In general, I prefer to vote and comment on every story I read. I think the author should get that from me, at the very least. Sadly I don't get to read as much as I would like. *sigh*
I like the "non-agression" comment policy here. And the voting and comment ratio are about what I expected. (Less than 1%) But it does sometimes seem that the voting is overly generous.
All that said, if I have something to say to the author that I do not think needs to be in my comment, I will send a private message to make my point. The danger of a public critique area is always that the will surface and take over. Sad to say. Maybe the button should just indicate a desire for critiques to be sent as email. And if the author wants to take the comments further, they could start a forum thread.
Just a concern that the honest request "I'd like a critique of my writing efforts" could be read as "attack me without mercy, I'm asking for it". And then it's a one-sided dodgeball game.
Okay, good to know. I like the list of options idea. And in general and for the critique process, for authors who wants to know, want advice, and want to improve. I would be a user. I want the critique to improve my writing.
I like this idea, and would use it if there was a private option. I don't leave constructive criticism mainly because I'm sure most people don't care about it and I'd likely just irritate them. If something showed that they wanted it, I'd be more apt to do so.
If used as a writers helping writers tool, I'd personally like the private option. I've dealt with bandwagon bitching before and in keeping it private, you will usually get more honest results from people.
I like Liz's idea. I might then disable comments and scores and enable critiques.
I'd make sure that my own stories are well above par before criticizing those of another author. I've seen some of the most critical comments come from people who really should spend time, and a lot of it, improving their own work. Generally, the best constructive criticism or improvement advice would come from an admired author who sends you a pm about the things you should do to take your writing to the next level.
I think the system Liz suggested is a good idea and seems like it could be implemented rather easily. Not saying this is a reason not to do it BUT, it's rare enough that people are willing to even leave a comment and comments are usually positive one liners. I wonder if anyone would ever leave a real review.
I can see this critique thingy added and then....................................................................................nothing.
Could be interesting to see what happens if it's put in place. Though, if people ask for critique, they have to be able to handle it without flying off the deep end.
I've seen many stories that come through the site with the line, "This is my first story so comments, criticisms and feedback would be nice," or something along those lines. Then, if the story gets rejected with a note containing tips on how to fix it and suggestions on what could be done, most times they don't take it well. I have at least 5 pages worth of hate-mail in my inbox from people who "wanted" critique or suggestions on how they could improve.
The way I was thinking was the critique forum could be operated in such a way that would allow people to submit stories for critique before submitting for verification. That way, it would allow people to brush up on grammar etc, without having a mod send it back and then having to resubmit. At the very least, it would improve standards - if proper unbiased critiques were given, and cut modding time down, thus not only improving throughput, but also the general standard of writing. For this to work, it would likely have to be an opt in thread, with a no tolerance policy for unfairness.
I like Liz's idea and the idea of being able to hide the critique from others. It does sort of go hand in hand with Poppet's idea, discussed in a different thread, of hiding comments.
