@ robinhoodfan: Yeah, I write mostly Transformers tho. Also, they don't like double posting around here, so next time use the edit button. ^^

I haven't really gotten any comments on my writings.
So i'd have to say...
Not getting anything at all is the worst comment ever! Lol :)

sorry i'll remember that

Well, I enjoy writing A LOT, but i (excuse my lower case i's) usually don't post things on the web BECAUSE i know i'll only get constructive feedback from people i can beat it out of XD.
But, the one thing that bothers me on this thread is the amount of people talking about positive feedback. I can understand where constructive feedback is wanted more than positive, but is it really all that bad? If it's overtly excessive, it can be annoying, i know, but what more can really be expected from an open chat board that isn't wholly dedicated to writers, for writers. I think i have a link somewhere for one such board, and it helped me out a lot a while back. I'd like to post it, if it can be found, because the people on this board enjoy criticism. . .
Ah! yes, back on subject,
All the insecurities about, and hating of, positive commenting is foreign to me. Maybe because I'm inexperienced or because I am immune to its effects. Or maybe I just feel like justifying myself because I've written a few "Wow! Your truly an amazing writer! you should defiantly continue with your writing! *insert cheesy smiley*
I'd really like to know, too, if thats just wholly unwanted by a large number of the Write N' Post community, so that i can stop bothering if need be. :mrmayor:

@ Smexy.buddeh: When you put it that way, it does look like we're all a bunch of ingrates. However, I believe the concensus is that writers would like to know why a reader liked it. Constructive crit is good for letting me know what I need to work on, but I would also like to know what I'm doing that's stellar as well.

I do like to write, but I've rarely put anything out to be read.

I can certainly understand talented writers becoming desensitized to compliments and wanting more that just that; in middle school, I was accused of plagiarism. In my advanced placement high school English courses, teachers would praise my brilliance and my work would get copied and circulated. Perhaps then, I didn't have the confidence or immodesty to think that I was "1337" but I knew when I wrote, it was clear, concise, and insightful. I liked the praise, but it was ordinary at that point. So, I'm great at writing. What does that mean? Of course I'm going to be proficient in my own language. Gosh!

Seeing stuff on Everything2 and other internet publications makes me think that my work might not be so great and, if anything, simply another "brilliant" drop in the bucket of brilliance. While slightly disheartening, it's inspiring. I like being lost in this cloud of intelligently pieced together words, phrases, and works. It makes me want to develop myself further.

Perhaps that is the frustration with competent writers.

Either way, I would ask that everyone consider why they write. For an audience? To inform? To express themselves? All of the above? It seems, especially from this particular thread, that people want an intelligent response from like-minded (and by this, I mean competent) individuals.

But who are those individuals?

They are obviously the readers. And not all readers are writers. Not all readers are likewise able to express themselves in similar fashion. Some, are only able to appreciate and in this regard, they are only able to admire and compliment.

Perhaps if I were asking this question (What do you HATE to see in the comments you get?), I wouldn't be as analytical as I am now -- as a reader. But I must say, as a reader and a writer (of sorts), that a solution to the dilemma is to add specific prompts. If you feel something is missing yourself, prompt, "I'm nearly satisfied with this. I mean for such and such to happen, but what kind of impact does it impart? Do you feel like something is missing? What did you think when...?" and so on and so forth.

It's a little paradoxical, this critique of the critiqued...and...I'm sorry. Truly and verily sorry if this offended anyone.

Holy crap, there are a lot of comments that can annoy me.

Mostly it's fans. Their little squeals, bad grammer or constant reviewing of 'HURRY UP AND UPDATE!'. Writers update at their own pace. We do not have a dead line! And bad grammer is just annoying. I have gotten comments on my writing before and I honestly could not understand what the person said because they spelt everything wrong, adding extra letters, skipping letters, using slang I do not understand, etc... it gets very, very annoying. And the squeals. Oh lord. If you want to squeal, do it aloud or in your head. You do NOT need to write down a paragraph of 'EEEEEEE'. Really, it is simply obnoxious. A small little -squeal- or *squeal* is tolerable and some times it's cute. But other than that, no.

Another annoying type of comments are when someone does not [I]fully[I] read what you say, and instead skip over a bunch of parts. Merely scanning it. When they comment, they're either enraged because they got the wrong idea about what you were writing about, they misunderstood it, and/or they simply don't understand a word of what you wrote. These comments usually go like this;
"**** you! You're a ***** who can't write worth ****!"
"-long rant about how you're wrong about the subject you've written about-"
"... I don't get it... It doesn't make sense... LEARN TO WRITE!"

Seriously, people. Really?

One more, smaller comment that irks me is when you write a piece of your own beliefs, and someone comes along and bashes them. They don't give criticism for your writing, how you should build onto things, maybe take some details out, and so on and so forth. Instead they flame what you believe in. The things you were either raised to understand, or came to see it in a certain light on your own. They do useless flaming to your ideas. Those are a part of you. I do not know about any of you, but I brush dumb comments aside like they're fleas most of the time. But when someone does the whole 'what-you-believe-in-is-wrong-and-totally-stupid' comments, it really hurts me. It's an insult to our person. Our personality.

Originally Posted by Talentless_Muse

I haven't posted anything here, but on ff.net one of the things I dislike most isn't the comments so much as I see how many hits I'm getting and how many people are adding me to their favorites and alerts lists without giving any amount of feedback.

Getting absolutely nothing is, I think, the worst.

Originally Posted by Erailea

I totally agree. Like every update I make I get at least 8 new followers, but out of those new followers only one or two at the most comment. I mean, seriously, if you like it enough to favorite the story and the author at least leave some feedback. You can leave a fairly good comment in like two-five minutes depending on how indepth you want to get. In fact most of the comments people generally leave you on ff.net look like the took thirty seconds to write because they're only a sentence or two long.

I totally understand how you guys feel. It's like that with me. Get a lot of views but hardly any reviews.

Originally Posted by Seblocry

Mostly it's fans. Their little squeals, bad grammer or constant reviewing of 'HURRY UP AND UPDATE!'. Writers update at their own pace. We do not have a dead line! And bad grammer is just annoying. I have gotten comments on my writing before and I honestly could not understand what the person said because they spelt everything wrong, adding extra letters, skipping letters, using slang I do not understand, etc... it gets very, very annoying. And the squeals. Oh lord. If you want to squeal, do it aloud or in your head. You do NOT need to write down a paragraph of 'EEEEEEE'. Really, it is simply obnoxious. A small little -squeal- or *squeal* is tolerable and some times it's cute. But other than that, no.

They don't give criticism for your writing, how you should build onto things, maybe take some details out, and so on and so forth. Instead they flame what you believe in.

Argh, there is one constant reviewer I have on FFN that pretty much just says "can't wait for the update" every time she reviews. And then there was another person who wrote in such a way that I had to read the review twice before I could understand what they were saying. Small typos are okay, but if I can't understand what the heck you're saying, I'm not going to reply to you. And little squeals are actually something that I like getting on certain chapters when it's the reaction I want.

And, I haven't had anyone flame my writing - yet - but I did get a rather annoying comment on a piece of fan art on DeviantArt. And worse yet, it wasn't even on the piece, it was on the fact that I like slash. I am of the mind that if you really don't like something then don't read/look at the offending piece of art/writing. Hateful things like racism are one thing, but if you don't like slash or whatever, then don't look at things that involve the subject you don't like! I'm a live and let live person, so seeing other people trying to force their beliefs on others or disrespecting others' preferences drives me nuts.

Any comment that is, of course, a stupid comment. I once posted a story about scientology--and it was pretty symbolic. The entire thing was about the problems it can cause a life, and why it is a problem. Someone just replied "Fuck scientology." Anything that is not a critical comment annoys me.

There is really only one type of comment that I get that annoys me. You see, I'm working as part of a team on a novel-length story (that is looking to end up being a series) and have posted the first chapter on a few sites in order to get some feedback and find out what interests people. The first chapter, though, happens to be twelve typed pages long. This isn't really odd to find in a book, but it's quite long when put into an online forum. So I warn people before posting it that it is long. I know that not everyone wants to read that much text in a forum-style setting, so I try to be considerate.

But I always seem to get a comment that it's "too long, didn't read."

Well really? I did warn you that it was about twelve pages long, and I'm not forcing you to read it. What's the point of telling me that you didn't read it because it's too long? If I were writing a story solely for the internet, I'd have chapters be closer to two pages in length. (Though two paragraphs in length seems to be the norm on one of the other sites I use... *eyeroll*)

My favorite comments though are nice long ones that break down parts of my writing that the reviewer either found to be written poorly or grammatically incorrect, or especially liked. Of course, not everyone likes to take the time to do that even with short pieces, but it makes those rare long comments even more special.

I dislike when people only correct my grama and tel me nothing about how the plot is. I know I have one of the worst grama; I just wish they would tell me something about my writting that I did not know already.
I love writting I just loath the gramar part; weird but true.

Ooh, I forgot. This has never happened to me, but I've seen it so often on other sites. One user will post a critique, short or long, good or bad, whichever. A second user will simply quote the critique and repost it. No "I agree." No "so-and-so is right when they say blah and maybe you could also blah." Nothing. Just a re-quote.

That drives me up the wall. Just post and say you agree with so-and-so without quoting them, or don't post at all! The author can see the critique already, they don't need you to quote it so that they can see it again. If you're going to add new information to what the first person said then that's fine, but use some common sense. It just causes needless scrolling.

I haven't posted much of my work here on Menewsha, but I have posted a few stories on FF and some one-shots as well. But on my first "story" I posted on there, the first review was nice, told me that the way I was going was in a good direction - blah, blah, blah, no real criticism, just telling me to go in the direction I was headed, and then the more common comments I get on that story is something like this:

"ffreedom do feel amazing ! :D sadly i dun feel it often :( ! LOOL well thank u for dis chappy and keep it up with every thing! :D update soon"

My internal response was: "WHAT THE EFF ARE YOU SAYING?"

And I also hate those generic responses: "Good job, update soon." Because that sort of review doesn't actually make me want to write. It kinda makes me want to put my head through a wall.

Another thing that irritates me on FF was that there was a fanfiction I was writing on a particular series, and it got about 500 hits the first day, and 4 alerts 2 favorites and 0 reviews. Which made it even harder because that was a subject I had never written in before, it was like pulling teeth to coax them into telling me if they liked it or not. Then after the first person reviewed - just about everyone after them posted generally the same thing. "Was at first turned off by the OC but once I got into the story I really liked it."

Sooo, do you like the OC? Was she crap? Should I scrap her after this story? Didn't like that it was more action than romance at first? When DID you get into it?

When I write reviews I make it a point to tell them exactly how I feel, and if I didn't find anything that jumps out at me to correct I tell them what I did like about it, how I felt about the characters, how the emotions were portrayed - IT'S NOT A LOT OF WORK TO GIVE DECENT FEEDBACK, and it makes writers love you more.

I also don't like it when people review because they think they're going to get a shout-out for being awesome. I've seen this a loooot, right after someone thanks a particular reviewer for an especially detailed review, people instantly are all: "Nice job!" Which does NOT warrant a shout-out.

Originally Posted by PerfectlyPervertedKitty

I dislike when people only correct my grama and tel me nothing about how the plot is. I know I have one of the worst grama; I just wish they would tell me something about my writting that I did not know already.
I love writting I just loath the gramar part; weird but true.

Well that's the thing. Many people go into the idea of saying "I want to know about my ideas" okay, okay, your ideas are good--but you can't write them out? I suppose you could write them out, have someone edit your work, and then read it and see how it came out. But the problem with that is, when is it really your work? If you lay out things. Let's say you do not write complete sentences. So--random acid trip, let's say? You're seeing these beautiful things, and you're typing.

"Beautiful tree, green dragon flies by and look at me. My dog jumps and the tree next to us is eaten by the giant mosquito wanting to kill us. Said to us "Leave now.""

Well--an editor is going to correct that. technically all the editor would have to do was step outside of the first person--make it third person, and it's no longer technically yours. That's why people correct grammar. But, it is true, as well, that we should not discourage you from writing just because your grammar sucks. It's true and grammar is a hard thing to master. When does one use a comma? Or a semi-colon, why haven't we learned how to master a semi-colon? I do not know the answer--but, I will say this. If you want critique on both, write: "Critique: How are my ideas? Answer that first then comment on grammar please." Once again, edit it yourself and make the sentence structure the best that you can, because if you cannot convey your ideas, how are we supposed to know how good they are?

I dislike criticism that isn't constructive. Although I don't want to get criticism at all, of course (because who does?), at the same time I do appreciate someone that takes the time to give me constructive criticism so I can better my writing. However, negative comments aren't good for ANYTHING.

Also, I'm not a huge fan of "that was good" because it doesn't really help anyone all that much. You know?

Love my work, hate my work, I don't care how you feel about it, but if you leave a comment just saying "I love it" I disregard the comment. I want depth in comments, why do you hate my work or why do you love it? It just makes me feel like I'm attracting the wrong intelligence level when all I get is an "OMG I love your work." What really makes me smile, however, and I believe is the only exception, is when someone says "I usually hate poetry, but I love this!" I have gotten a few of these before.

The worst thing that's ever happened to me (part of the reason that I hate writing fanfiction) is that I couldn't post updates on a story OR give any updates on my existence for two months due to life isues.... I came back and people had started writing the story for me in the comments. I couldn't believe my eyes. I had thought there would be more respect. I mean...you just don't touch another person's characters! If they don't come back, they don't come back.

I really dislike when someone just plain tells me my work is bad. It irritates me. Also, when they tell me my work could be a lot better and I look at their writing and it's terrible!
Just makes me so darn mad. >.<

I love getting criticism, but only really when it's helpful.. I mean c'mon. Sometimes I need help with finishing a piece or just a general idea on how it's coming along.

Hmmm. I used to be on gaia a lot and no one ever helped me, honestly. There were idiots who just told me my work was terrible and there were n00bs who were like "LOLILIKEURWORK!~!!1!1!"

>.O
Frustrating. Very.

Pretty much any time someone says something negative and doesn't elaborate or explain the negativity. I could say that people saying my work is good and not elaborating on that are annoying, too, but at least they don't make me feel like crap with their comments. They're equally as empty, but they're not as hurtful as the people who just say "this sucks, try again." Those stick with me longer, and I notice them more (which might be what these people were going for in the first place) and it's easy to see some supportive, empty comments and go on with my day. It's not so easy to just see "this is crap" and go on with my day.

Also, I've gotten "tl;dr." Those anger me so, so much. I can't even put it into words how much those anger me.

i hate flamers.
Seriously, guys, i do have a temper. and if you flame me, i WILL chew you out. an eye for an eye. my patience isnt the best when it comes to, well, stupid people, and simply posting "u suck" and leaving, all youre doing is egging me on! It's like, okay, if i suck, WHY do i suck??? I love constructive critisism, but posting "u suck" ISN'T CONSTRUCTIVE! it just ticks me off to no end.

Don't get me wrong, compliments are nice, but to an extent.
Posting "OMG I LOVE THIS KEEP POSTING I NEED MORE *DROOOOOLLLLLL*" doesnt exactly help...
if i really am that awesome, tell me why. what did you like about it? And, come on, you know i did something wrong. Tell me.

But, i really hate it when i get a bunch of views yet very few comments, even though i specifically ask for constructive critisism! Because it makes it obvious that they read it, didnt like it, and left. if you dont like it, TELL ME! No flaming, though, just tell me what was bad about it. Talk about my grammar, details, setting...Really, anything that's NOT "u suck".

EDIT: Hey, Seblocry, i found an example of exactly what you and me hate!

OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED MORE!!! Yes, I missed you and your stories!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP POST!! O, already said that. Ah well, just please? Post?

Notice the obnoxious squeal? The constant "POST!"? The insane amount of exclamation points? Now all it needs is the classic typo of a "1" instead of a "!"...Oh, wait! HERE it is!

AWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!1!

Wow. Just...wow.

I hate it when people nitpick at every little mistake I make. It's like, "0.o, seriously? That's a minor mistake, no need to insult me for it." Another thing that seriously bugs me forever and ever is when I write something, and people start giving me this huge lecture as to what they think the story is about, and they have to be right, and it's like, "uh.....you're way off. That's not what I wrote/happened at all." I don't know if that makes any sense. ...>.>

What I hate to see in the comments I get is the mindset that being mean, putting in personal attacks and stuff like that amongst criticism makes the comment more much more valid and if a person can't take it, they shouldn't be writing. The mindset that it makes the critic look bad-ass and knowledgeable.

It doesn't. It makes you look like a pompous moron. You don't help people by emotionally and verbally abusing them. You help them by, plain and simple--no sugar added--showing them things they can do to improve.

All I want is for people to give me a list of things they were confused about, any errors, plot holes and give me more research materials. No sugar or spice needed.

I've never posted a fanfic on here before, but on ff.n I got a review in a language that I didn't understand. I think it was in Tagalog or something. You couldn't even imagine how confusing that gets.

I very much disklike when people say. Good! and nothing else. ^.>