:(

[sherryillk]

I just got admonished by a mod on the Snupin gift exchange website. How very mortifying! Someone should have told me critiques are generally considered bad form when it comes to gift fics! Why has this never come up before? If I had known, I would have been more careful! :( Gah, this has me all depressed now... T_T I don't like people thinking I did things maliciously when I was just making a comment about a story... If you state a truth about something, it doesn't really make it bad or good, right? I thought it was just constructive... Apparently not. Oh well, I'll just refrain from reviewing anything that isn't awesome anymore since apparently it's considered bad etiquette. :(

Although truthfully, this sorta sapped the joy out of things... I don't really want to leave any more comments now. Who knows what would be considered bad and get me kicked off the site? I love Snupin fics! That'll be such a crushing blow... :( Anything short of glowing has a chance of being considered critical... I went and deleted all the other reviews that I've made that weren't of me raving about the fic. *so don't want this to happen again*

*wants to crawl under a rock*

Now I'm going to be self-conscious about all the reviews I leave for the various gift exchanges going on now... I feel like someone should have posted something somewhere about not leaving constructive reviews for gift exchanges. It wasn't even a mean one and was very mild in my mind. I didn't even think anything about it... But obviously it's raised a red flag so I guess it wasn't as tame as I thought it was. :( Was this just understood? Did I miss something that said "don't say anything if you can't say anything nice, even if it's true and said neutrally"? Gah, I feel so horrible about this... T_T *totally fails*

Comments

[mithril-56.livejournal.com]

Feedback?: Yes please
Feedback?: No thanks

It should really not involve any more than that imho. It gives the writer total control and leaves the ambiguity out of the equation. Anyone asking for feedback should realize that feedback means 'tell me what you think', and that means praise, concrit, or a mix of the two. You really can't stop those who intend to flame, so there's no point of attempting that at the writer level. Flamers should be addressed by the mods of other comm members, but not, imo, concrit (at least not if the 'feedback' box is checked 'yes'.). Of course this is just my two cents worth :>

[mithril-56.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm going to amend the above to include one other feedback option:

Feedback?: Tell me you love me (puppy dog eyes) :>

I think this is legitimate. You're asking for positive reinforcement, and, to me at least, is fairly clear that you're excluding concrit. I think that's fine. Like Mahaliem said, fanfic writers do what they do for a variety of reasons. Some want concrit, some don't, and again, that is just fine. My point is fairly simple; if writers would think about the 'feedback' section and be honest when they fill in that box, then readers know what's okay and what's not, and if they're civil will respect that request. Again, flamers are just outside the range of civil, and mod or comm intervention is probably needed for that. But if you knew the writer didn't want feedback at all, or at least no concrit/critique/review in particular, then choosing the appropriate option for the feedback segment would have given you all the information you needed to make the right choice and *not* receive a mod scolding.

[sherryillk.livejournal.com]

I think civil is a bit subjective. I had truly thought I wasn't writing any flames or anything inappropriate so this blindsided me a bit when it all came to a head. I really had to look back on them and see where I went wrong to fully get it. While they're were borderline, someone could see them as being too critical or felt like I subtly implied something because I hadn't said anything encouraging or positive along with them to balance things out. A well-rounded comments is probably best at all times, but only if the author is receptive to them. That a way even those authors who are fine with getting only concrit would also get something nice to show them their readers appreciate them. At least this is what I came up with after thinking about it for the last two days.