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I had thought that the review replies could only be seen by the author and the reviewer of the particular story. But since voting ended, I am seeing some replies to other authors by other reviewers; and I am not certain that this is what was intended. I have double-checked two different sub-cats; and saw review replies by other reviewers to two different authors other than myself. I also asked another MEFA author to check the same sub-cats and she also saw review replies to other authors. It's not every single review in the sub-cat; but there are a few.

Perhaps next year I will try to do review replies outside the MEFA site; or just do generic Thank-yous on-site.

Hi Raksha,

Sorry about the confusion over review replies. Replies did become publicly available at the end of the awards, but the instructions on the reply page didn't explain that. That text was updated last week when another member asked about it.

If you would like me to remove any of your replies so that you can send them privately instead, please email me at tech@mefawards.org with a list of the reviews, specifically the story title and review ID (you can find that in the first column of the review listing). Also, please give me the first couple words of the reply you want removed so that I'm absolutely sure I'm removing the correct one. I will be permanently deleting them, so (if needed) you should make a copy of the replies before sending me your list.

Aranel

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, "raksha022002" <PGail99@...> wrote:
>
> I had thought that the review replies could only be seen by the author and the reviewer of the particular story. But since voting ended, I am seeing some replies to other authors by other reviewers; and I am not certain that this is what was intended. I have double-checked two different sub-cats; and saw review replies by other reviewers to two different authors other than myself. I also asked another MEFA author to check the same sub-cats and she also saw review replies to other authors. It's not every single review in the sub-cat; but there are a few.
>
> Perhaps next year I will try to do review replies outside the MEFA site; or just do generic Thank-yous on-site.
>

Hi Raksha,

I'm sorry for any confusion going on here.

The reply feature is new this year, and it came out of two issues:
first, Aranel and I wanted to streamline the way that authors reply to
their reviewers so we didn't need someone to forward each reply by hand;
but also we had some suggestions by a member that she wanted a way to
publicly reply to her review. There's a bit of an uneven power dynamic
between the reviewer and the author. The reviewer could leave a review
about a story that was (in the author's opinion) unfairly critical or
simply misunderstood the story, and the author either had to leave the
review unanswered or else ask to have the review completely taken down
and lose the points (which we wouldn't do anyway unless it was a flame).
The thinking was that the current feature would address both problems.

Now, it's a new feature so it may *not* do both things. Or the way we
presented it may be confusing. We can work to fix that. If it's a simple
matter of people not understanding how the reply works, maybe we can add
some instructions or an FAQ that would help with that. If you don't like
the way the reply works, I'd be happy to consider changing it, during
the PM in a few weeks. Please drop a suggestion at
http://mefas.livejournal.com/266431.html, or email me privately if you
want to discuss it further.

But there's also the immediate problem. Are there replies you (or
others) only meant to send to the authors? Email me privately
(martaDOTfandomATgmailDOTcom) and I'll do what I can to correct the
situation. I can probably take down the review, and I also will be happy
to forward on your reply privately, assuming it's not a full-out attack
or something else that it's inappropriate for me to forward on officially.

Very sorry for any miscommunication, frustration, etc. I appreciate
yours and everyone's patience as we work out how to use this new feature
so it works well for everyone.

Marta

On 1/2/2012 1:29 PM, raksha022002 wrote:
>
> I had thought that the review replies could only be seen by the author
> and the reviewer of the particular story. But since voting ended, I am
> seeing some replies to other authors by other reviewers; and I am not
> certain that this is what was intended. I have double-checked two
> different sub-cats; and saw review replies by other reviewers to two
> different authors other than myself. I also asked another MEFA author
> to check the same sub-cats and she also saw review replies to other
> authors. It's not every single review in the sub-cat; but there are a
> few.
>
> Perhaps next year I will try to do review replies outside the MEFA
> site; or just do generic Thank-yous on-site.
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I like having the replies public, as they are on most archives.
Dreamflower

On Mon, Jan 2, 2012 at 12:29 PM, raksha022002 <PGail99@aol.com> wrote:

> **
>
>
> I had thought that the review replies could only be seen by the author and
> the reviewer of the particular story. But since voting ended, I am seeing
> some replies to other authors by other reviewers; and I am not certain that
> this is what was intended. I have double-checked two different sub-cats;
> and saw review replies by other reviewers to two different authors other
> than myself. I also asked another MEFA author to check the same sub-cats
> and she also saw review replies to other authors. It's not every single
> review in the sub-cat; but there are a few.
>
> Perhaps next year I will try to do review replies outside the MEFA site;
> or just do generic Thank-yous on-site.
>
>
>


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I rather like having them public, too. I was expecting them to become so at this stage, too, so I think it must have been mentioned somewhere - but putting it in the FAQs seems a good idea, too.

Curiouswombat

--- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com, Barbara Rich <aelfwina@...> wrote:
>
> I like having the replies public, as they are on most archives.
> Dreamflower
>
>

Hi Curiouswombat and all,

Thanks for your opinions. I'm glad you like it. Aranel and I are
discussing how we can handle this situation better next year. There's
always a learning curve involved with new site features and policies -
for the folks working behind the scenes as much as for anyone!

If people out there *don't* like it, I'd appreciate it if you could
email me to discuss it, but privately (martaDOTfandomATgmailDOTcom). As
I'm sure people can appreciate that I, Aranel, and the other volunteers
are pretty busy right now, but we will keep anyone's suggestions in mind
when we finetune things for next year.

Marta

On 1/2/2012 7:01 PM, voirreyj wrote:
>
> I rather like having them public, too. I was expecting them to become
> so at this stage, too, so I think it must have been mentioned
> somewhere - but putting it in the FAQs seems a good idea, too.
>
> Curiouswombat
>
> --- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com <mailto:MEFAwards%40yahoogroups.com>,
> Barbara Rich <aelfwina@...> wrote:
> >
> > I like having the replies public, as they are on most archives.
> > Dreamflower
> >
> >
>
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I agree with curiouswombat and dreamflower, it's nice to see the reviews on the site, just like on some archives. But as for the comparison with the archives, I have one more question. On the archives, when the author replies to the review, the reviewer gets an email with the notification about reply; would it be possible here on MEFA? I would really love it.
 
Ellynn
 


________________________________
From: Marta <marta.fandom@gmail.com>
To: MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com
Cc: voirreyj <voirreyjohnson@manx.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 3, 2012 2:59 AM
Subject: Re: [MEFAwards] Re: Privacy of Review Replies?


 
Hi Curiouswombat and all,

Thanks for your opinions. I'm glad you like it. Aranel and I are
discussing how we can handle this situation better next year. There's
always a learning curve involved with new site features and policies -
for the folks working behind the scenes as much as for anyone!

If people out there *don't* like it, I'd appreciate it if you could
email me to discuss it, but privately (martaDOTfandomATgmailDOTcom). As
I'm sure people can appreciate that I, Aranel, and the other volunteers
are pretty busy right now, but we will keep anyone's suggestions in mind
when we finetune things for next year.

Marta

On 1/2/2012 7:01 PM, voirreyj wrote:
>
> I rather like having them public, too. I was expecting them to become
> so at this stage, too, so I think it must have been mentioned
> somewhere - but putting it in the FAQs seems a good idea, too.
>
> Curiouswombat
>
> --- In MEFAwards@yahoogroups.com <mailto:MEFAwards%40yahoogroups.com>,
> Barbara Rich <aelfwina@...> wrote:
> >
> > I like having the replies public, as they are on most archives.
> > Dreamflower
> >
> >
>
>

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]