I'm stuck working the graveyard shift at work, and because all my patients are sleeping, I figured I would get on and putter around a little bit. So just a random though.... Something that I've noticed while reading through the new threads and some of the old threads, is that lots of people have this attitude that "if I don't like it or if I don't think it's good, I'm not going to comment on it." The same people that are going around saying these things are posting work that they want critiqued. Does that seem a little backwards to any of you? Let's imagine that everyone thought the same way on this forum, and no one reviewed anything that they thought was boring or poorly written. If that were the case, NOTHING would get reviewed and none of us would improve at all because we weren't getting any feedback. How about we all just cowboy up and get it together and review everything that needs reviewing? Our whole point of joining this site (I hope) is that we want to improve and become better writers, and the best way for us to do that is through our fellows. With MAYBE a few acceptions, none of us on this site are perfect, including the published writers, and I don't think that we have the right to judge what deserves our opinion. I think we just review... critique... simple as that.... And there was peace.... Anyway, I hope this didn't offend anyone, but I really felt like I needed to put it out there. Still love you all
Sorry, everyone. I just realized I probably should have put this thread in the "suggestions and feedback" section. :redface:
Well now I feel obligated to post something Just kidding. I think it's a good idea. Although sometimes it's not that I don't want to post, it's just that I have no clue what to say. I have only spoken with a few people on here so far and it feels odd sometimes to just jump in the middle of their conversations. I have reviewed a couple things so far and really liked them, I gave some feedback although I don't know if what I mentioned was helpful or not. But I posted! lol.
Even if you feel like your feedback won't help anyone, post it. It's always nice to know that atleast SOMEONE read your work. Especially if you put lots of time and effort into it. And thank you to posting. What a brave soul lol
I don't avoid something because I don't like it or it requires a bit of work to make it better. I pick on a random piece and tell the poster what I think.
I check the Unreviewed Writing section as much as possible, but almost all of what I see there is poetry (which I don't review because I'm horrible at it myself, and don't feel I can effectively critique anyone else's) or threads that will probably be closed anyway because it's a new member who has posted two "Great job, liked it!" critiques just so they could post their own writing. Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to write out a thoughtful, in-depth critique, and have Cogito come along and close the thread before you get a chance to post it? And anyway, I very, very rarely post my writing here.
Do you mind if I move this thread ro the Writing Issues -> Reviewing forum? I think it fits very well there.
with over 13,000 members and 135 of them on the site right now, can you just imagine what effect doing what you suggest would do to the site?
Improve it? Generate more feedback for writers, and hopefully improving their writing more? Deepen the sense of community? Encourage more reciprocation?
Not at all, Cogito! Sorry I should have thought through where to post it. And Aaron, I think you're totally right! It's interesting that we have so many people that are members on this site, and yet not many of them post to review.
That's what I was thinking. If everyone just reviewed a few pieces that haven't been reviewed yet, then everyone could have their stuff reviewed and be happy and improve.
It's mutual, lol! My critiques aren't very long, but I give them my sense of it and sometimes give SPaG feedback if requested or apparently needed.
You're sweet. To pass the sniff-test, though, people need to post 2 thorough reviews to post one story. I've never posted anything, so I don't need to worry about it; although I have posted a lot of in-depth ones, just not lately.
I review randomly, though I mostly stick to the novel section, since I'm only interested in writing novels atm. . I avoid posts that doesn't appear to be serious. I don't really see much benefit for me or the person I'm working with in that case.
I can understand that. I myself won't post if someone makes it seem like its just a big joke to them. Unfortunately, though, not everone seems to have that opinion. They don't post on the 'dumb' ones, but they also don't post on the ones that actually want feedback.
If I don't like a story I'm more likely to comment than if I did like it. I always appreciate people saying they disliked my stories because more often than not they're going to give me better feedback than the people who say they loved it. Plus taking criticism is one of the more important parts of being a writer.