Hello Forumites. I've been here for a few weeks and have discovered something...irritating. Is it considered poor etiquet not to reply to a crit? It did not occur to me to ask this as it is, in my humble opinion, a no-brainer. Yet I see this happening again and again. Arrrggg, forget about etiquet; how about plain old fashion good manners. Thoughts? CD
Do you mean not replying to say thank you after someone critiques your WIP? I dunno, man...I've only posted one thing for critique ever, but I didn't pop in and say thank you after every review...and my feelings wouldn't be hurt if I critiqued something and the person didn't say thanks. Huh. I never really thought about that before.
i think it's polite after a couple critiques to come back and say what youve changed after their advise and what youv left the same/why you did it a certain way
It poor etiquette to begin defending your work. "No, your critique, and your expression of my work is -WRONG-!!!1" If you work can't stand on you own and and defend itself t tells you about something about the text. Sliding into a defensive stance gets in the way, and is rude. But it is a good manners to wait a couple of reply (to give everyone a chance to give a honest first impression) thank everyone for sharing their thoughts, comment on things that where extra helpful or surprising. ask follow up questions, and answer any questions the reviewers might have gotten.
W176. I agree with you and I most certainly do not wish to see this site turned into a debating society where people constantly defend their work. But guess what? It's already happening. Certainly people have the right to do this, but I agree with you that your work should speak for itself. My only point is that a modicum of good manners does not go astray. So I guess we are on the same page. Thanks for taking the time to comment. (See; that's not so hard, is it?)
Well we were talking about what was good etiquette. Not what would brake the sites rules of conduct, or what should be allowed or not. I say it good etiquette, when someone takes the time to critique you work is to not become defensive about it.
I tend to either respond straight away or wait until I have a few comments. Sometimes though I get a crit, I cannot honestly reply politely to lol I decide it better manners not to respond - or to put a brief thank you and then do a general round up. Every so often I do forget I put something up for which I apologise but I write such a lot can't always remember what I did with it. Where I really struggle is when an old piece comes up out of nowhere lol and I am thinking hmm I know that but its changed or I am not doing anything with that or I I know more. Whilst it is nice to get a response to a critique - I am not offended if I don't kind of figure whoever has forgotten or looked at my crit and gone what the ... is she on lol I know I have one person who actively ignores mine so don't bother critiquing his work anymore.
Site etiquite Thanks for that Elga. I have been on other sites where it is considered in extremely poor taste not to say thank you. Especially when you don't like the crit. But this site has its ways so I'll probably follow your approach. Cheers, CD.
I think it's good manners to thank a person for a thoughtful critique. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if good manners were ever a requirement on the internet.
If someone reviews my work I think it's only right to look up work they've done & offer mine. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" mentality. I've tried to do this, but some people don't have active work that I could find. It helps build good working relationships. & yes, a thank you is always nice. Shows appreciation. Even if you don't like what they wrote, they took the time to read your work. We can learn from just about anything but an, "it sucks."
For myself, I wouldn't consider it poor manners. If the writer uses my critique, fine. If not, oh well. I don't consider myself snubbed if the writer doesn't have time to answer every post.
Pretty much any constructive review gets a PM or visitor message from me thanking them, and if it's helpful it gets a rep point too (I actually try to rep good reviews on any piece I see, not just mine). If it's just stupid and they don't get it at all, or if it's another empty "three-post wonder" one-liner, I just ignore it. I try not to fill up my threads with my own comments too much unless it's rewrites or necessary communications.
^^ That's a good mentality to have. I've only posted one thing for review, but I'll be doing something similar.
