FicWad

Call it paranoia if you want, but over a decade ago, people were obsessed with ways of getting more comments, scheming to hold chapters hostage until they receive a certain number, or promoting the well-intention-ed Review Initiative where readers would make a vow to comment on every single thing they read, or read and added to their favorites, and as much as I agree, it’s nice to receive more comments, as a reader, these types of schemes and obsession was rather off-putting. I didn’t like the tone behind being expected to comment on everything I came across (even if I liked it) so I hid what I read as much as I could. Most of the time, I just wanted to read a story to occupy time, and most stories filled that need, so commenting with, “It filled my time,” wouldn’t have been a nice gesture, especially since most stories I read from start to finish are just “meh.” Good enough for me to keep reading, but not so much that there were many memorable points.

But what does anyone expect when reading online stories for free, especially when they were more than likely beginning drafts, right?

Thankfully, the obsession with comments has died down. Somewhat, at least. Or so I thought. These topics tend to reemerge from time to time like the tide. While receiving comments are still the gold-star of reader engagement, a few weeks ago it seemed as if some writers had come to realize that this expectation to express any opinion in words is putting unneeded pressure on readers, so any sort of passive interaction, such as hits, likes, up-votes, kudos, or adding stories to their favorites list or bookmarks, is what writers were after, if they were unable to receive any active engagement. If we want to get more technical, people were (are?) still obsessing with ratios between reads and readers, or readers and favorites or kudos or whatever it is they’re personally aiming for.

Wanting more comments have been coming back around on Reddit these latest weeks, but, thankfully, they haven’t reached the obsession ten years ago had.

So, does that mean that I have been commenting on stories now that the pressure to comment has dwindled?

Nope.

Now, on the rare occasions I do want to leave a comment, I’m now being pressured on what type of comment I leave, and as I had already shared with you in the previous article in this series, I hate being told what to do and how to do it, especially if I don’t see what I’m doing is wrong.

It has recently come to my attention, that leaving any sort of criticism, whether it be a minor nitpick, like an insistent spelling error, or pointing out major issues that hindered my being able to read the story, without asking the writer if I could leave such a comment is considered rude. Any little piece of criticism is now screenshot, posted to Reddit for the masses to incinerate, and have random strangers stroke the writer’s ego.

And people are wondering why they haven’t been receiving as many comments lately.

Writers are posting a subjective, artistic craft (most likely a beginning draft with, at most, light editing and revising) on a platform open to millions of people world-wide with differing etiquette, social norms, opinions and experiences, ranging from barely-teens to the elderly, featuring an open dialogue box, and these writers expect any and all comments they receive to contain nothing but glowing praise? I hate to burst your bubble, and call me a cynic if you want, but your utopian viewpoint will never be possible, and I’m not going to pretend that it could . . . if only every single person in the world followed along with these unwritten rules that are supposedly common sense knowledge. Good luck with that. Sharks would sooner bring their own bib to a feeding frenzy.

I have seen all sorts of excuses.

It’s Called the “Comment” Box, Not a “Review” Box

This is a nitpicker grasping at any straw they can grab, but guess, what? They’re all straw and they’re all the same length.

Reviews are someone’s opinions upon a subject stated in a critical fashion. What are opinions? Commentary statements. What are commentary statements? Comments.

Whether it be called a comment box, or a review box, they are the same thing: a box for open dialogue that readers are able to use to communicate to the creator and give feedback.

Archive of Our Own is an Archive.

If AO3 was purely an archive, there wouldn’t be an open (by default) dialogue box at the bottom of the stories. The dialogue box is no different than any other comment box on any other writing or creative platforms, and these other platforms also view themselves as an archive, just with more social media-like features to go along with it. Just because it isn’t in the name, doesn’t mean it isn’t one.

If You Want Critiques, Go to [Insert Site]
I’m already a member of numerous writing sites because different types of readers prefer certain websites, and not everyone reads on all of the websites. I want to hear from a variety of readers from all sorts of places. I want to hear from readers that happened to have passed by my stories, clicked on it, and read it from any site they are most comfortable using that they found my story on. I want to hear what grabbed their attention out of the hundreds of stories posted next to mine, what made them decide to read that one out of all of the others, and what about it kept their attention for however long. I want to hear the good and the bad from the readers casually strolling by. I don’t want to have to go somewhere else just to receive critical feedback from certain types of readers who only occupy one or two sites.

Critique circles and beta readers serve a noble purpose, and I commend them, but I have tried my hand at them, leaving my story link in an ad and then having to find a story I would love to read to reciprocate (to find there isn’t one I’d like to read and enjoy taking my time to critique), only then to either get half-assed commentary, if any, in return. Perhaps I’ve just had rotten luck, or maybe I was impatient, but, even if I did find good betas and critique groups, I’d still want to hear from the casual readers strolling by on all websites I post my work on.

No One is Qualified to Leave Proper Constructive Criticism

And you’re qualified to write stories and post them online? Is your writing flawless, golden masterpieces that are considered untouchable? I think not.

Do you know how you get better at writing stories? Feedback and practice. It’s the same with giving constructive criticism.

Somebody left a vague comment saying your pacing was too sloppy? Press them for examples. Which chapter? Why did the reader feel it was too sloppy?

Somebody stated your character was a Mary-Sue, and left it at that? Ask them to rephrase their comment without using “Mary-Sue” and to be more specific, because you get nothing from the phrase “Mary-Sue” or other generalized, vague, lazy, shortcut terms. If they don’t comply and rephrase, you’re free to ignore them (and delete the comment on some sites).

Somebody was factually incorrect about stating your spelling was wrong? Correct them. You may come from a place that has a different spelling, or use different symbols for dialogue, and this person may simply not be aware. Now they’re aware and won’t make that mistake in the future.

Do you think I haven’t had readers disparage me because I chose to skip lines between my paragraphs rather than indent? For some reason, some readers particularly on QuoteV, find stories that aren’t indented absolutely unreadable to them, even if there is a skipped line, and even though skipping a line between paragraphs is considered professional in online media?

I also didn’t know it was normal for stories written in Tagalog to also contain a lot of English, like a mish-mash of the languages (Taglish), which I would have never known had I not talked with people.

This is how readers learn how to critique better, just as you can learn how to write better.

Not only that, these are the people reading your stories; these are the people you’re advertising and marketing to with all of your tags, the rating, the genre, the warnings. Why are you insulting them just because they didn’t like something about your story and have an opinion on it?

Plus, some of your readers are also writers, so they may know a thing or two. While it is ultimately up to you to decide whether a piece of criticism was helpful or not, and whether or not you want to hear more from readers, we’re on equal footing here. Your readers are no better or worse than you, and websites aren’t catering to readers more than writers as much as some would like to believe.

At the end of the day, all constructive criticism is are someone’s opinions, which don’t have to influence you, yours, or anyone else’s.

Stories are Gifts, You Wouldn’t Criticize a Gift, Would You?

If someone gave me a cheesecake for my birthday, I would say, “I am so sorry. I’ll still try a bite, but I honestly don’t like cheesecake.” And since people usually ask “Why not?” I will absolutely tell them why I don’t like cheesecake in general, and how their cheesecake is still just as not-good as all of other cheesecakes I’ve had. It may even be worse.

But that’s clearly not the same thing as posting criticism under a story, published for the world to read, and is a false equivalency.

Posting stories online for the mass public to consume does not equate to it being a personalized gift for someone, not that personalized gifts are excused from criticism either; I would just word it a lot more politely and sugar-coat it a ton (if I wanted to keep that person as a friend).

“See this design I embroidered? Isn’t it nifty?”

And since we’re all in an embroidering circle, I could say, “Hey, that looks awesome, but I can’t help but feel that the chain stitch may not have made that line as crisp as you wanted it. Have you considered this stitch instead?”

We’re all in this writing circle together, and we all have opinions that you may not like or want to hear. You can leave the circle if you want to, you can say you don’t want criticism and aren’t open to comments, but, unless you are the moderator or administrator of the circle, you don’t get to make the rules for everybody else. Especially not for me.

But It's a Free Story

My comments are free, too.

You’re welcome.

Just because your story is posted publicly for the world to be able to read for free, it doesn’t negate that it’s a story. It’s supposed to invoke emotions in the reader, such as a painting invokes emotion to the viewer. It’s art. It’s subjective. Readers aren’t all going to have only one interpretation or reaction, and not every reaction is going to be a positive one.

The story was written with a lot of imagery and flowery language? To some, that would be a beautiful reading experience, while to others, it may feel like walking through sludge trying to get to the point. Some may love reading Amanda McKittrick Ros, and others may prefer Agatha Christie.

The story had numerous complex plot points building up, characters meet, fall in love, have sex, have more sex, and more sex, and then suddenly you’re only three chapters away from the ending and none of the plot points had been addressed for quite some time, and I’m not sure if they’re just going to be more sexy times or if the last chapters are going to hastily tie up the plot points. Neither situation would be a satisfactory read to me, but others would say “Who the heck would complain about reading sex?!” Me. If I feel it detracts from the plot and conflicts that had been established and built up.

Every kiss crashes and the characters fight for dominance with their tongues? Some would say “passionate.” I say, “Stale.”

There had been discussions lately about the use of “cock” and “pussy” in sex scenes, with some replying, “It’s all porn, anyway!” No! I mean, yes, it’s a sex scene, and it’s meant to be arousing, but there is a huge emotional difference between erotica, where the physical pleasure is the main goal and focus both between the characters, and romance where if there is a sex scene on the page, its focus is more on the characters developing an emotional bond through the act of sex. “Cock” and “pussy” would be fine and dandy in erotica, but it may come off as vulgar in romance. And even if it was erotica, if you just use “cock” and “pussy” every single time, like crashing kisses with the pair fighting for dominance, it can get stale.

Despite having adverse opinions on some aspects of the story, I may still enjoy reading it overall. Shouldn’t that count for something?

But, if it doesn’t, and you don’t want to hear it, then use the tools you have and moderate your comments how you see fit.

Keep in mind, I would never defend someone who tells others to kill themselves, quit writing, or encourages a mob to gang up on anyone, but I am defending the right for readers to have differing opinions and reactions to the media they engage with. Seriously, fuck Critics United and anyone that still associates with them or harasses writers just to get them to delete their stories just because they didn’t like the story. Critics United may say “it’s because the story broke the site’s rules”, but harassment is never necessary. Report it and move on.

I’m Just Showing Off My Hobby. It’s a Violation of My Personal Boundaries if Someone Gives Me Constructive Criticism.

Then say so! Say what kind of criticism you welcome, if any. Put it in the author note, or the summary, or where-ever on the story that can be clearly seen to let your potential readers know instead of hidden somewhere on your profile page that readers may not click on before reading your story, or buried in the comments section after someone else left some criticism, or hidden midst your insane tags list that people may choose to hide because they don’t want to be spoiled by your other tags, and then act surprised and enraged when you receive more criticism because no one saw you didn’t want any criticism. Put it in more than one place, if you must!

No one knows what your boundaries are unless you say so where everyone can see it. Your readers may be able to read your story, but they can’t read your mind.

I’ll Get Less Comments or the Trolls Will Get Me if I Say I Don’t Want Criticism

Well, just like it’s a risk of receiving harsh criticism from random strangers all over the globe if you keep your comment box open, that’s just a risk you’re going to have to take if you keep your comment box open and say you don’t want criticism.

Just like it’s a risk of me angering so many people just for posting this little series, and I’ll no doubt hear from them in the comments section or through my emails. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve angered people with my opinionated articles.

People can be absolute assholes, I know, but that is a risk, and you can moderate your comments to receive or display less of it. You can also block people and/or report them for harassment if it gets bad enough. Heck, you can hire a friend to comb through your comments before showing you. No one can take those rights away from you. You have tools. Use them.

Why Can’t People that Want Criticism Just Say So?

Some of us do roll out the “criticism welcome” mat on our stories, but this does nothing to help those who don’t want criticism from receiving any. The onus isn’t on writers who encourage critical feedback without asking permission to foster a welcoming community, and it’s not the fault of readers who don’t know what your boundaries are. You don’t mind someone pointing out SPAG errors, but absolutely don’t want to hear about your narration style, your plot choice, or that you write Canon/OC pairings? Say so. You don’t want any criticism at all? Say so.

You'll Make Writers Quit Writing!

Resorting to emotional blackmail now, are we?

Readers are not responsible for the writers’ motivation to write or to post their writing. Readers are not obligated to post their comments upon reading the story, nor are they obligated to censor their thoughts and feelings for the sake of the writer. The only thing both parties are responsible for, is keeping themselves in line with the site’s Terms of Service.

Criticism, whether it’s constructive or not, whether it’s “solicited” or “unsolicited”, does not violate the Terms of Service of any site I’ve ever been a member of.

But, let me play along with this just for a second.

Would it be the fault of the first reader who left the piece of criticism, even though the writer kept writing and posting after, or the reader who left the last bit of criticism that broke the writer’s will to continue? Or would all of those readers who left some tidbits of criticism be responsible? But what if this writer had received hundreds of times more comments praising the writer and the work? Shouldn’t that even out the score at least, or give something for the writer to keep holding onto?

Are you saying all of that praise doesn’t count for anything if someone posted, “8/10: the story kept me hooked, but the protagonist’s vapidity was annoying to read.”

And then there are the writers that moan about not receiving any comments at all and teeter on deciding whether or not to quit writing the story, if not writing altogether. . . . This is why writers need motivation outside of their statistics box. Why are you writing if you’re not enjoying the process?

It would be different if you were deciding whether or not to post the story, but not write it because others aren’t interested? That means you weren’t interested in it either, so why bother in the first place?

The writer can blame their readers all they want, but to stop writing, or to stop posting, is their choice. Readers aren’t holding a gun to their head while setting their computers or phones on fire.

If a writer leaves . . . OK. Bye. I’m sure they need the mental health break. They can take their time, and come back whenever they feel better, and I’m sure the hundreds of readers who loved their stories would be exhilarated to see them back.

But what if every writer quits?

They won’t. Not 100% of all writers will quit. Ever. Because I know I’m not quitting, so you can quit it with the exaggerated fear-mongering.

It’s Rude!

That is your opinion, which doesn’t reflect on mine. You don’t speak for the website staff, you don’t speak for other writers, and you don’t speak for me, just as I don’t speak for you, so cut it out with the blanket statement propaganda, and saying that people “should” ask for permission first, and that “most” writers agree with you. The fact is, every individual writer has their boundaries, and what they consider “rude” is up to each individual to determine for themselves. Not everyone agrees that giving “unsolicited” criticism is rude, which is why there’s a volatile divide. That’s why you are more than welcome to state your boundaries in the author notes of your story to let readers know which camp you’re in.

I may not agree with each piece of criticism I receive, and I can say for myself if I found the phrasing of the criticism rude, but I don’t believe the criticism itself is rude because I acknowledge that people will have different experiences while reading my stories or my articles or whatever I decide to put out into the world to consume. I’d like to consider the pieces of criticism in good faith that the commentator had good intentions.

But, apparently, even well-meaning praise can land readers into hot water with some writers.

One user titled his post on r/AO3 “Unsure if this is rude or not” in a response to this comment:

You can’t just leave this hear [crying emoji]

I need more lore

Perhaps this user comes from a different place, and doesn’t yet understand the nuance English can have because English isn’t their first language, but there’s been more and more posts similar to this, and I don’t think every one of them has English as a second, third or fourth language.

And some writers question the readers’ reading comprehension~. . . .

The nuances of your suggestions ([redacted]) were quite delicate. It isn’t lost on me how much you’ve paved the chapters so that the characters are now so comfortable with each other, and I appreciate it. But hell if I can’t express my impatience XD I need more smut, please. Eventually I will finish the series and look for more of your work. But write more smut… detailed, lengthy smut, please. This is me begging.

Hell, indeed. The writer hated the fact that even though this reader was determined to finish the rest of the series, they wanted more from their favorite romantic couple. Do I fantasize more than what stories—original and fan fiction—contain? Yes. This isn’t an abnormal reaction. An abnormal reaction would be this reader threatening to commit murder or suicide if what they wanted didn’t happen. The reader has expressed in this very comment that even if it didn’t happen, they would continue the series, and despite it not happening (yet, if it would ever) that they are so far enjoying the ride. I doubt the reader’s begging is serious to the point where they feel their life hinges on it, but even if they stressed that it somehow did, it doesn’t mean it’s the writer’s job to reciprocate and insert whatever the reader wants. Respond with “Haha, I’m afraid not,” and move on.

Then there are comments on stories I felt were neither praise nor criticism, but merely a reaction to what they had read, such as this in “Anyone have a witty way to reply to this reader’s attempt at a backhanded compliment (I think)?”:

I’m finding it harder and harder to root for [character]. His behavior is abhorrent. I really don’t see whatever [character]’s seeing. I’ll continue reading because I’m curious about what comes next, but at this point I’m actively anti [character].

If the character in question is the main protagonist, and while the reader finds this character abhorrent, but still wants to continue reading, that means you’ve created an unlikable, but interesting protagonist. It’s a thing, and it seems you’re doing it well so far. Take the win and continue writing instead of lecturing that reader for interpreting that character as something different from yours.

Are readers role-playing in your comment section within your story’s universe or theorizing what will happen next? That’s pure, good, engagement. That’s a win! If you don’t want role-playing or theorizing in your comment section, say so in the author notes and turn on comment moderation. There, done, fixed.

And of course there’s the mysterious keyboard smashing, numerous exclamation points, heiroglyphic emoji’s that could mean anything, and the blunt “Update” comments. As annoying as they can be, and as much as you’d like for them to articulate why they like the story and want you to continue it, it’s still some sort of praise which was what you wanted, and what the readers were comfortable typing out. This is coming from the person who wrote “Things I Wish I Could Tell Reviewers Without Looking Like a Total Jerk”, that you can also find here, specifically snarking at these types of comments.

If writers can’t agree on what praise is, and have become so rigid on the types of praise they want to receive, why should I even try to censor myself, be well-meaning, and not say anything remotely critical about a work, no matter how small it is, when whatever I say positively about the story is going to be misconstrued as something heinous anyway?

Let’s say I do follow along with what the “majority” think and leave praise of the utmost perfection . . . now I have to worry about comments I leave on other people’s stories for fear of hurting another writer’s feelings?

In “I saw my regular commenters commenting on a really awful fic, and it’s making me feel upset” on r/FanFiction, the original poster, u/THROWAWAY_tt7650, was grateful about receiving praise from her readers, but upon their snooping, saw these same readers posting praise on other stories they deemed “really bad, like it was so bad.” They griped:

I feel upset for trusting their judgement. Now I’m worrying if I can believe any commenter at all. They say my writing is good, but if this is the standard, perhaps my writing is just as shitty.

. . . .

It’s like someone saying how amazing and delicious your cooking is, so you ask them how your new recipe is, and they say it’s the best thing they’ve ever had. Then you see them plunging their hands into the nearest garbage can and seize some rotting shit to eat and say, “Wow, this is so tasty!”

And this was after posting their disclaimer:

This is going to sound entitled, silly and incredibly self-absorbed.

No shit.

I was glad to see no one agreeing with this poster, but if all it takes is one writer’s feelings to change how readers choose to engage with content, I shudder to think how far free expression will be dismantled.

Let’s also say I did follow along with the rule of asking before leaving criticism. On “comments with critiques” in r/AO3, a reader left:

Omg this is so exciting [heart eyes emoji] I can’t wait for more ahhh, and if it’s okay I would like to say a little criticism if it’s okay, it would help out.

u/pilotjeans posted to Reddit asking for advice on how to respond, also stating:

. . . this is also meant as a way to complain about this. Mostly because I was always taught that any fan work is just that. Something created by a fan of something that’s later shared with others if they’d like.

Bruh . . . it’s not that deep. If you don’t want to hear what they have to say, then politely decline. That reader followed the rules and was still complained about on Reddit.

They followed the rules! They asked! They technically didn’t even need to and could have just left the piece of criticism with their comment, and this person still would have made the same post about them!

If readers feel like every comment they leave, no matter how innocuous, is going to be psychoanalyzed by a random panel of people and judged on public opinion instead of receiving a genuinely thoughtful reply from the writer . . . what even is the point of leaving comments at all anymore?

As FreshAloeVera put it on “Why leave a comment like this?”:

“This is why readers comment less and less.

Something they didn’t like ? Angry Reddit post.

Something they absolutely loved and the author takes it the wrong way ? Angry Reddit post.

Theories on what will happen next ? Angry Reddit post.

“That was great, thanks !” ? “Wtf do they want me to say to that” Reddit post.

And then, when there’s no engagement …. ANGRY REDDIT POST.”

Even crazier, someone complained about a reader bookmarking their story . . . and the username was something adjacent to “boring”, so the writer thought this person just went around bookmarking stories they found “boring.” What conspiratorial rabbit-hole did this person leap into? Because Evel Knievel couldn’t make that jump. The world isn’t out to get you!

If we keep on this path of praise-only trajectory, praise that used to be acceptable and joyous will turn hollow, meaningless, devalued, and writers will keep demanding for more to fill that void in order to feel self-worth. It will never be enough because writing has become less of a community surrounding a type of craft, and more of a competition to be most loved.

As Annber03 put it (“ I saw my regular commenters commenting on a really awful fic . . .”), “When even nice comments are viewed with suspicion because of things like this, I can totally see some readers being like, ‘Oh, for god’s sakes, I give up.’ It’s like one can’t win no matter what they say.”

I don’t care what the majority think, and I don’t think I should have to ask if criticism is already a known risk that you agreed to in the Terms of Service. It’s expected you’ll receive some constructive criticism some day and out of the blue, and it’s expected that you may get offended by comments you receive. Everyone feels a little hurt receiving criticism, that’s perfectly normal, and you’re absolutely allowed to feel upset, but just because you’re feeling bad, doesn’t make the criticism bad, invalid, or “rude.”

In the Terms of Service of most writing platforms, they specifically state “. . . you may be exposed to content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable,” and that includes what readers write in your comment section, but most Terms of Service also specify when the line is crossed into harassment, which is a reportable offense.

Starting with FanFiction.Net (FFNet) and FictionPress.Com (FPCom), of which I’ll refer to either as FFNet since they are sister sites and virtually identical, in their Terms of Service, under Use of Content on the Site, it says:

F. You understand that when using the FanFiction.Net Service, you will be exposed to User Submissions from a variety of sources, and that FanFiction.Net is not responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, safety, or intellectual property rights of or relating to such User Submissions. You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to User Submissions that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against FanFiction.Net with respect thereto, and agree to indemnify and hold FanFiction.Net, its Owners/Operators, affiliates, and/or licensors, harmless to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters related to your use of the site.

User submissions include comments.

Even though FFNet is well renown for being a cesspit of rude commentators (to which hasn’t been a large part of my experience on the site), even FFNet has rules about user’s behavior. Before being able to post stories to their site, you have to agree to their community and content guidelines, and you have to periodically reread these guidelines and click the “Yes, I have read and agreed to the content guidelines” box in order to post more stories.

Under the Community Etiquette section at the top, it states:

3. Respect the reviewers. Not all reviews will strictly praise the work. If someone rightfully criticizes a portion of the writing, take it as a compliment that the reviewer has opted to spend his/her valuable time to help improve your writing.

4. Everyone here is an aspiring writer. Respect your fellow members and lend a helping a hand when they need it. Like many things, the path to becoming a better writer is often a two way street.

Right off the bat, despite it just being fan fiction and someone’s hobby they can’t make money off of, this site encourages self-improvement, which means they also encourage constructive criticism from random readers. Can’t handle criticism of any variety, this site is definitely not for you. My only complaint is that they could have expanded more on this in terms of what “respect” means. Bombarding a story with “This is a Mary-Sue” every single chapter and “quit writing”, even after the writer asks for them to stop, would not be something I call respectful. In fact, it seems the only line that’s drawn is, if you attempt to report a comment, the drop down will list “Language: contains cursing or offensive language”, which could even apply to praise with “I fucking love this story!”

It’s rather unfortunate that certain groups have taken advantage of this well-meaning vagueness and ran amok with it, but I still have an overall good experience using the site. As a writer, and a reader.

But let’s continue on with more sites.

In QuoteV’s ToS, it states:

Please be courteous when leaving reviews. Know that there is a difference between constructive criticism and being rude. All rude/inappropriate comments will be removed. If a anonymous/reviewer becomes out of control, then they may be subject to banned access from this site.

QuoteV doesn’t think constructive criticism is the same thing as being rude.

Ghost of the Vanguard defines what flaming is and what can be done about it in their Submission Rules, specifying receiving constructive criticism isn’t the same as being flamed:

Flaming: Flaming is not allowed on the archive as we are mainly focused on giving out constructive criticism, and not to harm the self-confidence of our writers.

Constructive criticism can hurt, but the aim is never to go after the writer or to just tear down their work and tell them to give up. That’s what flaming is.

Wattpad has gone above and beyond in defining what is and isn’t allowed on their site, including abusive comments and what that means. In the ToS under “Your Content is Yours”, it states:

You’re responsible for the content you post. This means you assume all risks related to its publication and display including someone else’s reliance on its accuracy and any claims relating to intellectual property or other legal rights.

That includes receiving an array of commentary.

In their “Disclaimers, Limitations of Liability and Indemnification”, it states:

Release. When you use the Services, you release Wattpad from claims, damages, and demands of every kind—known or unknown, suspected or unsuspected, disclosed or undisclosed—arising out of or in any way related to (a) disputes between users, or between users and any third party relating to the use of the Services and (b) the Services.

Wattpad’s liability to you. Wattpad won’t be liable to you for any damages that arise from your use of, or in connection with, the Services and any content. This exclusion includes: (a) . . . (d) any conduct or content of other users or third parties on the Site or the Services.

While this is a statement that releases the website from taking responsibility from any disputes between users or third party services, they acknowledge that disputes and differences in opinions happen. We’re all human. It’s inevitable.

Wattpad also has a Code of Conduct, and they specifically talk about comments!

“Wattpad is a creative and global community for our users to enjoy. It’s important to respect the values of the community, but remember that you have a right and a responsibility to help uphold those values too. If you see a post with the aim of upsetting a member of our community, please report it by following the instructions here [link to report].”

Does “unsolicited” constructive criticism stated with respect and grace aim to upset the member of the community? Let’s see.

We build trust and integrity with each other.

By assuming the best in others, we bring out the best in all of us

Wattpad is a global community with different opinions and values. That means that everybody is expected to be respectful to users on the platform. Being patient and empathetic as we learn from the perspective of others is central to the power of storytelling. We apologize when we have made a mistake, and we grow from the experience. We believe in building trust through our words, actions, and behaviors. Fostering integrity creates a space for bringing out the best in all of us, especially when we can create bridges across different opinions and values. If you’re unable to resolve an issue yourself, or with the help of the Mute function, please report any abusive or inappropriate behavior.

I believe that constructive criticism, whether asked for or not, can be a way to build that bridge and help better each other in our craft, and it could be a great way of fostering friendship or camaraderie. I only comment on stories I like, even if I believe it has faults that can be improved on. Taking the time to compose a thoughtful comment on what I experienced while reading the story is my attempt at extending that community value, but I know not everyone agrees, and may see constructive criticism as a way to burn those bridges.

Let’s continue.

We engage each other with empathy, care, and respect

Leading through example, such as the Empathy Project, we build understanding through our actions.

By being compassionate with each other, we are committed to creating new avenues of empathy, care, and respect for others through the power of story. Constructive comments are welcomed, as long as they are given in a respectful manner. You may read content that you don’t like or agree with, but we are a platform that celebrates diversity, encourages expression, and fosters and safe and creative environment. While working to keep our community safer, we try to consider language and context.

Looks like constructive criticism is specifically welcomed on Wattpad, and this isn’t the first time Wattpad specifies what types of comments are and aren’t allowed. Let’s look at their Content Guidelines. Under “Talking about Others”, it states:

Sharing opinions on stories and the quality or style of writing is ok. We aim to create a safe community for everyone on Wattpad, so be kind, respectful, and please treat others as you would want to be treated, so don’t post any content that:

Bashes a user purely for personal reasons. Reveals any personally identifying information about other people, including private messages, photographs/videos. Due to the fictional nature of stories and the chances of real names being used coincidentally, we are unable to remove a work for having the same or similar name to a real person. Only if there is additional identifying information, such as the city you reside or your work/school, is there a violation of our content guidelines. Actively promotes violence or hatred. The promotion of hatred on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender, age, or sexual orientation, or content that is intended to bully, threaten, or harass others, is also strictly prohibited. General expressions of opinions are allowed, but they cannot be violent in nature or encourage others to attack Wattpad community members.

I think this sets a fine conduct to follow, not just on Wattpad, but on all websites, period.

And, yes, Archive of Our Own has their own Terms of Service and Code of Conducts for others to abide by, including:

“3. You understand that the OTW (O Transformative Works) does not prescreen Content or review it for purposes of compliance with the ToS. This includes but is not limited to work information, a work’s content, text, graphics, comments, or any other material. Content, including User-Embedded Content, is the sole responsibility of the submitter. You understand that using the Archive may expose you to material that is offensive, triggering, erroneous, sexually explicit, indecent, blasphemous, objectionable, grammatically incorrect, or badly spelled” (Terms of Service, E. Content you see through use of the Service).

They also pointed out under “G. Harassment”:

Harassment is any behavior that produces a generally hostile environment for its target. This includes activities such as bullying and hazing by groups of people as well as personal attacks by individuals. Not everyone agrees about what is offensive and unacceptable.

When judging whether a specific incident constitutes harassment, the team will consider factors such as whether the behavior was repeated, whether it was repeated after the offender was asked to stop, whether the behavior was targeted at a specific person, whether that target could have easily avoided encountering the behavior, whether the behavior would be considered unacceptable according to normal community standards, etc. Additionally, making complaints that are both (a) repeated and (b) baseless, particularly those targeting a specific user, can be considered harassing behavior and may be deemed a violation of the ToS.

While these complaints will be reviewed on a case by case basis, in general, threatening Content will be considered harassment, while Content that is merely annoying will be allowed. . . . Content that is harder to avoid (such as comments on the target’s fanworks) will be judged more strictly than Content that is easily avoidable (such as stories).

In fewer words, constructive criticism by itself does not equate to it being harassment until the creator tells the commentator to stop, and the commentator continues anyway, so tell me to stop, and I will. Simple as that. I’ll even go the extra mile to mute and block you so I never see your content and risk receiving your ire again, since I can only remember so many usernames and handles on websites with millions of members, and especially if you utilize pseudonyms.

I find it laughably ironic that the reason why AO3 exists in the first place was because no other website allowed explicit and taboo topics in stories and refuses to censor them no matter what—which is totally awesome, and I’m all for that—but it’s the writers that want to put absurdly tight boundaries in their open dialogue box, and whine and complain when others just didn’t get the memo they decided not to write in their author notes to not to critique a subjective piece of work for the masses to consume, and continue to not utilize the tools they have access to.

Leave an author note in the story, outlining your personal boundaries. You don’t even have to say why. A simple. “I’m not open for criticism” is more than enough.

Turn on comment moderation, or turn off commenting.

If you’re still receiving the criticism you don’t want, ask them to stop.

If they continue, block (and mute) them.

If they go through the hassle to evade your block and continue to try to communicate with you, report them for harassment. And report them every time. Don’t even respond to them.

If they somehow amass a mob to harass you, block and report them all. Detail it all in the comment section of the report.

Is it tiring? Yes, and trust me when I tell you I know. Because I know.

My very first fan fiction seventeen years ago became a target for the Mary-Sue Killers on FFNet. I had hoards of people telling me to delete my story and to quit writing. There were comments telling me to kill myself all because I was writing a “Mary-Sue” story. I ignored them when I didn’t get any clarity on what “Mary-Sues” were, and they continued to bombard my story with every chapter I posted. Someone copied and pasted my story on their Live Journal, adding their snippets of commentary calling my OC a whore MST3000 style. My username—yes, this very one that I’ve kept all of these years—was on a Wall of Shame on someone’s profile page, encouraging more people to go to my story to harass me.

Eventually, after nineteen chapters, I deleted the story, moved on to another fandom to continue writing fan fiction, and I hadn’t suffered through any trouble since, even on that same site.

Had I known how to block people, how to report people on FFNet and LiveJournal, able to delete guest reviews, or be able to turn off comments, that story would still be up, I probably would have finished it, and I would have been a happier writer. Instead, I spent over a decade obsessing over what “Mary-Sues” were, writing what I thought the term really meant, debunking all of these “Mary-Sue traits” myths out of spite.

That hasn’t changed much.

If after all of that, I still think criticism should be welcomed, whether it’s “unsolicited” or not, whether the source is reputable or not, whether I thought the way they phrased it as rude or not, whether it’s from one site or the other, despite a risk of being harassed, then why should I assume what writers want or don’t want?

To hit the point that members don’t speak for the website or its policies, I attempted to reach a member of the Policy & Abuse Committee on AO3 to have a more in-depth discussion about the Terms of Service and Content Guidelines to get some clarification, focusing on this topic of “unsolicited” constructive criticism, since this has been a hot topic on the AO3 Reddit group; however with the spambots and the cyber attack that shut the site down for a few days, I figured they had more important things to do than answer my questions. However, I was able to reach out to Tyme LaDow who was on the Policy & Abuse team for about two years and a tag wrangler for six years, ending their time with AO3 in 2020. AO3 has changed a lot since their tenure ended, so the policies and the enforcement behind them may have also changed, but our conversation has shed light on what went on behind the scenes during their time.

In the ToS/FAQ, there doesn’t appear to be a distinction between “comments” and “reviews”. Was there a distinction in the AO3 policies?

Internally, to my knowledge we never spoke about the concept of a “review” at all. A comment was a comment. The closest to talking about “reviews” we got, was when we discussed the difference between a bookmark and a comment, which involved discussing goodreads reviews as an equivalent to bookmarks.

So, specifically for the story’s comment box, as far as the “It’s a ‘comment’ box, not a ‘review’ box” it doesn’t matter. It’s an open dialogue box that readers are able to use for any sort of feedback and reactions (as long as it didn’t cross into harassment territory or break the ToS). Is this correct?

So, I have no memory of us ever even discussing the concept even. So, effectively yes. Its a feedback form. That’s the named main use. But its up to the creator to decide what they accept.

Under “How does the harassment policy apply to reviews?” it states, “Calling a Creator evil, wishing them harm, and repeatedly posting negative commentary in a manner designed to be seen by the Creator are potential examples of harassment.” Can you clarify or give an example of what “negative commentary” is?

When I was on the Policy & Abuse team, I didn’t handle too many harassment tickets myself but I did participate in a lot of the committee-wide discussions about the various bigger cases, so, mild grain of salt on this, but generally when it came to harassment cases, we only really classified it as harassment if it was something egregious or obvious. So, personal attacks, slurs against the creator, doxxing, ignoring a request to stop interacting, etc. Things like “repeatedly posting negative commentary” would usually be something that was a part of a larger case to help build a pattern of behaviour profile. So, if a user was commenting extremely borderline harassing comments (ie. Mild name calling in an argument, obvious antagonising comments, repeated overly critical comments, etc.) but doing it over and over and over, when we were looking at that we could much easier build a case to say their latest borderline harassing action was in fact harassment, over someone else doing a similar action without the obvious antagonising background.

Basically, imagine if you wrote a ton of a specific ship in a fandom, and someone commented on every work you posted with this ship and it was always something pretty negative and at times verged into harassment territory, but maybe it was that they called you ‘stupid’ once offhandedly in a much larger back and forth argument you were having, or really obvious bait to get you riled up, but it never quite technically crossed the line. And then they added a new work about that ship murdering one another graphically with an author note saying people who enjoy the ship are all terrible people and they added you as a gift recipient of that work. That shows obvious intention behind the action and a pattern of escalating behavior. Whereas if you posted a lot of a specific ship in a fandom and they never interacted with you but then posted that work and gifted it to you, it might be considered harassment, but its also very possible that they just made a typo on someone else’s username/clicked the wrong person in the dropdown. In that latter case, we still might have ended up ruling it as harassment, but we would have likely had to discuss it and argue back and forth about it at least a little bit. Whereas with the former case, we might have discussed it but we likely wouldn’t have needed to nearly as much if at all. So basically, repeated negative comments on their own equaled not harassment generally, but repeated negative comments PLUS some kind of escalation into harassment territory equaled pattern of behaviour giving context and motive to that harassment.

In cases of harassment, particularly repeated negative commentary, did it matter if the report came from a third-party (someone who happened to pass by and noticed the negative exchange and decided to report it), or did the reports have to come from the first party recipient of the negativity, the attacks, etc? I ask because on some websites, it has to come from the first party because only they have the context in full, and they have to decide whether something is considered harassment to them.

So, there are some cases where we did factor in if the report came from a 3rd party vs the recipient of the harassment. But it wasn’t anything to do with repeated negative commentary. Its was more edge cases and things where as a group we couldn’t come to a concrete decision and decided that if the harassed person didn’t think it was harassment enough to report it, then we wouldn’t take it as harassment. But it was pretty rare especially because we knew that with the limit on how many times something can be reported, it was possible the harassed person tried and wasn’t able to. So it was a rare occurrence.

I’m also puzzled by the passage, “in a manner designed to be seen by the creator.” There seems to be a consensus that bookmark comments (whether public or private) are for readers, and the comment box under stories are for the creators. Is there a hard line between what areas were designed to be seen by who, in regards to creators and readers?

Absolutely yes. We had a very distinct policy that bookmarks are a "reader's space" while comments were a "creator's space" with explanations about how bookmarks has a specific intended use-case to be used by potential readers to get unbiased opinions about the work and decide if they wanted to read a work or not, similar to goodreads. While comments were directed at the creator of the work, with only a secondary use-case being for readers to discuss the work in question provided the creator didn't remove your comments. AO3 wasn't built with the intention of being a social space for fandom. It was built as an archive. They just gave some abilities to leave feedback to the creator and make it so potential readers could more easily decide if they wanted to read the work or not (which came with secondary use-cases).

Let’s say someone had thousands of public bookmarks of stories all over AO3, from various fandoms and creators, left positive and negative feedback (in good faith with no personal attacks towards the creators) on each of these stories in the bookmark comments, and every creator reported these comments for harassment or other policy infraction, would it be an infraction? Would it be added to the behavior profile?

No. Bookmarks are pretty much never considered harassment unless its like insanely crossing the line (like if they doxxed someone, or went way, way too far with personal attacks). And since every report is taken case by case and only lumped together if its the same problem, we likely wouldn’t have even noticed if someone with hundreds of bookmarks got every bookmark of theirs reported unless it was very obvious that it was some form of harassment campaign (ie. Those hundreds of reports all came in within 24 hours) or if they were actually actionable. A bunch of invalid reports like you described would just clog up the system and that user would never ever know anything had happened related to them at all.

As far as “AO3 commenting etiquette” goes, specifically under stories, one camp of users say that by allowing the comment box to remain open (even after turning on moderation and turning off guest comments) instead of disabling it completely, creators are soliciting for comments and should not expect every comment they receive to be only one way (praise). Their default is that the comment box is open for constructive criticism until the author states their limitations.

The other camp with their myriad of reasons and arguments, ranging from “It’s just a hobby” and “this is an archive,” to “reviewers aren’t qualified to leave constructive criticism” say that to leave constructive criticism without asking for permission from the creator is rude, and their default is to ask permission first or not leave a comment at all.

Did AO3 have an official stance in this matter? When you volunteered, what was your opinion?

To my knowledge, we didn’t explicitly have a policy on this, but I can say that what it generally meant when we didn’t have a specific policy was that whatever it was, was allowed, regardless of distastefulness. There isn’t anything in the ToS that says being somewhat rude is an actionable offence, but there is a line that says “As provided in part I.E.3 of the Terms of Service, the OTW is not liable to you for any Content to which you are exposed on or because of the Service.”

Unless it violates some other policy, we will not remove Content for offensiveness, no matter how awful, repugnant, or badly spelled we may personally find that Content to be.” (emphasis mine), With part I.E.3 stating that “You understand that the OTW (O Transformative Works) does not prescreen Content or review it for purposes of compliance with the ToS. This includes but is not limited to work information, a work’s content, text, graphics, comments, or any other material. Content, including User-Embedded Content, is the sole responsibility of the submitter. You understand that using the Archive may expose you to material that is offensive, triggering, erroneous, sexually explicit, indecent, blasphemous, objectionable, grammatically incorrect, or badly spelled.”

(Emphasis mine).

So, what is “polite” or “normal etiquette” didn’t matter. What mattered was if it violated the written ToS rules. During my time, normal etiquette was that if you had something negative to say, you used the sandwich method to soften it and make it clear that you enjoyed the work the creator had done overall and just had some confusion/complaint/etc about some specific part. But even that has always been controversial with some creators. And on the other side, some creators love in depth critiques. My personal policy for what is good etiquette is that if you don’t know the creator is open to in depth critique, ask first, but for minor complaints, the sandwich method is fine as the creators can, and always could, delete your comment or disallow you from further commenting (though we have better tools for that now with blocking and thread locking). But in terms of my personal policy when I was volunteering, it was always that it didn’t matter what my personal opinion was, especially when it came to normal polite etiquette, because official policy is what mattered and official policy doesn’t care what the normal polite etiquette is.

Personally, I don’t like receiving or giving the sandwich style critique because that second bun always seemed superficial and a tossed compliment rather than softening the blow (no matter how sincerely I put it), so I do understand the controversy there. However, if that’s how some people prefer to critique, or if that’s how they want the critique of their work, I would like to keep that in mind, if only the creator would let readers know in some way.

Author’s notes are always an option to convey preferences to readers when they prefer certain types of critique/dislike certain types of critique. But also, in my experience of using the sandwich method, it sounds like the examples you’ve seen have been doing it wrong.

There was a thread a while back where a user tossed in an idea that AO3 could implement a Quora-like feedback system, where creators could opt-in if they wanted more critical feedback. Penana has this kind of system as well, using the “Suggest Edit” feature; although I wouldn’t go so far as they have by allowing readers to make physical changes. Of course, nothing is actually changed unless the creator approves it. However that idea was downvoted, and people were saying that this would be abused (as if the comment box couldn’t already be abused?). To me, this seemed to be an excellent way of saying “I’m not open for feedback and critiques, thank you” without saying it in an author note, the story summary, or getting buried in the comments section, but it was met with such recoil.

What are your overall thoughts on this, as far as the idea and the reaction it received?

My thoughts are that I’m not surprised it got downvoted. The culture on Quora and AO3 is vastly different in my experience and even then there are valid criticisms against the suggest edit feature even over there. It often got misused for ‘correcting’ correct international spellings and the like. And would be another vector for harassment that would just add to the overcomplicated as it is post form. Sure you would be able to turn it off/have to toggle it on, but people struggle with the current post form as it is. People complain about how to turn off comments/moderate comments because it confuses them. And it’s especially hard if they can’t read in english and have to translate the form. It was during my time on Policy & Abuse when one well known fan in Chinese fandom spheres posted a tutorial for posting on AO3 and they used One Direction as an example fandom since it was their fandom, and tons of Chinese people following it misunderstood and tagged whatever the correct fandom was and also 1D. It took months before we figured out what caused it and had someone reach out to the fan with the tutorial to make an edit to get it resolved. Hundreds of works had to be corrected since fandom tags are required to be correct. Adding another feature to be toggled on/off would just make it even more complicated.

I can think of a few other reasons like server strain and it being extremely antithetical to what an archive is, but don’t feel the need to go into details there unless you want some.

I’m not saying it’s a terrible idea. Its just one with a lot of cons compared to the number of pros it would bring.

As you could see, we don’t agree on everything, but I respect their opinions and how they choose to conduct themself online, while acknowledging that they're much more knowledgeable about how a website functions than I ever will. There may be more that they haven’t shared here because I didn’t ask the right questions, or didn’t follow up with something more closely.

They will ask you if they can share their uncensored thoughts with you about your story.

I will not.

My aim is to not hurt anyone’s feelings or make anyone give up writing with constructive criticism, but it’s inevitable that no matter how delicately I put it, someone’s going to be hurt, and I’m tired of walking on eggshells everywhere. To me, asking permission first is akin to “No offense, but. . . .” No matter what I say after that, I’ll more than likely offend you anyway, just as trigger warnings may just heighten your anxiety before engaging with the material. May as well just rip the band-aid off, and whether it be in your comment box, the AO3 bookmark, in a private Discord chat, or my personal reviewing blog, it makes no difference to your feelings. If you see it, you see it, and you will be hurt.

Just like if my comment gets screen-grabbed and posted to Reddit to be ridiculed.

Sharing my thoughts and opinions as I read your work is how I enjoy and engage in fandom and writing in general. It can take me hours to compose an in-depth comment about my reading experience of the story to the point that I’m fearful I’d reach the comment box limit, my comment would get cut, and I would have to rewrite it because I didn’t think to type it on a Notes app first. I always keep in mind that these are more than likely beginning drafts, and I know how much work goes into these stories, so I understand if writers just want to move on to the next project and not have to return to the same story to revise and edit. My comments aren’t aiming for you to “fix” your story. I’m sharing what I experienced whilst reading it, and if you happen to want to return to the story to spruce it up, these are simply my thoughts. You don’t have to follow what I wrote and make the changes I recommended. It’s still your story, and it’s your work, so your decision is the only one that matters.

“Don’t like; don’t read”? I only leave comments on stories I enjoyed, but stories aren’t perfect, and we all experience different things when reading them. A writing style may resonate closer to another reader than me. Someone may find all the little details inviting while I felt like I was being dragged along. Just because I found faults with something, it doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it. If I didn’t enjoy the story, I wouldn’t have bothered finishing it, let alone write a comment on it.

But, even if I did, it’s still your story. You can disregard it. You can delete it. You can block me. You can report it if it makes you feel better.

I’d rather waste those hours going ahead to compose my comment and see it get deleted, than ask, and wait for who knows how long before you reply, in which, if you said yes, I would then need to reread the story to refresh my memory. Because if I was to ask, I wouldn’t bother composing the comment before I heard back from you.

So why not cut the time for both of us and say you don’t want constructive criticism in the author notes, the bottom of the story’s summary, or the footnotes (a handy feature on QuoteV that is posted discretely at the bottom of every chapter)? I don’t know why some writers just don’t want to state what their boundaries are, and want to push all of the responsibility on the readers for being engaged readers.

The onus isn’t on readers for not knowing what your limitations and boundaries are for your comment box because not all writers only want praise. Some of us welcome all sorts of feedback, and we aren’t the ones trying to put specific limitations on an open dialogue box and expecting everyone else to blindly follow it. You also have a myriad of tools at your discretion to limit who and what you allow in your comment box.

You don’t have to like me, respect me, or listen to me. It’s perfectly fine if you think I’m full of shit.

And if you really don’t want to ever hear from me again, the block button is right there, so I encourage you to use it.