Review Rant.
This is an entry I've been meaning to make for quite some time.
It's for a little, addictive thing I like to call; reviews.
I will be using examples from my own stories, just to give you an idea, but I want to address what makes me angry about the entire reviewing system.
Firstly, I think it's absolutely ridiculous when I see people begging for reviews. When you beg for reviews, it just shows that you're greedy to me. Reviews do NOT judge how good a story is. I mean, if a story has really few reviews, go in and actually read them instead of shoving them off, they will tell you how good the story is. As a writer, if you're being disheartened by the amount of reviews you have, why don't you look at your hits, instead. That gives me more comfort. That makes me realise that people actually care.
For example. Across the Ocean, my biggest story, pretty much. 2, 022 reviews, 94,683 hits. That means that 94,683/3 people, at LEAST read this story. I mean, it could be less than that, people might have gone back over it and re-read it. The chapter with the most reviews is the last one, 17. It got 184 reviews, but 3085 hits. That is a LOT of people. The chapter with the most hits is chapter 11 with 5247 hits, and 114 reviews. Get it? Hits mean more to me than anything. When I post a chapter and go back to my stats a few minutes later, I look for 'how many people are actually reading this while I'm sitting her finishing it?' and that tells me. It's a good feeling.
Chances are, if you beg for reviews, I am not going to review it, out of spite, nearly, which makes me sound terrible, but it's true. I'm not going to force myself to say nice things just because you want more numbers after your summary. No. If you ask me to read your story, I might not read it straight away, but I save all those pm's and reviews you leave with your story titles in them, because I WILL eventually read them, and I'll leave you a review to let you know I was there. But if you ask me to read it, and then to review every single chapter, you aren't getting a thing out of me. I review when I feel it is necessary, when I think you've earned it. Bottom line.
Don't. Beg.
You're all better than that. You all write amazing stories.
SECONDLY! (jeez I talk a lot)
The calibre of reviews! They have gone down the pooper. Reviews, in real life, are meant to be what people read to get an opinion on a story, they should say something like...
"Offering more proof that there is still plenty of life in the superhero genre, "Iron Man" is the first installment of what (for better or for worse) is sure to be many sequels, and it is unquestionably this year's first legit blockbuster."
That's just the first paragraph, out of eight. This is something you'd see on fanfiction, more commonly than really good reviews.
" abuseOMG! im like, cheking 4 an update every 5 minutes. literally! PLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPZLPLZ update soon!"
See what I'm talking about? (That's an actual review too.)
Pretty much, people are writing reviews because they think they have to. More commonly than not are reviews that simply contain 'omg i love it. update soon.' or, just; 'good. update soon.'
Where's your creativity people? I'm not saying that everyone should go out and make insanely long reviews, I'm saying that the one's that give you a comment, use proper grammar, for one, and even the ones that point out where you made a mistake, or what they think needs to be improve, those need to be improved.
THIRDLY! and lastly;
Inequality, and flaming.
I think reviews are meant when they are due. I have seen so many amazing stories receiving hardly the amount of reviews they deserve, and then stories that DEFINITELY don't need the high numbers there. Take Angel's Blood and Appraising Fate for example. These, are two ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL STORIES! I mean seriously, I am blown away every single time I read them- but they have hardly any reviews! They are two of the most beautifully written AU's I've ever read on ff.net, and yet they're being stamped out by the AH phenomenon. That's all anyone reads. Srsly. go read them. and review. And tell them how good they are- because they are.
Those two should be in the thousands, at least! It's absolutely ridiculous how good they are, and how well written they are, and they have so few reviews compared to some things nowadays.
The other end of the spectrum, is stories getting more reviews than necessary. I'm not one who goes around looking for bad stories with lots of good reviews, so I don't know any to plu, but these stories have over 500, and over TEN FREAKING THOUSAND reviews, and every single one is a flame. I'm talking about this, and this, if you're in to harry potter.
(By the way, is there any way to report someone? Because I'd like to get enough people to report those two and get them off of this for good.) Anyone remember the fic that was BellaxMichael Jackson, and each chapter was a new story? That was simply terrible, and I hope something was done about it. Those got tons of reviews too, for being so bad.
I know that I said that reviews should reflect calibre of work, but let's face it- no matter what I say, everyone is going to look at the number of reviews for quality, which is why ninecrimes and LittexMissxMuffit won't get what they deserve.
Those two stories have nothing but FLAMES. And I think everyone needs to stop freaking reviewing them, although I think you've done a smashing job of ripping them apart. If you continue reviewing them, that's only going to keep provoquing them! I think, the bigger statement to what pieces of shit they've written is to not leave a single comment. Reviews: 0. I know that would dishearten me a lot, and it's exactly what they deserve. It's what I think of any flame, just don't flame it. Half the time when people flame they say really mean things instead of constructive criticism, and more than likely the author just freaks out completely.
Anonymous reviews too, if you're going to say something fucking stupid or flame someone, then sign the fuck in, have enough decency to do that.
I've never had a flame, thank god, out of thirteen stories, but I'm waiting for the day when someone's had enough of the bull I put out. I'm looking forward to that.
To finish off;
Oh shit, I forgot what I wanted to say. Seriously. Bahaha. I suck.
Okay. I understand entirely that everyone wants reviews, I'm just pointing out the things I don't like about it. I mean, it's fine to ask everyone to review once they've read it, and it's fine to WANT reviews, because who doesn't like hearing how people like their stories? I got a really short one today that said 'I just read your story and I wanted to let you know how much I liked it. Good job!" It made me smile, it was great. I'm not saying that you HAVE to write a movie-length review, but what's the point of review every chapter just to say 'update soon'? really now.
I like reviews just as much as the next person, and I'm going to be a little arrogant here, and say that I am a pretty popular writer, in my mind at least, so I know that I get a LOT of hits, people talk about me to other people, someone printed off Across the Ocean and got their friends to read it, it's great! It's an honour! So, that's why I don't ask for reviews anymore. I'm writing for me. I'm writing to write story's, and if you want to leave me a note, or let others know how it is, that's great.
But yeah. Holding off on stories because of no reviews is not cool, imo. it's greedy.
and i'm just getting off on another rant.
I know I'm in no position to preach, I am ranting. These are my solid opinions on reviews, and I mean- I've got a ton more coming. On summaries, cliches, author's notes and definitely some more things, once I think of them. Profiles! God, I need to rant on profiles.
I'll probably update tomorrow with a cute little happy entry about things that don't piss me off. :) bahaha. And once I remember what I wanted to say to finish off, I'll put that in.
Sorry it's so long, f-page. but if I put it in a cut, no one would read it!
It's for a little, addictive thing I like to call; reviews.
I will be using examples from my own stories, just to give you an idea, but I want to address what makes me angry about the entire reviewing system.
Firstly, I think it's absolutely ridiculous when I see people begging for reviews. When you beg for reviews, it just shows that you're greedy to me. Reviews do NOT judge how good a story is. I mean, if a story has really few reviews, go in and actually read them instead of shoving them off, they will tell you how good the story is. As a writer, if you're being disheartened by the amount of reviews you have, why don't you look at your hits, instead. That gives me more comfort. That makes me realise that people actually care.
For example. Across the Ocean, my biggest story, pretty much. 2, 022 reviews, 94,683 hits. That means that 94,683/3 people, at LEAST read this story. I mean, it could be less than that, people might have gone back over it and re-read it. The chapter with the most reviews is the last one, 17. It got 184 reviews, but 3085 hits. That is a LOT of people. The chapter with the most hits is chapter 11 with 5247 hits, and 114 reviews. Get it? Hits mean more to me than anything. When I post a chapter and go back to my stats a few minutes later, I look for 'how many people are actually reading this while I'm sitting her finishing it?' and that tells me. It's a good feeling.
Chances are, if you beg for reviews, I am not going to review it, out of spite, nearly, which makes me sound terrible, but it's true. I'm not going to force myself to say nice things just because you want more numbers after your summary. No. If you ask me to read your story, I might not read it straight away, but I save all those pm's and reviews you leave with your story titles in them, because I WILL eventually read them, and I'll leave you a review to let you know I was there. But if you ask me to read it, and then to review every single chapter, you aren't getting a thing out of me. I review when I feel it is necessary, when I think you've earned it. Bottom line.
Don't. Beg.
You're all better than that. You all write amazing stories.
SECONDLY! (jeez I talk a lot)
The calibre of reviews! They have gone down the pooper. Reviews, in real life, are meant to be what people read to get an opinion on a story, they should say something like...
"Offering more proof that there is still plenty of life in the superhero genre, "Iron Man" is the first installment of what (for better or for worse) is sure to be many sequels, and it is unquestionably this year's first legit blockbuster."
That's just the first paragraph, out of eight. This is something you'd see on fanfiction, more commonly than really good reviews.
" abuseOMG! im like, cheking 4 an update every 5 minutes. literally! PLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPLZPZLPLZ update soon!"
See what I'm talking about? (That's an actual review too.)
Pretty much, people are writing reviews because they think they have to. More commonly than not are reviews that simply contain 'omg i love it. update soon.' or, just; 'good. update soon.'
Where's your creativity people? I'm not saying that everyone should go out and make insanely long reviews, I'm saying that the one's that give you a comment, use proper grammar, for one, and even the ones that point out where you made a mistake, or what they think needs to be improve, those need to be improved.
THIRDLY! and lastly;
Inequality, and flaming.
I think reviews are meant when they are due. I have seen so many amazing stories receiving hardly the amount of reviews they deserve, and then stories that DEFINITELY don't need the high numbers there. Take Angel's Blood and Appraising Fate for example. These, are two ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL STORIES! I mean seriously, I am blown away every single time I read them- but they have hardly any reviews! They are two of the most beautifully written AU's I've ever read on ff.net, and yet they're being stamped out by the AH phenomenon. That's all anyone reads. Srsly. go read them. and review. And tell them how good they are- because they are.
Those two should be in the thousands, at least! It's absolutely ridiculous how good they are, and how well written they are, and they have so few reviews compared to some things nowadays.
The other end of the spectrum, is stories getting more reviews than necessary. I'm not one who goes around looking for bad stories with lots of good reviews, so I don't know any to plu, but these stories have over 500, and over TEN FREAKING THOUSAND reviews, and every single one is a flame. I'm talking about this, and this, if you're in to harry potter.
(By the way, is there any way to report someone? Because I'd like to get enough people to report those two and get them off of this for good.) Anyone remember the fic that was BellaxMichael Jackson, and each chapter was a new story? That was simply terrible, and I hope something was done about it. Those got tons of reviews too, for being so bad.
I know that I said that reviews should reflect calibre of work, but let's face it- no matter what I say, everyone is going to look at the number of reviews for quality, which is why ninecrimes and LittexMissxMuffit won't get what they deserve.
Those two stories have nothing but FLAMES. And I think everyone needs to stop freaking reviewing them, although I think you've done a smashing job of ripping them apart. If you continue reviewing them, that's only going to keep provoquing them! I think, the bigger statement to what pieces of shit they've written is to not leave a single comment. Reviews: 0. I know that would dishearten me a lot, and it's exactly what they deserve. It's what I think of any flame, just don't flame it. Half the time when people flame they say really mean things instead of constructive criticism, and more than likely the author just freaks out completely.
Anonymous reviews too, if you're going to say something fucking stupid or flame someone, then sign the fuck in, have enough decency to do that.
I've never had a flame, thank god, out of thirteen stories, but I'm waiting for the day when someone's had enough of the bull I put out. I'm looking forward to that.
To finish off;
Oh shit, I forgot what I wanted to say. Seriously. Bahaha. I suck.
Okay. I understand entirely that everyone wants reviews, I'm just pointing out the things I don't like about it. I mean, it's fine to ask everyone to review once they've read it, and it's fine to WANT reviews, because who doesn't like hearing how people like their stories? I got a really short one today that said 'I just read your story and I wanted to let you know how much I liked it. Good job!" It made me smile, it was great. I'm not saying that you HAVE to write a movie-length review, but what's the point of review every chapter just to say 'update soon'? really now.
I like reviews just as much as the next person, and I'm going to be a little arrogant here, and say that I am a pretty popular writer, in my mind at least, so I know that I get a LOT of hits, people talk about me to other people, someone printed off Across the Ocean and got their friends to read it, it's great! It's an honour! So, that's why I don't ask for reviews anymore. I'm writing for me. I'm writing to write story's, and if you want to leave me a note, or let others know how it is, that's great.
But yeah. Holding off on stories because of no reviews is not cool, imo. it's greedy.
and i'm just getting off on another rant.
I know I'm in no position to preach, I am ranting. These are my solid opinions on reviews, and I mean- I've got a ton more coming. On summaries, cliches, author's notes and definitely some more things, once I think of them. Profiles! God, I need to rant on profiles.
I'll probably update tomorrow with a cute little happy entry about things that don't piss me off. :) bahaha. And once I remember what I wanted to say to finish off, I'll put that in.
Sorry it's so long, f-page. but if I put it in a cut, no one would read it!