You know, I finally went over there and took a good look at more than just the flaming, and I have to side with Negrek here. I mean, seriously. You start off by practically flaming the author to begin with with three tiny lines that point out no specifics or offer any sort of advice on how to improve on what he's doing. I mean, "That's too short to be a chapter?"
Really? First off, you've got to learn that it's not quantity you're looking for. It's
quality. It's perfectly possible to have a chapter that's less than a thousand words so long as you say everything you need to say in a decent manner.
Then, you go and essentially "set" the chapter for them without further explaining what it is you did to correct it and why you did that. I'm sorry, but what?
Haz, I want you to assume something for a moment, and it's a very unfortunate thing. Assume that the author doesn't know the things you're trying to tell them. You can't just show them or leave it at one line. You actually have to explain things to them in detail, starting from a description of
what it is you want them to do and ending with a description of
why it's better that way or why it's a standard. Otherwise,
they won't understand what you want them to do. (Notice how the author basically copied your post and pasted it into theirs but didn't touch the rest? Yeah, um, that's most likely because they don't know what it is you corrected and how to correct things themselves in later chapters. Not to mention a reviewer =/= a beta. Don't do things for them. Explain the basics so they can fix things themselves later on.)
Also, for the love of all things good, please proofread your reviews. You try to correct the author's grammar, and aside from the fact that you skipped over a lot of them anyway (namely the ones associated with punctuation and capitalization in dialogue), you go and misspell "grammar." Look, it's cool that you want to improve the English language, but if you're going to comment on someone else's use of it, you really have to be careful about your own because otherwise, you'll come off sounding like a hypocrite.
Lastly, not to mention, you don't actually
mention much about the story itself. Really, was his story so uninteresting you couldn't be bothered to say anything about the plot or characterization? Yes, I sound like I'm siding with the author, but a grammatical commentary should only be a portion of the whole review. Not only that, but you also point out chapter length, which is something that can be picked up and noted with only a brief glance at the story. You don't mention anything positive (if there is anything) or anything about the story itself. As far as the author is concerned, all you did was read it to have something to nitpick apart, not for the actual content of it (and the execution thereof).
In general, yeah, I can see why the author reacted the way he did: because you gave him an opening to do so. I mean, if you told him exactly why you correct grammar in a fic (because it's easier for people to read and because, just like you don't half-ass rock climbing, you don't half-ass writing, even if it's a hobby), he'd have less of a reason to argue. (And if he still did, he isn't worth your time.)
I'd hate to be extremely blunt about this, but it's a problem I've been seeing now and then with PFF&P reviewers lately too. Look, it's fine and dandy that you want to point out that someone screwed up, but you can't just stop halfway (or even less than that) and be done. You actually have to go all the way and do some explanations. Otherwise, the mistake's just going to happen again and again because how exactly do you propose someone fix something when they don't know
how or
why?
Sparkling Dragon said:
Sure, Valentine said you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, but that horse just turned around and kicked you in the teeth, de gozatta.
Seriously, if the groupies gang up on you, chances are, you'll want to back down because you've got nothing to gain. The author won't listen to you because he'll listen to the groupies more than you, and you'll just make them want to flame you more by insisting on coming in. If you try to fight back, unless you happen to be an epic member of the community, you're going to end up looking like an idiot.
Moreover, again, horse. Water. Can't force it to drink. How far do you have to go to force people to see things your way? By ripping them apart too? Imagine this. You're going along, and all of a sudden, someone says you're doing something wrong because it's just not to their tastes. So, you go along a bit further because you might not know what they're talking about, and all of a sudden, they jump on you and try to ram their point down your throat. Not exactly pleasant, right? Same concept. Even if the others in the comm are flaming you, just pushing your issue will continue to piss them off.
And seriously, if they're
really flaming you,
use the report button. Every forum has one, and most forums have mods and rules against flaming. Instead of whining that you're being flamed, go tell a mod and see what they do about it. If they don't do anything, find a better community.
At the risk of sounding hypocritical, has
anyone (besides Bay) read Reviewing and You, or was that just a rant to myself?
