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a question of feedback

  • Jun. 13th, 2006 at 12:07 AM
cali: (books)
So I pretty much missed the whole hate meme phenomena, or at least the SGA one. A lot of people have been posting their outrage, and yeah. I just don't get it (hate memes that is, not outrage) because it seems like, at least in the supernatural threads, it was all about "blah blah blah I hate this person because they write stuff I don't like and they're obviously a huge bitch because other people do like it."

Um. Way to be self-sabotaging fandom! Hating people who are actively participating in fandom just because they're participating is not going to help anything. And what's up with the personal vendettas against BNFs? There's this really nifty feature called the scroll button when you don't want to read something.

Anyway, some people defend hate memes because they're like, the only opportunity for non-BNFs to be heard and anonymous commenting levels the playing field or something. Yes, it totally sucks that lj is more of a popularity contest than a cohesive community, but seriously, if you're yourself are actually involved in fandom, can you not see the good in encouraging everyone to participate? Because it seems to me that a lot of times creative people play off of each other and encouraging that should never, ever be a bad thing. One thing I do wish though, is that some of the stuff brought up in the hate threads could actually be discussed outside of the context of petty, spiteful commentary.

[livejournal.com profile] eleveninches posted the other day, I think in response to something that came up in [livejournal.com profile] sga_hate, about authors responding to feedback. She asked if people are affected by whether or not an author responds to their feedback. While I didn't see the original threads, I imagine some of the hate was directed at several prolific authors in the sga fandom who somewhat notoriously don't respond to feedback. In response to her questions I said this about my feedback habits:

I really try to leave feedback for everything I enjoyed reading, but if it's a writer who I know doesn't respond to feedback, I usually won't bother. Above and beyond any considerations of fandom etiquette and politeness, not responding to feedback (at least to me) seems to indicate a certain level of indifference towards even getting feedback at all.

And personally, I like writing feedback, I like picking out what I loved, and telling writers exactly what worked for me. So I usually spend a good amount of time trying to construct something more than a quick "thanks!" (not that there's anything wrong with doing that, sometimes it's all I have time for too.) Fandom is a reciprocal culture, if I don't feel like the time I put into feedback is appreciated, I won't leave it. And more than that, feedback is pretty much the best opportunity for readers to interact with writers, it's how a lot of meta gets discussed, and how a lot of people meet new friends. I don't think every writer has to automatically make friends with all of their reviewers, but I think it's nice when the channels of communication are at least open to that, even if all it is is a standard thank you reply, at least that's something.

Some of the best meta discussions I've had have come out of feedback threads, [livejournal.com profile] synecdochic is especially good at fostering those sorts of conversations when she posts fanfic. I know I've gotten to be better friends with at least half of the writers on my friendslist through conversations that started with feedback. And I know not all authors are interested in that or have time for that, but at least a thank you is, I think, called for when people give you a compliment. It just feels, at worst, rude and at least, like they don't care that people have left them feedback.

(stealing [livejournal.com profile] eleveninches' questions:) What do you guys think? Does anyone think a blanketed thank you is a poor response to feedback? Do you not leave feedback if the author doesn't say thanks? Do you get annoyed seeing an author saying a standard thank you to every comment left for them? Do you not care and leave feedback regardless of the author's actions? And, because I know there are several authors on my friendslist, do you guys all respond to your feedback? Do you feel like you have to? Or that it's a waste of time when all you can really say is "thanks" 40 times?

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seraphina_snape: Parker from the TV show Leverage. She is wearing a white shirt and is smiling. (Default)
[personal profile] seraphina_snape wrote:
Jun. 13th, 2006 07:27 am (UTC)
I have to admit that I only leave feedback for maybe 60% of stories I read. Most of the time it's because I don't have the time to comment, or because the story is so bad that I don't think I can stay polite and, essentially, say that the story sucks and maybe investing in a good grammar book (or beta) might be a good idea. (In my experience, the stories with the worst grammar also have this sort of five-year-old kid telling a story style of writing. And they usually add things like: I only had two comments on my last story and if don't get at least seven-and-a-half now, I won't post the second part.) That really puts me off commenting.

Okay, now for the questions: I do like to see that my comments are being acknowledged by the writer. It shows me that s/he is interesting in the writing and the feedback, the whole deal. I tend to leave shorter, more generalised reviews if I know the author isn't all that interested. It doesn't annoy or enrage me, but it makes me put less effort into reviewing. With people on my friendslist whose writing style I know, reviews can turn into analysing and criticising sessions.

Also, if the review is something like "OMG! You brought X and Y together. I love you, write more!" then what exactly is the author supposed to do? Write a 4-page essay on how character dynamics work for that particular pairing? In that case, I'd reply with a "Thanks, I like the pairing too" and be that's it.

As for my own response to reviews, well, that depends on the review. If it's just a short "Wow. Great story" I usually repond with an equally short "thank you for reading, I'm glad you liked/enjoyed it" - that's my standardised response, and it's the same for any of these types of reviews.If there is nothing else to go on, I can't start discussing things, obviously. If the reviewer remarks on specific things, I try to explain my reasons for making a character do something or having him/her say something.

On the whole I think it's only polite to respond to feedback, even if all you can say is "thank you". If there are 5 or 6 reviews in a row that I can only respond to with a short thank you, I usually try to vary my standard response a bit so it doesn't look like I copy&paste it.

The reader takes the time to comment and leave feedback, so I think the author should take the time to respond to that.

~ sera
[identity profile] theantimodel.livejournal.com wrote:
Jun. 13th, 2006 07:59 am (UTC)
The reader takes the time to comment and leave feedback, so I think the author should take the time to respond to that.

Yeah, exactly. It's, I mean, no one has to do it, but I do think it is the polite thing to do. It seems like a lot of authors respond in kind to the feedback they get, saying a quick thanks to people who take the time to drop a quick "I enjoyed this, thank you!" and longer comments to people who give more detailed feedback. As someone who usually leaves detailed fb, I can't help but enjoy this because it can often lead to more discussion and well, isn't thank kind of the point of livejournal?
seraphina_snape: Parker from the TV show Leverage. She is wearing a white shirt and is smiling. (Default)
[personal profile] seraphina_snape wrote:
Jun. 13th, 2006 08:13 am (UTC)
Exactly. I don't really expect more than a "thank you" if I only leave a "Great story." But it's still nice to see. And if a longer comment turns into a discussion, that's great, and you're right, it is the point of livejournal.

~ sera