Well then,

There is a weird rift growing, and I think I’d like to toss in my opinion because,

well,

I’m funny that way.

When I first came to this site, I was a little on the sad and bewildered side. I had traveled through more than a dozen sites looking for someplace to be read. Most of the sites that I visited were really just social clubs under the guise of “short story” website.

The sites were broken up into cliques. Lots of little “we love each other” groups. Group A read only group A’s stuff. Group B read group B’s stuff. Group C … if you did not belong to one of the love clubs – you didn’t get read. Period. Forget picking up a comment on your work. You didn’t exist. These groups would just pretty much log on and spend the afternoon or evening fluffing each other. I was sickening.

When I first found this site, I read the comments and was amazed. When I joined and submitted there were something like a total of 500 short stories posted. My first submission, The Longest Walk, picked up 100 hits in 24 hours.

I realized that I had stumbled onto a site with starving readers. Imagine that. Here at Storiesville, everybody reads – it is not just a “post and then come back to check on my own story” site.

This was a site that was as interested in reading as being read. I did a little more research and found out something really remarkable. I started (at was easier back then as there were fewer users) chasing profiles using the comment sections. Here is what I found:

Profile: no stories submitted.
Profile: no stories submitted
Profile: no stories submitted
Profile: no stories submitted
Profile: no stories submitted.
Profile: no stories submitted
Profile: no stories submitted
Profile: no stories submitted
Profile: no stories submitted.
Profile: no stories submitted
Profile: no stories submitted
Profile: no stories submitted

Back at that time, the readers outnumbered the readers! And if you do a serious hunt right now – I believe that the ratio is pretty much the same.

I am a short story nut, and a word mill. I love reading as much as writing. In the beginning a person could come home and over a period of two days of casual reading – wipe out the new story window. It’s a little bit different now, we have grown so fast that the stories are flying by at an extreme rate of speed. How many stories you ask?

At 2:00 pm today:
Adventure 102
Romance 141
Humor 90
Mystery 58
Science fiction 120
Poetry – we didn’t even have that category a few months ago 168
Non-fiction – also new 8
Miscellaneous 452


But that ‘s not what I came here to talk about…

I am not a professional, although I do intend to be published at some point and am working in that direction. When I decided that I needed to wrap the 1135 series up, I had a ton of editing to do. It was more work compiling the notes together than I had thought. It was much harder to compile the notes than to write the finish. Thanks to the many comments that I got on the series, and the wonderful new and improved ability to edit on the fly – I was able to adjust my notes on line. My typical m.o. is to post a story and then adjust my story according to feedback regarding grammar, spelling, and sometimes I will even adjust my plot. Once my editors are done with it, I will pull it down off the web and resave it in my pc as the finished version. Commenting is a wonderful tool.

Commenting can be a deadly tool.

Many of the readers that we have here are just writers that have yet to take the plunge. They read my stories, they read your stories, they watch the comments, and they learn. Sooner or later, many are going to hit the button and make the transition from reader to reader/writer.

Quite a few, and I am amazed by the numbers, of the writers we have here are young. Some are really young. I, when I was very young, didn’t have the incredible tools that kids have today. Back then; unless you had a typewriter, you literally had to write. And on a piece of paper, I can’t do 70 words per minute.

Many young folks will give something like this (a serious vocation) a shot, and if they get hit too hard – may not get up from it.

Remember, that a story is a story. They are not being posted here because they are great works of art, they are being posted here to see what it looks like somewhere besides our own heads. Nor are we, as readers, truly qualified to say something will or will not succeed in the real world. So tread carefully when you decide to leave a comment that may damage a soul…

But that’s not what I came here to talk about either.

I need to talk about commenting, and how the writers, as well as the persons writing the comments handle it.

One reader in particular has come under fire. Not just because the reader will tell a person that he does not like the story line – or has found a loophole, or fatal flaw. The reader is also finding that pointing out grammatical errors is also taboo.

Does nobody else see the value in having a person that is grammar and punctuation intense? Somebody that has the ability to look past the words and at a glance find fatal editing flaws? My sweetheart has this ability and I am awed. I can’t tell you how many times she has saved me from looking like a fool on paper. God forbid that I get so out of touch that I think I can’t use another set of eyes telling me that my commas, semi-colons, periods, and question marks are out of place.

But listen, this is the most important part.

Everyone here is on a quest to get comments. Everyone here is on a quest to get ratings. So, if you are going to attack somebody on ANY of your stories because he/she found something that is not favorable to YOUR eyes to read – what is the motivation for ANYBODY to comment on ANY of your stories?

Your
Your
Your
Your
Your
Your
Your
Your
YOUR reader has a right to an opinion.

Get it? “YOUR”

THANK GOD THAT THERE IS SOMEBODY READING YOUR WORK.

In fact, if you remember, you were asking for it!

There is no merit in arguing with the person that left the comment. You are not going to change how this person perceives your story, any more than that person is going to get you to change your story.

Commenting on a comment, on a comment, on a comment, on a comment, makes the author look foolish (how do you properly defend your imagination?) and devalues the comment section. What could be more embarrassing than a story that you think is no where near as grand as your other stories, getting to the most discussed list simply because you ran a string of ranting and raving in the comment section? The comments won’t go away – your autobiography will still be there. When my story hits the most discussed list, I want the comment section to reflect that. I want it to be a story that I am proud to have been the author of.

If you are a writer and you get a comment you don’t particularly like – suck it up! Adding your opinion to their opinion has no value.
If you don’t want comments on your work, I can recommend a dozen sites for you to post on.
If you believe that the comment was way out of line report it.
If you REALLY want the comment to go away, delete your story and repost it.
If you want the person that commented to go away, go to the readers profile and ask the reader to not comment on your stories.

There are many ways to communicate on this site. The comment section is the last place to do other than comment on a story. If I find a comment that is too harsh, whether it is my story or not, I will go to the writers profile and address it directly in a polite fashion.

I make it a habit to try not to leave negative comments on a story, but the fact that you do not see it, does not mean that I have not commented further on it. Some readers read my comments and think that I just make a little fluffy noise then move on. Truth is, I don’t like to use public forums to express critical elements. I will hit the writers profile directly and offer my thoughts through a quick message. There is nothing to be gained in the comment section by reading that George misused a semicolon. I publicly comment on entertainment value (that’s why I read), all other comments by me, especially technical, I consider personal. I clearly state that I’m just another reader, and that my advice is just something I see – and has no true value in the real world. I will not attempt to smash another individual in public. Embarrassing or humiliating another is not what this site is about.

And that is what I came here to talk about.

This is your home, so do your part to protect it. Let’s keep it clean and honest. I have seen what a trashed, personality intense site looks like, and I do not want this to turn into one of those other “short story” web sites. If you have issues with a person on this site, approach it directly. Do not communicate through comment sections, hit that person’s profile and say hello.

AND

THERE ARE THOSE THAT FEEL THAT THEY DO NOT NEED HONEST READERS THAT ARE NOT AFRAID TO LEAVE AN HONEST COMMENT ON YOUR STORY, BUT I DO. AS I STATED IN THE BEGINNING, I VALUE THE READERS HERE.

IF A PERSON LEAVES AN HONEST OPINION, AND GETS ATTACKED – WHAT’S THE POINT?

WITHOUT READERS, WE ARE NOT WRITERS.


That being said, I’ll shut up now…

well, not quite yet.

wouldn't it be funny if the critic that is commenting on the technical aspects of your work, is a publisher that is looking for a truly creative mind that can accept technical criticism well?

You are absolutely right, sir. It would be impossible for me to say it better myself.

If I may, I would like to point out something.
When I first joined, I would check out what few profiles were up and running. I would see that they all had a few stories or even just one or two. These people would read, they would write, and they would comment.

The point of all this is that I check out the profiles of all these people who critique and criticize other writers and what do I find.

No stories submitted.

Is this somewhat hypocritical, or simply because the person is to scared to submit a story, too afraid to have comments?

I'm not asking much, but I'd just like to see some of these newer users to get some stuff in the system.

And as for comments? Sure I have a tendency to notice errors, but a good story is entertaining, not necessarily correct.

If you do the math , I've only been a member of this site three hours more than tarhead...I've seen the trend, people who just want to hear how lovely their story is and not the reality of it. That's why I came to this site in the first place, because everyone knows school is no help at all. (Really what good is the knowledge of the quadratic formula and the two people who founded Brook Farm good for?)

'He has the right to critize, who has a heart to help'- or something like that, I can't remember who said it (I think it's a misquoted Lincoln), but I think it pertains to the situation or part of it.

I'd also like to point out that the first story I have on here is the first story I ever wrote...I only started writing short stories this year (I've been writing poetry for 3 years now) and all the comments, however honest, have made me a better writer.

I feel the need to add my two cents here since I know that I am one of the ones you speak of. Criticism I can handle, and I do mean that. What offended me about the negative comments on the story were more than about my story. I can handle grammatical fixes, I can handle that he didn't like the subject. What I didn't like was that he was making a comment about how he hated the character and how she acted. Whether or not we like the character in a story has no bearing on the way it was written, nor should it get in the way of the story itself.

In my case, this story wasn't necessarily autobiographical, but it does portray about how I feel about another human being. So in essence, I feel like I was being personally attacked, like why am I so stupid that I can't get away....he has no idea about the circumstances of my feelings. If he wanted to criticize my story and by all means go for it, tell me you hated the main character and so be it, but don't tell me you hated the story for the way she felt. People have no control over their feelings. Keeps us from being robots. You can hate characters for who they are and how they behave without hating the story.

I have read your story,it was good and i understood why the character took those actions. Don't we write to provoke people, so when they stop reading they think about our story.
He didn't agree with your character, so what.He took the time to read your story and comment on it. It must have provoked him , maybe even angered him slightly but don't we write for that.
You have your story on the frontpage because it touched people.I dont agree with people telling others that the story is crap and they have no future in writing but thankfully that hasn't happened here.

I think the main issue is respect. I agree with tarhead, I have always thought that people can say what they like or don't like, I am even guilty of recommending a proof read myself on occasion.(hypocrite my work has heaps of flaws) But if you are going to say something like that, and show heavy sarcasm or are condescending, even insulting, then you are not just sharing your opinion... you're being offensive.

I agree with you completely Tarhead. Also I've tried on those clique sites. I found this thank the Lord, and now I am read and commented on by other great writers as yourself. This article is a great on. Very long though...