Yahoo Forum Archive

Hey guys,

Earlier this week the other admins and I had to remove a negative
review. It's something that happens every so often, and so I want to
talk a little bit about negative reviews.

The MEFAs *do* allow you to offer constructive criticism in your
reviews. It's often a fine line to tread between offering thoughtful,
helpful criticism, and being too negative. And the vast majority of
MEFA reviews are FINE in this regard. But occasionally a review will
come through that is so negative it's hard to see how it could be
taken positively.

If you haven't heard from me about a review, you're fine. When a
review you write is taken down, I'll email you to let you know what's
going on. So please don't start second-guessing yourself. Like I said,
the majority of reviews - the vast majority, actually - have been
fine. But there are always a few that are too negative, and it only
takes one review to leave a nasty taste in an author's mouth. The
MEFA's are about fannish good times and identifying high-quality
stories, and I work too hard to want to have people not enjoy them. :-)

That's why we have a procedure in place to handle these reviews. If
you see a review that is entirely or wholly negative, email
mefasupport(at)gmail(dot)com. A group of long-term volunteers (myself
included) will check it out, and if we agree that it's negative enough
we'll take it down. (If you're reporting a review of someone else's
story, we'll check with the author before we do this.) When we take a
review down the story loses the points it would have gotten from that
review, and so we want to ask the author what they want us to do.)

Now, don't start reading reviews suspiciously looking for ones that
are too negative! The inappropriate ones will jump out at you. But if
you see a review that's a little too harsh, please do email
mefasupport(at)gmail(dot)com. It may be nothing - but if it *is* a too
negative, we want to handle it.

Some good FAQs on this subject:

Can I be critical in my reviews?
www.mefawards.net/MEFA2007/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_4

Can an offensive review be removed?
www.mefawards.net/MEFA2007/index.php?page=FAQvoting#vot_8

PS - I'll probably be making an announcement like these once a week
for the next few weeks, to help explain some aspects of the awards
people might find confusing.

Marta
(MEFA Admin)

I've always appreciated those reviews that I've received that have been
truly constructive criticism, but have been infuriated by those that
reflect only a matter of taste where it is the reviewer's assumption
that everyone should have precisely the same taste as the reviewer
himself/herself.

There have been a VERY few stories I've gone over on the site that I've
actually read and didn't review because I personally was offended by
them, and I'll admit they've mostly been stories that assume Frodo and
Sam had a sexual relationship going, or Aragorn and Legolas. This is
strictly a personal thing for me, although I have been known to read
such stories and even enjoy them if they were deliberate parodies or
particularly well and tastefully or humorously done. But I WON'T give
negative feedback on them, as what I find offensive is NOT the truth
for everyone. One story I've seen on this year's MEFAs that is a
Frodo/Sam pairing I know is very well and sensitively written, but I
can't bring myself to like it, no matter how I try to remain objective
about it. Better I leave it to those who don't mind the idea of such a
pairing, as the author will be far more likely to receive the true good
and constructive feedback his/her well-written story deserves.

But I remember too many reviews I got on HASA where the negative
comments were biting and themselves very offensive, only because the
reviewer disliked the premise on which the story was written, so
instead of rejecting the story on the basis of its writing and
cohesiveness or the way it fit or didn't fit into canon I'd get "I
can't believe that someone would act/change in that way" even though
there was nothing in canon to indicate such and such wasn't possible,
or there were indications in the Appendices or in the Master's letters
that precisely the story I wrote was probable.

I guess what I'm trying to say is the old saying, "If you can't think
of anything nice to say, it's better to say nothing at all."
Bonnie L. Sherrell
Teacher at Large

"Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." LOTR

"Don't go where I can't follow."

I mourn for this nation.

Hi Bonnie,

> I've always appreciated those reviews that I've received that have been
> truly constructive criticism, but have been infuriated by those that
> reflect only a matter of taste where it is the reviewer's assumption
> that everyone should have precisely the same taste as the reviewer
> himself/herself.
>

Those comments can be frustrating, to be sure. I tell myself when I've
come across reviews like that (and they're rare within the MEFAs, much
more than in fandom at large) that I don't *have* to dwell on them - I
can just move on and focus on other things.

> instead of rejecting the story on the basis of its writing and
> cohesiveness or the way it fit or didn't fit into canon I'd get "I
> can't believe that someone would act/change in that way" even though
> there was nothing in canon to indicate such and such wasn't possible,
> or there were indications in the Appendices or in the Master's letters
> that precisely the story I wrote was probable.
>
> I guess what I'm trying to say is the old saying, "If you can't think
> of anything nice to say, it's better to say nothing at all."

That's more true for the MEFAs than with general kind of reviewing -
because with every word you say, you're giving the story points! There's
no such thing as a review worth negative points - so if you don't like a
story, the best thing to do really is just to not review it.

Marta

I agree with this comment. I truly appreciate knowing stories have this
type of content. I would hate to start a story and then have to stop because it
contained subject matter which is offensive to me as these would be. I
don't think Tolkien would be very happy either.

Tari


In a message dated 10/11/2007 12:32:29 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
blslarner@hughes.net writes:

There have been a VERY few stories I've gone over on the site that I've
actually read and didn't review because I personally was offended by
them, and I'll admit they've mostly been stories that assume Frodo and
Sam had a sexual relationship going, or Aragorn and Legolas. This is
strictly a personal thing for me, although I have been known to read
such stories and even enjoy them if they were deliberate parodies or
particularly well and tastefully or humorously done. But I WON'T give
negative feedback on them, as what I find offensive is NOT the truth
for everyone. One story I've seen on this year's MEFAs that is a
Frodo/Sam pairing I know is very well and sensitively written, but I
can't bring myself to like it, no matter how I try to remain objective
about it. Better I leave it to those who don't mind the idea of such a
pairing, as the author will be far more likely to receive the true good
and constructive feedback his/her well-written story deserves.








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