On Concrit and Flames
I was browsing Fanfiction.net when I located the most extraordinary thing. Not that “extraordinary” means something good in this case.
Now, we all know the difference between concrit and flames and I’m sure that most of us prefer the former to the latter. More than this, we understand that the latter is really and truly just downright immature and no matter how much we might feel a story deserves a flame, the majority of us (who will actually take the time) attempt to leave some form of helpful and justifiable criticism. We generally refrain from leaving the following:
Good God. A fucking piece of shit from my ass could write better than this. How old are you? Five? Six?
What the fuck is wrong with you that you think you can write a story people want to read? The only people that like this crack-out piece of shit are other inbreds like you.
Please, do the rest of humanity a favor and never, ever write anything again.
Just to make sure, maybe you should jump off a cliff.
Got it?
Good.
Admittedly, a number of us would snigger and perhaps even silently commend the flamer if the story were absolutely awful. However, the question I pose is: how does one feel when one sees this kind of review on a good story?
The link to story in question is this: An Exchange of Few Words by Iluvsbakura (author of Addiction, an Azureshipping piece of notable repute).
Of course, one’s take on the quality of the story is purely subjective but I personally do not find the story absolutely jarring. It is indeed a bit clichéd but, other than that, it seems one of the more decent pieces available at Le Pit. The characters are in character, the spelling is fine, there are no glaring grammatical errors, the space button has been pertinently applied and the author’s notes are short and totally optional. The author does not demand reviews. Thus I, personally, hardly find it warranting the above review.
Our reviewer happens to be this character here (http://www.fanfiction.net/u/1223755/) who goes by the name of "Flame Rising" and a number of derivatives thereof. On reading the person’s profile (which is void of any stories; I believe, in fact, that this person has never written a single piece of fanfiction available for public perusal) I find myself highly disturbed. Should this sort of thing be allowed? The premise on which this person operates seems simple enough but is it all acceptable? Is it right?
I ask this because I, personally, do not wish to ever see such a review on one of my stories and I do try my utmost best to maintain a certain standard of writing to avoid this. Yet, I don’t think I’m personally that much (if at all any) better that the writer of the above mentioned story so who’s to say my story won’t be next? And this leaves one with a sense of helpless, frustrated anger because this person, this Flame Rising, is in all actuality nothing less than a bully. They aggravate the individual and leave them seething. They have circumvented all possible methods of retaliation and it seems like the only words this person understands are “fuck”, “shit” and “douche bag”.
All arguments for freedom of speech aside, what are your opinions?