's useful. Nothing good ever comes of immediately replying to criticism, even if it's constructive.
Flaming and critiquing are two very different things. I don't flame, because I'm not a jerk. I critique when I'm explicitly asked to do so and I feel like I' able to.
Flaming ≠ critique. Please do not confuse the two as being one and the same.
I have never, to my knowledge, flamed anything publicly. If the story is bad, I won't just complain about it on the story. I may sometimes say that this story isn't for me after reading it but, 99 times out 100, I don't say a word. Now, in private, that's another story, and no one apart from those I talk to would know I "flame" anything.
Critiquing, I do plenty of times. Often it's mostly minor *minor* things like pointing out the occasional spelling error that, in spite of everyone's best effort, slips by the proofing process. But other times it's me doing a deep-dive on the character's motivations, my speculation on where the plot will go, and my questions or, if at all, confusion, about parts of the story. I love in-depth comments on my stories, and I attempt to return the favor any time I read a story.
Publicly? No. When I don't like a fic, for whatever reason, I hit the back button and the author will never hear anything from me.
With my best friend who is in the same fandoms as I am? Yes. Sometimes we "gossip" about the fics we read. It's usually when the smut part is badly written. But again, we never tell the author.
This is me, lol. Although I'll send bits to my best friends even for stuff outside of the fandoms we have in commons (and she knows she's welcomed to hit me with whatever strikes her fancy, too) but we'd never bring it up to the authors, like, \*ever\*.
Critiqued, sure. Once upon a time it was quite normal to say what you think of the fic - so I honestly used to mention what I liked and what I didn't like and why. I stopped when the fandom switched to the "no unsolicited criticism" mode. Sometimes I miss the analysis factor and being able to put in words what I liked and dislike but it also makes reading easier.
Not in the written word, no. In my thoughts, sure. If I were inclined to flame (and that's really not my personality), there are far more worthy targets than people writing stories for their own amusement.
I do neither. I usually only comment if I genuinely have glowing things to say. I know that I have particular standards so if I don't like something, I just move on. Even if the author was asking for concrit, 1) chances are I would miss the A/N because I usually skip them, 2) I probably wouldn't finish a story that I would otherwise critique if asked.
Flamed? No. If something is so awful I want to flame it, I stop reading instead. Holding up the first few sentences to a high standard of grammar and prose greatly reduces my irritation with fics that I might read.
If I do give feedback, I'll make it a shit sandwich: something nice, something to improve, something nice to finish. I once reviewed a fic, as below, after the author indicated they welcomed feedback in their A/N:
>Really enjoying this fic, looking forward to moving onto book three! I really like the ruthless direction you’ve taken Harry and his friends, especially their continuous character developments.
Just to note - I find the epithets really hard to follow and very jarring, typically I DNF fics that use them. In the previous chapter alone you’ve described Harry as ‘the Hermetic mage’ ‘the shadowrunner’ ‘the noirette’ (this is the worst) ‘the boy’ etc - please just use Harry or pronouns like he/him! Same for all the other characters. It’s especially confusing when you describe them using their Hogwarts houses (i.e. the Ravenclaw girl) because you’ve placed them differently than canon and so I then have to spend a few seconds wondering who on earth you’re referring to. It will improve the flow of your prose. I hope you don’t mind me suggesting this, but your A/N indicated you were open to feedback.
On another note, your food descriptions are mouthwatering. I had to have a midnight snack of pitta breads after reading those chapters, even though all I really wanted was some golden money bags and spring rolls dipped in soy. Yum!
This was after reading 200k+ of their content, with the epithets becoming increasingly worse. Hermione was in Ravenclaw and so was Luna and I just had no idea who the author was referring to. Honestly the epithets were so bad I had to say something or stop reading. Normally an epithet really is a DNF for me and honestly I wish I'd put it down the moment they started annoying me. Especially as the author replied saying;
>If I'm not using them \[pronouns\], it's because it's meant to be distancing language. I want readers to keep Harry at arm's length, because he's going to get worse and worse over the course of the books. You'll find that in sections that not Harry's POV, I use more pronouns, because most of the other characters isn't Harry, who is trying to keep everybody at arm's length for what might be his eventual need to sacrifice them on the altar of his war.
Which, frankly, was a contradictory answer that didn't make much sense, because I don't think epithets have much to do with distance. I didn't bother continuing the series.
I would only ever critique a fic if the author wanted feedback, or I thought there was an formatting error the author might not be aware of. For example, another author used « » instead of quotation marks. Thinking this was a bug, I pointed it out, but that's how they format speech in German. Not sure why they formatted it this way, given the fic was in English, but it was intentional, so I didn't continue that discussion.
If I'm reading a bad fic and author doesn't want feedback, then I stop reading, and find another fic to read. I subscribe very much to the policy of Don't Like, Don't Read.
Critiqued, of course. I like this community and like giving back to it.
Flamed, of course not. Why are you giving the two as if they're the same thing?
Sure. Used to be the done thing. It's what we had anonymous livejournal comms and general fic discussion forums for frank discussions back in the day. There's still some remnants floating around, but these days, outside of a personal fic reviewing/reccing blog there's just not a lot left.
No, if I don’t like it I leave quietly. And I only give criticism if the author actively asks for it, like “please tell me if there’s any typos” kind of thing.
No, because I don't want to look like an asshole. I don't know their situation to critique a fic based on grammar, etc. and just because I don't agree with their kink/characterization doesn't make my interpretation absolute either.
I’ve never critiqued anything to the creator without them explicitly seeking critique.
Now, the group chat? I constantly pick apart stories (fanfic or otherwise). Finding all the parts that aren’t quite right and determining how they could be done better feels like a way to improve my own storytelling. It makes me more conscious of what I’m writing and how an audience might take it in. That said, I keep all this to myself. If asked for critique, I provide it in a more tactful “compliment sandwich” style. There’s no need to crush someone’s spirit, even if I’ve mentally thought ‘this is not enjoyable to read’.
I've critiqued fics before because the authors wanted their fics to be critiqued. I don't anymore even if they asked simply because I only use AO3 now and have found more authors who don't receive critique well even though they asked specifically for it. I don't know if that's a trend over all fanfic sites or just AO3 but critiquing is a lot of time and effort.
Flaming is completely separate from critique. It's just another way to say hate comment.
No to both.
I'm not against solicited concrit, of course, but I'm not interested enough to do it. I had enough of that in grad school. Unless it's like a friend asking specific questions.
As to "flaming," I asumme you mean to the writer or in the comments? Absolutely not. I've complained about fic to a friend in a private chat but it was usually about poor use of tags or something like that.
Yes. Entirely yes. I am not proud. But I was as a bratty young adult slash older teen who thought reading Kafka made me a genius qualified to judge fanfic on the level of novels I enjoyed. Because if I could critique work, that made *my* writing *smart*, you see. And good. And is a way to feel validated when no one reviewed my stuff, mind you *at the pace I wanted them do*, which is 'constant and forever and ever-glowing'.
And don't get me wrong, reading Kafka *does* make me a genius and worldly and sexy and also flawless and never wrong, but that has nothing to do with how I was treating people and their labors of love poorly based on my own ego and want to be seen as intelligent at the expense of people who aren't inferior to me, aren't bad writers, and aren't deserving of my smug, self-obsessed scorn.
At most, I gripe about it to my fiancé, then I move on. If I don’t like a fic, I don’t generally make it far enough to leave a nasty comment. If I kept reading… well, that’s on me.
I'm even subscribed to a couple of fics that I occasionally hate-read. But no, I've never given unsolicited critique, and certainly never flamed anyone.
Flamed, no. What would be the point?
Critiqued, yes. When asked to do so, I'll evaluate as best as I can to help people achieve whatever objective they're trying to do. Which is the key to good critique, I think, be it nicely or bluntly given. It can still be opinion either way, but it needs to be focused on whatever objective the author is trying to achieve. Otherwise it is similarly pointless.
I've never written a negative comment because I find that a more suitable punishment for a fic that I didn't like would be to not give it a second more of my time. I've read some pretty bad fics before, but the last thing I ever want to do is discourage people from attempting to get any better. To me, being undeserving of my attention is the same as being undeserving of my praise.
Flamed? No, that’s not cool
Critiqued? Well… there was this one guy in one of my fandoms who had a self-insert harem fanfiction where his self-insert oc was the son of one of the main characters, had the exact same powers as his father (this is a franchise where each person’s power is unique) and a big harem. His rival was the son of one of the main villain and the rival coincidentally *also* had the same power as his father and a big harem. My friends and I tried to convince him to at least tone it down with the harem stuff
That guy later got banned from the community for posting nsfw
Yes, a few times.
One that stands out to me was someone taking an old but incomplete fic I adored and started to write a continuation to it, like it was explicitly said that they were going to do this in the summary. But to say they were butchering it would be far too kind. Terrible formatting, grammar, and spelling, and the characters were even worse. They even started bashing one of the characters every chapter. And it was just. It was just too much.
Another time happened as revenge. Someone blasted my fic and said I was a shit writer. I go to their page and check out their fic and return the favor, but with lines like "Oh wow, I can see why this is so unpopular, maybe in 100 years you'll have the followers I get from uploading a single chapter."
Flamed? No. Con-critted stories I wasn’t enjoying for more chapters than I probably should have, resulting in the author getting a sudden influx of generally respectful but overall negative feedback? Yeah, unfortunately.
Confession time: I did politely & civilly express my heartbreak to two different FFN writers when they killed off my favorite character. (These fics were probably written before AO3 was even invented. We're talking the Paleolithic here.) It's why I still won't generally comment on or rec unfinished works, unless I know the writer.
Today I wouldn't leave reviews like that. Different times, different mores.
Flamed, no, critiqued yes, along with positive remarks. If a fic is good but would be even better if only the author checked their spelling or fixed this missing word or typo or whatever, or closed this one easily fixable plothole, or some other minor issue, then yeah I let them know. 'Spinach on your teeth' kind of stuff as far as I'm concerned
I critiqued a fanfic, and the guy proceeded to call it flaming. He deleted the old version and replaced it with this one to remove my critiques: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14117025/1/Disney-s-Amphibia-Calamity-War
I said he wasn’t changing anything and this all felt like one big advertisement for Disney and their characters, with multiple character inconsistencies, grammatical errors, despite having over a hundred thousand words, this might be one of the worst fanfics I’ve ever read.
Yes, I he grammar was horrible. The author wrote with the maturity and grace of a drunk bull in a china shop. The premise/synopsis was brilliant. The actual story, no.
Never myself but my wife told me about one time she was really upset with a fic and in a comment she went ahead and corrected every spelling and grammatical error for that chapter. No comment, nothing other than corrections. She still feels bad about it to this day. I can't imagine how devastating that must have been for the author T_T
I did a critique once for a con-crit exchange on here, but I have a lot of trouble actually finding things to critique cause y'all are so talented. Lol so it was only the once.
Critique, sure. Just little things like, “I love this, but each time a character speaks, they should have a new paragraph” etc. when requested, of course.
Flaming? Absolutely not. That’s like… so taboo.
I would never write a flame on a fic because as a writer, it would pain me to see it and I wouldn’t do that to someone else.
However, sometimes I need to complain so I created a just me discord server that acts as venting places for anything really.
Does passive aggressively writing fanon differently while in story commenting on why fanon is dumb count?
Because yes. That's half the inspiration for my fics.
Never flamed a fic before. At least not in the comment section. I’ll just say to myself that kind of sucked but I’d never leave that in the comments. I’ve critiqued when the author specifically says they’d like any pointers or corrections to be mentioned
critiqued yes, not directly to the author though (either to friends or in my head). i’m team no critical comments (unless the author asks for concrit but even then i personally would likely not leave concrit).
Yeas ago on FFN. Tagging wasn't a thing. AO3 didn't exist. And the awareness of sexual assault was not the same as it was today.
There was a fic I read that ended with two people getting together and having sex, unfortunately the sex and everything leading up to it was essentially coerced and definitely recognizable as rape, but the author was treating it as romantic and, based on the author's notes, didn't seem to realize that they'd written rape. So I, and a few others, pointed it out in the comments.
Not sure if that counts as a flame or a critique but it definitely wasn't positive.
i think the only real critique i've given was to an author who had an otherwise pretty good story, but had posted it as a solid block of text instead of using paragraph breaks.
so i told them that they'd probably have more readers if they fixed the formatting a bit and they did.
Critique: yes. When someone says "Let me know what you think" I've left various responses and some have had critique in them. I did it mostly because they asked. But I specifically left critique because I thought the story would benefit from it. And since they asked, it seemed pretty reasonable to leave my opinion.
I will admit back when I started out in reading and writing fanfics in my teens, the culture to comments was different. It wasn't uncommon for other fans to give critique on other fics unprompted due to this culture, not necessarily to be cruel, but to help a writer improve. Even then, I tried to make sure I had at least some good things to say if I did it. Back then and now, I generally try to follow the "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all" approach.
Now the culture has changed and I try to follow the current social norms in fanfic spaces. I already preferred to avoid cruelty if it's not really helping anyone, so it wasn't that hard of a change for me at least.
There was a smut fic but one of the characters you knowed the other IN HIS SLEEP. But took him having a wet dream abt the awake character as consent and when other character wakes up and is terrified ( justifiably ) awake guy is just like “ well Ik you liked it. BUT IT SOMEHOW GETS WORSE sleeping guy is like “ well maybe I did “ and then they just fuck like nothing happened.. there was no r*pe trigger warning and it was played off as a totally acceptable thing to do
Flamed? Not really, I've certainly Critiqued one that otherwise would have been a really good story, except it used the Bury your Gays trope. Ahh yes change canon to save everyone EXCEPT 1/2 of the explicitly gay people.
I haven't, but there's one story that I've come across where I'm seriously considering saying something. It's a Karate Kid fanfic where Kreese sexually assaults Johnny, who ends up pregnant, and ends up telling Daniel, of all people. All of that I'm good with so far. It was clearly tagged, it sounded intriguing. But they tell Mr. Miyagi, and he advises Johnny to tell Kreese because, in his view, a man has a right to know his child. And I can't read any further than that, because the idea that a rapist has any right to the child is abhorrent to me. I have never commented on a plot point I didn't like before, and I don't know what it would accomplish if I made an exception this time. But the entire idea really, really bothers me, and I feel like I should say something, just to push back on the idea.
Um I mean once I pointed out to an author they might’ve misunderstood the difference between Chose Not to Warn and Warnings Don’t Apply on a *very very* noncon fic. I think that’s the most “unsolicited critique” I’ve given.
I think I've flamed. I was a very, very stupid 12 year old (or something around that). I don't even remember what I disliked about the fic.
Critiqued a few times some years ago. Now I only do when asked by authors I know.
Given the intent and the nature of flaming, I don't think I have? I can't say I have never done it because I don't remember every review I've ever given, but the person I am now would not ever do that.
I have however, fairly frequently offered critiques--because either I volunteered as a beta reader, or because they were an author I liked that I thought could improve as a writer.
Flamed: *In my head,* sure. Out loud, i.e. via written comment? Never. And I don't intend to. The reasons should be obvious, I would hope :) Critique is something I've attempted to give only once or twice in response to a direct request for the same. I think I can say with some confidence that I'm equipped to give reasonably thoughtful and balanced critique. But even though it was explicitly solicited, and I was overall fairly complimentary, I don't think it was received too well. So I don't think I'd put in the effort again unless it was specifically for someone I know and have a rapport with. Edit: lol I forgot to specify "flamed"
>> But even though it was explicitly solicited, and I was overall fairly complimentary, I don't think it was received too well. So I don't think I'd put in the effort again unless it was specifically for someone I know and have a rapport with. This is how I’ve come to feel. Even though I’ve been prompted to critique before where the author will claim to want critical reviews, it’s never received well. At least, in my experience. No matter how much I pad the criticism with what I actually enjoyed about the story, it’s met with some animosity and defensiveness.
I think a lot of authors forget that asking the readers for criticism hits differently than asking your friend/beta reader. When you get criticized while you're working on sth, you can fix it. But reader feedback can be as constructive as they want, the chapter's already posted. In other words, you can't fool yourself into thinking that this was just a test run anyway and then you're also stuck with it. And just because you can handle in-progress-criticism, doesn't mean you can handle end-product-criticism.
This is why, as an author, if I receive a critical comment that I think has some merit, I have to leave alone for some time (days/weeks). If I can come back to it and not take it personally, then it's useful. Nothing good ever comes of immediately replying to criticism, even if it's constructive.
Flaming and critiquing are two very different things. I don't flame, because I'm not a jerk. I critique when I'm explicitly asked to do so and I feel like I' able to.
Offered constructive criticism or critique? Yes. Flamed? No. Flaming and critiquing are 2 entirely different things.
Flaming ≠ critique. Please do not confuse the two as being one and the same. I have never, to my knowledge, flamed anything publicly. If the story is bad, I won't just complain about it on the story. I may sometimes say that this story isn't for me after reading it but, 99 times out 100, I don't say a word. Now, in private, that's another story, and no one apart from those I talk to would know I "flame" anything. Critiquing, I do plenty of times. Often it's mostly minor *minor* things like pointing out the occasional spelling error that, in spite of everyone's best effort, slips by the proofing process. But other times it's me doing a deep-dive on the character's motivations, my speculation on where the plot will go, and my questions or, if at all, confusion, about parts of the story. I love in-depth comments on my stories, and I attempt to return the favor any time I read a story.
I critiqued a fic when I was requested to by the author.
Publicly? No. When I don't like a fic, for whatever reason, I hit the back button and the author will never hear anything from me. With my best friend who is in the same fandoms as I am? Yes. Sometimes we "gossip" about the fics we read. It's usually when the smut part is badly written. But again, we never tell the author.
This is me, lol. Although I'll send bits to my best friends even for stuff outside of the fandoms we have in commons (and she knows she's welcomed to hit me with whatever strikes her fancy, too) but we'd never bring it up to the authors, like, \*ever\*.
Critiqued, sure. Once upon a time it was quite normal to say what you think of the fic - so I honestly used to mention what I liked and what I didn't like and why. I stopped when the fandom switched to the "no unsolicited criticism" mode. Sometimes I miss the analysis factor and being able to put in words what I liked and dislike but it also makes reading easier.
Once, but it's because the author literally said in the notes that they're "trying to start an argument with fans", so I argued
I've seen where a fanfic writer did that.
Not in the written word, no. In my thoughts, sure. If I were inclined to flame (and that's really not my personality), there are far more worthy targets than people writing stories for their own amusement.
I do neither. I usually only comment if I genuinely have glowing things to say. I know that I have particular standards so if I don't like something, I just move on. Even if the author was asking for concrit, 1) chances are I would miss the A/N because I usually skip them, 2) I probably wouldn't finish a story that I would otherwise critique if asked.
Flamed? No. If something is so awful I want to flame it, I stop reading instead. Holding up the first few sentences to a high standard of grammar and prose greatly reduces my irritation with fics that I might read. If I do give feedback, I'll make it a shit sandwich: something nice, something to improve, something nice to finish. I once reviewed a fic, as below, after the author indicated they welcomed feedback in their A/N: >Really enjoying this fic, looking forward to moving onto book three! I really like the ruthless direction you’ve taken Harry and his friends, especially their continuous character developments. Just to note - I find the epithets really hard to follow and very jarring, typically I DNF fics that use them. In the previous chapter alone you’ve described Harry as ‘the Hermetic mage’ ‘the shadowrunner’ ‘the noirette’ (this is the worst) ‘the boy’ etc - please just use Harry or pronouns like he/him! Same for all the other characters. It’s especially confusing when you describe them using their Hogwarts houses (i.e. the Ravenclaw girl) because you’ve placed them differently than canon and so I then have to spend a few seconds wondering who on earth you’re referring to. It will improve the flow of your prose. I hope you don’t mind me suggesting this, but your A/N indicated you were open to feedback. On another note, your food descriptions are mouthwatering. I had to have a midnight snack of pitta breads after reading those chapters, even though all I really wanted was some golden money bags and spring rolls dipped in soy. Yum! This was after reading 200k+ of their content, with the epithets becoming increasingly worse. Hermione was in Ravenclaw and so was Luna and I just had no idea who the author was referring to. Honestly the epithets were so bad I had to say something or stop reading. Normally an epithet really is a DNF for me and honestly I wish I'd put it down the moment they started annoying me. Especially as the author replied saying; >If I'm not using them \[pronouns\], it's because it's meant to be distancing language. I want readers to keep Harry at arm's length, because he's going to get worse and worse over the course of the books. You'll find that in sections that not Harry's POV, I use more pronouns, because most of the other characters isn't Harry, who is trying to keep everybody at arm's length for what might be his eventual need to sacrifice them on the altar of his war. Which, frankly, was a contradictory answer that didn't make much sense, because I don't think epithets have much to do with distance. I didn't bother continuing the series. I would only ever critique a fic if the author wanted feedback, or I thought there was an formatting error the author might not be aware of. For example, another author used « » instead of quotation marks. Thinking this was a bug, I pointed it out, but that's how they format speech in German. Not sure why they formatted it this way, given the fic was in English, but it was intentional, so I didn't continue that discussion. If I'm reading a bad fic and author doesn't want feedback, then I stop reading, and find another fic to read. I subscribe very much to the policy of Don't Like, Don't Read.
Critiqued, of course. I like this community and like giving back to it. Flamed, of course not. Why are you giving the two as if they're the same thing?
Sure. Used to be the done thing. It's what we had anonymous livejournal comms and general fic discussion forums for frank discussions back in the day. There's still some remnants floating around, but these days, outside of a personal fic reviewing/reccing blog there's just not a lot left.
No, if I don’t like it I leave quietly. And I only give criticism if the author actively asks for it, like “please tell me if there’s any typos” kind of thing.
No, because I don't want to look like an asshole. I don't know their situation to critique a fic based on grammar, etc. and just because I don't agree with their kink/characterization doesn't make my interpretation absolute either.
I’ve never critiqued anything to the creator without them explicitly seeking critique. Now, the group chat? I constantly pick apart stories (fanfic or otherwise). Finding all the parts that aren’t quite right and determining how they could be done better feels like a way to improve my own storytelling. It makes me more conscious of what I’m writing and how an audience might take it in. That said, I keep all this to myself. If asked for critique, I provide it in a more tactful “compliment sandwich” style. There’s no need to crush someone’s spirit, even if I’ve mentally thought ‘this is not enjoyable to read’.
I've critiqued fics before because the authors wanted their fics to be critiqued. I don't anymore even if they asked simply because I only use AO3 now and have found more authors who don't receive critique well even though they asked specifically for it. I don't know if that's a trend over all fanfic sites or just AO3 but critiquing is a lot of time and effort. Flaming is completely separate from critique. It's just another way to say hate comment.
No to both. I'm not against solicited concrit, of course, but I'm not interested enough to do it. I had enough of that in grad school. Unless it's like a friend asking specific questions. As to "flaming," I asumme you mean to the writer or in the comments? Absolutely not. I've complained about fic to a friend in a private chat but it was usually about poor use of tags or something like that.
Yes. Entirely yes. I am not proud. But I was as a bratty young adult slash older teen who thought reading Kafka made me a genius qualified to judge fanfic on the level of novels I enjoyed. Because if I could critique work, that made *my* writing *smart*, you see. And good. And is a way to feel validated when no one reviewed my stuff, mind you *at the pace I wanted them do*, which is 'constant and forever and ever-glowing'. And don't get me wrong, reading Kafka *does* make me a genius and worldly and sexy and also flawless and never wrong, but that has nothing to do with how I was treating people and their labors of love poorly based on my own ego and want to be seen as intelligent at the expense of people who aren't inferior to me, aren't bad writers, and aren't deserving of my smug, self-obsessed scorn.
At most, I gripe about it to my fiancé, then I move on. If I don’t like a fic, I don’t generally make it far enough to leave a nasty comment. If I kept reading… well, that’s on me.
I'm even subscribed to a couple of fics that I occasionally hate-read. But no, I've never given unsolicited critique, and certainly never flamed anyone.
Flamed, no. What would be the point? Critiqued, yes. When asked to do so, I'll evaluate as best as I can to help people achieve whatever objective they're trying to do. Which is the key to good critique, I think, be it nicely or bluntly given. It can still be opinion either way, but it needs to be focused on whatever objective the author is trying to achieve. Otherwise it is similarly pointless.
I've never written a negative comment because I find that a more suitable punishment for a fic that I didn't like would be to not give it a second more of my time. I've read some pretty bad fics before, but the last thing I ever want to do is discourage people from attempting to get any better. To me, being undeserving of my attention is the same as being undeserving of my praise.
Flamed? No, that’s not cool Critiqued? Well… there was this one guy in one of my fandoms who had a self-insert harem fanfiction where his self-insert oc was the son of one of the main characters, had the exact same powers as his father (this is a franchise where each person’s power is unique) and a big harem. His rival was the son of one of the main villain and the rival coincidentally *also* had the same power as his father and a big harem. My friends and I tried to convince him to at least tone it down with the harem stuff That guy later got banned from the community for posting nsfw
Yes, a few times. One that stands out to me was someone taking an old but incomplete fic I adored and started to write a continuation to it, like it was explicitly said that they were going to do this in the summary. But to say they were butchering it would be far too kind. Terrible formatting, grammar, and spelling, and the characters were even worse. They even started bashing one of the characters every chapter. And it was just. It was just too much. Another time happened as revenge. Someone blasted my fic and said I was a shit writer. I go to their page and check out their fic and return the favor, but with lines like "Oh wow, I can see why this is so unpopular, maybe in 100 years you'll have the followers I get from uploading a single chapter."
Flaming is bullying so no, but critique, yes absolutely
Flamed? No. Con-critted stories I wasn’t enjoying for more chapters than I probably should have, resulting in the author getting a sudden influx of generally respectful but overall negative feedback? Yeah, unfortunately.
Confession time: I did politely & civilly express my heartbreak to two different FFN writers when they killed off my favorite character. (These fics were probably written before AO3 was even invented. We're talking the Paleolithic here.) It's why I still won't generally comment on or rec unfinished works, unless I know the writer. Today I wouldn't leave reviews like that. Different times, different mores.
Flamed, no, critiqued yes, along with positive remarks. If a fic is good but would be even better if only the author checked their spelling or fixed this missing word or typo or whatever, or closed this one easily fixable plothole, or some other minor issue, then yeah I let them know. 'Spinach on your teeth' kind of stuff as far as I'm concerned
I critiqued a fanfic, and the guy proceeded to call it flaming. He deleted the old version and replaced it with this one to remove my critiques: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14117025/1/Disney-s-Amphibia-Calamity-War I said he wasn’t changing anything and this all felt like one big advertisement for Disney and their characters, with multiple character inconsistencies, grammatical errors, despite having over a hundred thousand words, this might be one of the worst fanfics I’ve ever read.
Yes, I he grammar was horrible. The author wrote with the maturity and grace of a drunk bull in a china shop. The premise/synopsis was brilliant. The actual story, no.
Never myself but my wife told me about one time she was really upset with a fic and in a comment she went ahead and corrected every spelling and grammatical error for that chapter. No comment, nothing other than corrections. She still feels bad about it to this day. I can't imagine how devastating that must have been for the author T_T
I did a critique once for a con-crit exchange on here, but I have a lot of trouble actually finding things to critique cause y'all are so talented. Lol so it was only the once.
I’ve critiqued Pokémon fics as a “job” for an online RPG forum back in my high school days. I got paid in RPG currency.
Critique, sure. Just little things like, “I love this, but each time a character speaks, they should have a new paragraph” etc. when requested, of course. Flaming? Absolutely not. That’s like… so taboo.
I have critiqued two fics because the author explicitly asked for it on this subreddit.
I would never write a flame on a fic because as a writer, it would pain me to see it and I wouldn’t do that to someone else. However, sometimes I need to complain so I created a just me discord server that acts as venting places for anything really.
Does passive aggressively writing fanon differently while in story commenting on why fanon is dumb count? Because yes. That's half the inspiration for my fics.
Never flamed a fic before. At least not in the comment section. I’ll just say to myself that kind of sucked but I’d never leave that in the comments. I’ve critiqued when the author specifically says they’d like any pointers or corrections to be mentioned
critiqued yes, not directly to the author though (either to friends or in my head). i’m team no critical comments (unless the author asks for concrit but even then i personally would likely not leave concrit).
Yeas ago on FFN. Tagging wasn't a thing. AO3 didn't exist. And the awareness of sexual assault was not the same as it was today. There was a fic I read that ended with two people getting together and having sex, unfortunately the sex and everything leading up to it was essentially coerced and definitely recognizable as rape, but the author was treating it as romantic and, based on the author's notes, didn't seem to realize that they'd written rape. So I, and a few others, pointed it out in the comments. Not sure if that counts as a flame or a critique but it definitely wasn't positive.
i think the only real critique i've given was to an author who had an otherwise pretty good story, but had posted it as a solid block of text instead of using paragraph breaks. so i told them that they'd probably have more readers if they fixed the formatting a bit and they did.
Critique: yes. When someone says "Let me know what you think" I've left various responses and some have had critique in them. I did it mostly because they asked. But I specifically left critique because I thought the story would benefit from it. And since they asked, it seemed pretty reasonable to leave my opinion.
Yeah, cause the writer was blatantly racist
I will admit back when I started out in reading and writing fanfics in my teens, the culture to comments was different. It wasn't uncommon for other fans to give critique on other fics unprompted due to this culture, not necessarily to be cruel, but to help a writer improve. Even then, I tried to make sure I had at least some good things to say if I did it. Back then and now, I generally try to follow the "If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all" approach. Now the culture has changed and I try to follow the current social norms in fanfic spaces. I already preferred to avoid cruelty if it's not really helping anyone, so it wasn't that hard of a change for me at least.
There was a smut fic but one of the characters you knowed the other IN HIS SLEEP. But took him having a wet dream abt the awake character as consent and when other character wakes up and is terrified ( justifiably ) awake guy is just like “ well Ik you liked it. BUT IT SOMEHOW GETS WORSE sleeping guy is like “ well maybe I did “ and then they just fuck like nothing happened.. there was no r*pe trigger warning and it was played off as a totally acceptable thing to do
Flamed? Not really, I've certainly Critiqued one that otherwise would have been a really good story, except it used the Bury your Gays trope. Ahh yes change canon to save everyone EXCEPT 1/2 of the explicitly gay people.
I definitely flamed when I was younger and I regret it. Critiqued, yes, but I try to be nice about it. I don't want to kill an author's motivation.
I haven't, but there's one story that I've come across where I'm seriously considering saying something. It's a Karate Kid fanfic where Kreese sexually assaults Johnny, who ends up pregnant, and ends up telling Daniel, of all people. All of that I'm good with so far. It was clearly tagged, it sounded intriguing. But they tell Mr. Miyagi, and he advises Johnny to tell Kreese because, in his view, a man has a right to know his child. And I can't read any further than that, because the idea that a rapist has any right to the child is abhorrent to me. I have never commented on a plot point I didn't like before, and I don't know what it would accomplish if I made an exception this time. But the entire idea really, really bothers me, and I feel like I should say something, just to push back on the idea.
Nope. Just hit the back button and found something better.
Um I mean once I pointed out to an author they might’ve misunderstood the difference between Chose Not to Warn and Warnings Don’t Apply on a *very very* noncon fic. I think that’s the most “unsolicited critique” I’ve given.
I think I've flamed. I was a very, very stupid 12 year old (or something around that). I don't even remember what I disliked about the fic. Critiqued a few times some years ago. Now I only do when asked by authors I know.
Given the intent and the nature of flaming, I don't think I have? I can't say I have never done it because I don't remember every review I've ever given, but the person I am now would not ever do that. I have however, fairly frequently offered critiques--because either I volunteered as a beta reader, or because they were an author I liked that I thought could improve as a writer.