Feedback musings

Meta
Title:	feedback musings
Creator:	Roseveare
Date(s):	April 21, 2003
Medium:	journal post
Fandom:
Topic:
External Links:	feedback musings, Archived version; archive link page two
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feedback musings is a 2003 essay by Roseveare.

While the essay on feedback applies to all fandoms, the discussion has a Buffyverse focus.

Some Topics Discussed

• feedback
• the role of LiveJournal in fan interaction and communication
• the classic feedback that begins with "I don't normally read this kind of story but..."
• fans feeling insecure about the quality of feedback they send and receive
• some fans' entitlement and laziness and "the ignorance of netiquette/newcomers as greedy consumers"

From the Essay

Over the past few months, I've noticed a lot of writers complaining that there seems to be a growing tendency for less feedback being sent for stories. I've noticed it myself - I really do think feedback was more frequent 2-3 years ago when I was new to online fandom. Recently, I've seen the trend linked somewhat to the debate on fandom as becoming a consumer environment that's been tossed around, that people think they're entitled to fic, don't owe the authors anything, and so on and so forth.

But I was wondering about this from the other side. Lately I've been involved in a few discussions gently mocking certain types of feedback and even particular feedbackers ("I had that one, too!"). Feedback that tells authors how to write their stories, begs certain characters and 'ships, misinterprets key elements. I know even a comment that looks as innocuous - to me, anyway, but YMMV - as saying "I don't usually read slash but you really sold me this" is something that really, really ticks some authors off, and you can substitute that 'slash' with 'x pairing' or 'x character' for some.

I know that because I've seen people talk about it. This is public knowledge now, increasingly, with so many authors having an LJ and being able to say what annoys them, and that they got really riled over x piece of feedback. And since not all of these posts are friends locked and readers will follow the LJs of authors they like, there's at least a small chance that the sender of x piece of feedback read it, realised it was them, and was anything from irritated to devastated. Even if they didn't, other feedbackers will have read it, realised they've done that before too. And so, from a certain view, I'm wondering if it's really at all surprising that people are getting increasingly cautious. Perhaps some of it is linked to a move toward a consumer attitude in fandom, but perhaps also authors are themselves powering it to some degree.

I've seen any number of posts telling people how to send feedback the right way. How to send feedback that author is interested in. Authors talking of how they only value constructive, lengthy feedback. All of which is surely going to make people feel small if all they can think of to say is 'I liked your story a lot', and quite possibly discourage them from sending that comment at all.

Then there's also the attitude that many have that the feedback is irrelevant and for a real artist it's the satisfaction of writing the story that counts, which consistently gets plenty of mileage when feedback debates crop up.

So in these various ways feedback is, in fact, being increasingly publicly devalued.

I'm not trying to criticise the people who have commented about feedback on LJ. It's not like I haven't done it too. But everything I've seen about this has been from a writer's perspective, about the evil attitude of the grabbing readers who think they have a right to this, and this, and no return due - and with so many writers having LJ, now, I would question the assumption that writers aren't themselves contributing to the decrease in feedback by talking about their feelings on it and the kind of superior attitude the particular kinds of talk can imply which also increases the distance between author and readers, and makes the relationship more akin to producer/consumer than two members of a community.

Fan Comments

pandarus:

My LoC style tends to be "Wow! Oh, blimey, that was great. Really. I just loved it. Um. I especially liked this bit [insert quotation]. That was top. Um. Go You!" It's like the Articulation Fairies all leave the building.

I too have seen people get cross with being told "I don't normally like such-and-such a premise/pairing/fandom, but you sold it to me" - but I've both sent and received that kind of feedback, and I think it's a compliment, damn it! Far better to have one's writing sell someone on a concept they weren't predisposed to enjoy than have them fall upon it because of the concept regardless of execution.

Although, to be honest, feedback pretty much makes me dance the dance of joy, regardless. I've never had masses of it, but I think every story I've posted has garnered at least one remark. And it's nice.

darcydodo:

I guess if I don't like a story, I'm likely to stop reading it partway through and just not bother sending feedback because the problems are either going to be that it's too badly written for me to continue or that it gets too explicit in a way that squicks me. I'm obviously not going to send feedback about either of these problems.

But somehow in every other case, I don't send feedback unless I know it's a just-written story, for some reason that I've not yet quite figured out. I mean, I know I'd love feedback on my stories, regardless of how long ago I wrote them.

I haven't seen any of the scarecrow livejournal posts that you mentioned, but I agree it would be like putting a no-trespassing sign right in front of my face. 'Cause I'm sure I'll get around to commenting on some things eventually (even older stories), but if I'm worried about how people will react to my commenting in the first place, as opposed to even just specific comments... well...

doyle sb4: I was definitely put off sending feedback by reading the kind of remarks you mentioned. Not being able to write much more than "I really loved reading this" made me feel dumb and inarticulate and as if I was bothering the author. I thought it was just me...

roseveare, original poster:

As for misinterpreting key elements: first, it is probably much more common than we realise, only our thoughts on published novels are hardly ever reviewed and weighed against the author's intent.

I think there's a fear of misinterpretation and being called on it in public, though. I do think it probably happens a lot, and I think possibly people hesitate more and more to go into detail as their analysis may not only be denied by the author but done so publicly. I like to leave things open for interpretation, and have bitten my lip on giving mine in the past, but there are folks who are very set that the author's meaning is the story's ultimate right meaning (another debate I've seen recently).

As an aside, I love that individual filter, and the idea of the final meaning of a story as a collaboration between author and reader. I love playing with that and leaving a lot of holes (in Return, particularly) for the reader to fill as they will.

Often with 'shipper stories, I think it can depend on how consciously they're aiming to sell the story to fellow shippers or to sell it just as a story. 'Shippers don't need to be sold the pairing. Hence my theory that weird ships are written more convincingly - the author has consciously had to do more work.

wesleysgirl:

I know even a comment that looks as innocuous - to me, anyway, but YMMV - as saying "I don't usually read slash but you really sold me this" is something that really, really ticks some authors off, and you can substitute that 'slash' with 'x pairing' or 'x character' for some.

Keep in mind that I'm a serious newbie as I answer this.

I think that often it's not so much that this sort of comment ticks an author off when applied to her own story, as it is she's seen it before applied to other people's stories and felt the burn from the other side. Say that I write Wes/Gunn. (I don't.) I see someone leave FB for someone else's Wes/Gunn story, raving about how they don't usually like slash/the pairing, but that the author really sold them on it. As a result, I'm left feeling like my own Wes/Gunn stuff is crap, substandard, out of character drivel, even though it's entirely possible that the feedbacker has never *any* other Wes/Gunn or my stories.

I suspect that a number of slashers (in particular) have had experiences like this, and therefore, when someone leaves them FB of this sort, it reminds them of how crappy they felt when they saw someone else receive FB of that type.

Just a guess.

paratti: I'm happy to take whatever feeback someone is kind enough to give me. It's all appreciated. From the short I loved this to paragraphs of discussion, it's all got it's place and all loved. Sometimes I don't have the time to write an essay, but I figure a few words is better than silence if I liked a story. I know others are in the same boat so that's cool when a few words are what I get. It's all cool. And on the I don't read this pairing/hate it with the power of a thousand suns, but... I've had that a few times especially with the several couples fics I've done/been involved in writing - and I like it. It maybe means the work's opened up a new perspective (especially on my poor darling Spike) to someone and that has to be a good thing.

Astrid:

>I know even a comment that looks as innocuous - to me, anyway, but YMMV - as saying "I don't usually read slash but you really sold me this" is something that really, really ticks some authors off,

I remember that one. According to that school of thought, „I usually don’t read slash“ implies, „because I’m a bloody homophobe.“

„... but your story I liked,“ translates „... a bigot bloody homophobe.“ (I’m exaggerating, but not much.)

... Nope. Still can’t laugh about it.

So many slashers seemed ready to agree with this statement - which is not only without foundation, but also pretty damn insulting - that my first impulse was to not send any more feedback on slash stories, period. I don’t want to feel I have to read a freakin‘ feedback FAQ first. „How to phrase your feedback without offending the author accidentally.“ Bah. Not gonna happen.

JM jml_311:

Relieved to read that you don't treat feedback with much harshness, because even prior to reading this LJ post, I was realizing that some of mine was not casting a particularly nice light on me. (Said realization indeed sparked by following some conversations about FB on various writers' journals).

Perhaps FB shouldn't be prefaced with "I think AU is crappy and most femslash is PWP, but your stuff is better than that." Whether or not you found it insulting, I'd like to fess up to being a thoughtless feedbacker. And I'd also like to qualify my remarks in that vein as is clear most of mine should be with . . . during my initial journey of anything fanfic at all some AU and femslash stories weren't that great and didn't appeal to me. At which point my prejudices and filters were firmly in place. YOU opened my eyes and I'm discovering a lot of stuff I missed previously. Thanks. LOL.

As to the point, before I hijacked it, I'm not sure. I haven't done much feedback (at all) and am a very cautious dialoguer, even in RL -- except when drunk. So I have been finding discussions re feedback interesting and informative. However, I know from experience that I'm super-sensitive to even implied criticism, and could certainly believe that, depending on the tone, public FB FB might have a chilling effect. Interesting question about observation affecting the phenomenon.

Discussions I have read recently though have really made me self-examine my attitude toward fem slash and het fic. I don't have any problem with the above in pure porn but tend to avoid them in fanfic. I think it may have something to do with over-identification and protectiveness toward female characters. Something I never considered before. So once again, glad those discussions were happening out in the public.

I do know that most of my previous disinclination to give FB was due to the assumption that I would be bugging the authors with my lame affirmation. Resolving to do better in the future. I've written a list of people to thank for past happiness.

octopedingenue:

"Proper" slash feedback format - a small rant. Or two.

So. Yeah. I stopped sending out feedback altogether for slash-fiction after I recommended Anna S.'s "Sidelines" on BetterBuffyFics in a manner that basically amounted to "A massive amount of Spike/Xander fiction really, really sucks and makes me cringe, but this story really does not"--and then I was royally slammed on the LJ circuit for being a Poor Ignorant Homophobe who had read maybe 2 S/X stories and was making a smug stereotypical generalization based on them and that I should be sent back to Fandom Boot Camp and taught some manners.

Uh. Huh. This would be fine, except for the part where a massive amount of S/X fiction really, really does suck.

I am not a slasher. Unconventional, uncanon pairings as a whole leave me unmoved. But I have seen and/or read enough Spike/Xander fiction (and other kinds of ship-fiction) to know that since A)when there are a lot of any kind of stories for a popular 'ship, a LOT of them will really, really suck, B)S/X is a popular slash-ship, C)there are a LOT of S/X stories, so A+B+C=D)a LOT of Spike/Xander stories really, really suck.

Someday I will preface a Spike/Buffy fic rec with "A massive amount of Spuffy fiction really, really sucks and makes me cringe", and I will be drawn and quartered, and as I die I will laugh and laugh and LAUGH.

We're not bitter. We're just focused. *COUGH*

At any rate, it is my firm and unpopular opinion that any authors who get SO much feedback that they feel the holy voice of God speaking through them, setting forth commandments as to what is permitted Good Feedback and what is un-permitted Bad Feedback, then I will kindly and quietly get out of the way so that sycophants more clever than I can properly and eloquently kiss their author-backsides. I will refrain from writing slash-fiction-feedback altogether so as to refrain from mortally offending an author whom I was trying to give the highest compliment I can.

Before I began writing "Buffy" fiction, in another fandom I regularly wrote fiction focused on a character and romantic pairing that were EXTREMELY unpopular in the vocal majority of that fandom (which, funnily enough, was mostly slash-oriented). I've never received huge gobs of feedback for any of those stories, but on the occasions when I did get positive feedback, it would sometimes be from people in the mainstream fandom who didn't really like the character I was writing about, and it would often start "I don't really like (Character) very much, but your story..." What I learned from that was there will always be a lot of people who don't like the character and/or pairing that you love enough to write about. The very existence of this character/pairing squicks them. The existence of YOU as a squicky fan of the squick squicks them. Most of them will avoid you, and you them, and you will be happy on opposite sides of the fandom pond. But once in a while one of them will for some wild reason read one of your stories (maybe s/he is drunk, maybe s/he is on a dare, maybe s/he is a masochist). And for whatever reasons, s/he will LOVE it and be surprised by that.

If such people get up the guts to write you; if such people start out by telling you, "I usually hate Character/Character, but...", then that is the Best Most Kickass Compliment Ever. Not only are they admitting that they read a (to them) squicky story, not only are they admitting to loving it, but they loved it enough to want to make YOU (the squicky squick lover) feel good for having written it, by sending you positive feedback. And you turn around and snap at them for the FORMAT? Talk about yanking the teeth from the gift horse's mouth.

(I am sure it did not help my reputation that my second rec to BBF disintegrated into my shrieking my unpopular Fred-love to the uncaring skies. But I still adore "Sidelines".)

raincitygirl:

Well, I think I'm a bad feedbacker, because, due to time constraints, I often only send one line feedbacks, reasoning that they'd rather hear from me in a short form than not at all. I mean, if I read twelve stories I enjoy, but only have a limited amount of time to write feedback, I can provide detailed emails on four of the stories or I can provide quickie emails on all of them. They tend to be longer only if I liked a story in general but had some problems with it, or if I really adored the story beyond measure and need to ramble on about it. Actually, I find that I'm less likely nowadays to bother writing feedback at all for stories which are good but have major problems, because it's hard to know who will get insulted by constructive criticism (and I've sent some incredibly tactful crit in the past, with twice as much praise as criticism, and still received snotty responses from the authors). Which makes me less likely to risk it, because who needs the aggro.

"I don't usually read slash but you really sold me this" is something that really, really ticks some authors off, and you can substitute that 'slash' with 'x pairing' or 'x character' for some."

Now, see, I've written that to authors before, and they've always taken it as a compliment (or if it did tick them off, they kept quiet about it). As a reader, I've always seen it as a compliment,to be able to say "I don't believe in this pairing, but within the context of this story, I totally believed it and rooted for it" because it's a testament to the writer's skill.

emooetess:

Chiming in way, way late. I suspect you're right, in that people are becoming more nervous about sending feedback because of authors publically discussing the sorts of feedback that annoy them. I can see that it does have a dampening effect.

On the other hand, I hesitate to say that authors, fans, people of any stripe, should stop talking about behaviour or words that offend them. Sometimes it goes round and round in circles (and if we never have another meta-discussion on BBF, I will be a happy little clam) but sometimes at least individual people get a sense of *why* a particular phrasing could hit someone's own insecurity buttons, and seem more hurtful than complimentary. There's a difference between a feedbacker having to learn how to best kiss writers' asses, (to paraphrase a comment above) and a writer talking about how some phrasings feel hurtful to them, and why.

FWIW, I've never been annoyed by a piece of personal feedback in my life (not counting the one amusing website-based flame I've ever received.) At least not to the point where I felt the need to complain about it in public, and possibly insult the person who had so graciously complimented me, in whatever their personal style was.

I was involved, though, in that lj-discussion that octopedingenue references, that spread from the Sidelines recs on BBF. I still more or less maintain the position I had then -- it's one thing to say such things privately to the author -- but constant reiterations (not necessarily by the same person) that most or all of the writing in a particular subgenre sucks and this is the *only* one that one has ever found convincing, in a public place where other writers of that subgenre congregate? They're bound to make those writers do the "Do they mean me? Was that a veiled insult? Was that a direct insult?" dance. There's a huge difference between private feedback -- for the benefit of an author only -- and public recommendation that's shared with a wide audience. I don't think it's out of line to point out that "Author X's new story is the best [blank] story I have ever read" could feel less alienating to part of that wide audience than "I have read lots of [blank], almost all of it sucked, and Author X's is the only one that works for me." I'd rather have my own work directly compared and found wanting (as one recommender did, more or less, and I had no problem whatsoever with that) than have to play the author-insecurity game of "Does she mean me? Even if she doesn't mean me, then she doesn't think I'm important enough to remember as one of the exceptions... Hmm..."

yahtzee63:

Yes, there is a tendency to sometimes get picky during the boom times. (I remember, in the aftermath of "Phoenix Burning," that I should really compile a list of the many ways people can spell "Phoenix.") And though I've gotten "I don't usually read X but I loved yours" comments that I found really winning and complimentary, there have been a handful that I didn't enjoy -- usually from people who felt the need to spend MORE time bashing the pairing/show/event/etc. than talking about the story in question. (As far as that goes, I think it's all a matter of tone and degree. The vast majority of people who say it mean well, and it shows. A few people use the FB as a chance to flame the element they usually avoid, and I think that's extremely uncool.)

But I don't know if -- for lack of a better term -- "feedback anxiety" totally explains this. Yet it is an interesting theory.

bktheirregular:

I have to apologize up front if I'm merely reiterating others' points.

As an occasional (far too occasional) submitter of feedback, I noticed that part of my problem was that when I read a good story, I honestly didn't feel worthy enough to leave feedback. It took me a long time to break that habit, which coincidentally began to happen about the same time I became a fanfic author.

And one habit I'm trying to develop: if someone e-mails me feedback, I will generally send back a note saying thanks, and talking about the points they brought up in their e-mail. This, however, has come around to bite me once or twice, leading to an observation that there are feedbackers out there who seem to have developed a sense of ... I don't know ... entitlement?

Case in point: someone e-mailed me, asking me to write a sequel to a story (the language was pretty much "please please please please do a sequel"). I wrote back, explaining why a sequel wasn't possible. This person didn't e-mail me back; he/she (don't know which) hopped on IM and began trying to urge me to do a sequel, dismissing my reasons for not doing so with blanket statements about how fanfic can write its own endings to a story, and asserting that all crossovers (I'd done a crossover) were AU by definition ...

Then two weeks later this same person IM'd me saying "please please please tell me you're doing more stories?"

• sigh*

There's also the problem of how to do negative feedback - I know, the general rule is, if you can't say anything positive, don't say anything at all, but some stories have potential that is being crushed by bad mechanics. Or sometimes there's fic that's just so bad the only solution is to dismantle the author's computer, run over the keyboard with a Mack truck, and give the hard disk an MRI. How do you respond to that?

biktauna:

hmmmmm

People who bitch about the type, content, etc of feedback, don't deserve any. It angers me when I see people who declare they don't want any "negative" feedback. Well my negative might be distinctly different than yours and if all you want is a pat on the back, then just say that and get it over with.

I give feedback as often as I can. I want it for my writing and as I get so little of it, I appreciate the time and effort that goes into each piece. I don't cry if I don't get any, and negative feedback makes me look at what I've done more critically for improvement but I don't need it to continue writing. But just because I don't need it, doesn't mean I don't want, like and appreciate it.

And who's complaining about "I really liked your story alot!" Geez! What's up with that? No one is entitled to feedback... some people seem to forget that. Be glad of it and take it in the spirit it was meant.

regala electra:

For me, the reason why my feedback is rare and awful is of two things: I fear that just gushing or going "omg, I love this! [pets fic]" will be idiotic in response to a brilliant story and because I am incredibly lazy and simply put it off until it's too late.

I read something, go "whoa" and then never sent feedback because I assume the writer's probably gotten oodles because the story was so great, or I put it off so much that I simply forget I haven't sent feedback.

As a "on the fringes of fandom" pretty unknown fic writer, I very rarely get feedback, unless I write genre-specific fic. That means, writing a popular 'ship will often get you much more feedback if you know where to post it (my earlier works were clearly written for the b/a audience). If I post a "happy" (I can hear several of my lj friends laughing hysterically at that) fic to a list like BA Fluff, I'm pretty much guaranteed some feedback which is nice and I've adored every bit of feedback I've ever received.

However (and I can feel myself rambling already, the topic slipping from my fingers), the fics I'm most proud of, that I'd love to know people's views on, hardly gets any responses. Any story I've posted outside the b/a section of fandom has been mostly ignored.

Feedback that tells authors how to write their stories, begs certain characters and 'ships, misinterprets key elements.

Which is why I can only speak as a writer about the experience writing B/A fics early on. It was asked of me by several feedbackers to write a happy ending for my story Betrayer. Despite it being about Wesley fucking over the entire world, people were requesting a happy ending (for B/A really). I had to promise to write a sequel to wrap it up into a fluffy ending, which never happened and will never happen. And it was weird to get the "I love it, but I don't like it being so sad!" messages, but I just took that to be the reader's taste and I can't really bash it.

[sidenote/comment: Everyone else who has posted here is so much smarter then me, I love reading these kinds of posts.]

I've been tempted to write "I don't usually read X type of story, but I loved this one..." because early in my fic reading years, I rarely ventured outside of B/A. Now, I'm all "slash! where's my slash at?" and hunting down Wesley-centric stories, Wesley/Lilah, Wesley/Faith, Wesley/Anyone because that boy is fabulous.

So I've always seen it as a compliment to say "this is quite different from what I've told myself I like" because it's showing: this story may have opened up the reader's mind to a particular genre or pairing and you opened someone's boundaries beyond their usual preferences(not meaning "I was a slash hater, but I liked your slash story even though I still think it's weird" more in a "I just stumbled into a really interesting and well-written story and I think I'm going to try others of this type").

I've seen reccs that go "I usually don't read Buffy/Angel fics, but this story..." which could be insulting, but I don't see it that way, because we all have our preferences. I myself will not seek out Angel/Cordelia fic, yet I've read some stories that are marvelous, beautiful characterizations and stunning pieces of fiction.

I personally wouldn't feedback, "C/A sucks, but your story makes them not suck" because that's bashing. Bashing characters or elements you don't like is a problem sometimes and I don't really know how to respond to something like that. Fortunately it's never really happened to me.

When I receive feedback, I do a happy dance. It can be one word, it can be "kewl :-)" (although purposely writing badly annoys me, especially when chatting), I'm a total whore for it. Anything, anything, I will love it. Is long though-out feedback amazing to receive? Why yes it is, but anything is wonderful, that's my thoughts on it.

But...I then always have in my mind this thing: I give awful feedback, if I e-mail something, I'm going to look like a total stalker. If I tell Roseveare that Return was just "guh" and "ooh" and "whoa" I'm going to look completely lame and I should just shut the hell up.

elynross:

I know even a comment that looks as innocuous...as saying "I don't usually read slash but you really sold me this" is something that really, really ticks some authors off...

It seems to me that what might be happening is that the person sending feedback says, "I don't usually like X, but...", but the writer who objects to this hears "I don't usually read X because it's awful/horrid/disgusting/boring/not worth it, but you make it palatable, which comes across as damned with faint praise, perhaps? So often it seems to me that where people say "I don't like this and that," it's understood as meaning "there's something wrong with this and that," to the point that it gets read in, even if it's not intended. It's kind of like the balancing act played with appending "in my opinion" to everything you read. Sure, everything someone says is their opinion -- but often it seems to me that people who don't choose to specify that in some way really do come across as meaning something more universal than just their opinion.

Mind you, I've always found it very flattering to hear that not only has someone enjoyed something of mine that's not to their usual taste, but that my story got them to go outside their own self-chosen boundaries in the first place.

I do think that trying to come to any widespread conclusions as to whether feedback has declined, and how much, and why, is fairly futile. There are as many reasons why people might not be sending feedback as there are people, and the anecdotal evidence I've heard as to whether any given author is or isn't as much or more feedback as before varies wildly from author to author, fandom to fandom, and story to story. It's obvious that hearing complaints about feedback can stop some people from sending any, but other people are canny enough to realize that not all authors are at fault for a few specific whiners. Readers make all kinds of assumptions about what any given author wants to see, about their own abilities to express themselves, about what's valid and what's not -- and sometimes it reads like a self-justification to just not send feedback, whatever the reason.

S What gets to me isn't the lack of feedback, as such, but the disparity between probable number of readers and feedback received, and the extent to which I see people rave about particular authors and stories, while knowing that said author/story didn't receive much feedback at all. Often I blame the "they must get so much they won't miss mine" syndrome. At times like that, I think it'd be nice to live in a Kantian world, in some ways, where each person asked themselves, "what if everyone did this?", because sometimes it seems like this is exactly what's happening, with the result that no feedback is received. In a backwards sort of way, then, receiving nothing is the highest possible compliment, no? *g* Still, while recognizing the feeling from my pre-writing days, I hate the fact that so many fans feel "unworthy," so far below, that they "elevate" fan writers to such an extent that they can't bring themselves to communicate with them.

I send feedback when a story moves me, and I just tell the author exactly what I felt, what bits I liked, what issues I might have had. I do it as if I'm discussing a story with a friend. If the author responds poorly, or perhaps doesn't respond at all, that will color if I send feedback to that author again. But part of the joy of fandom, for me, is connecting with people, and most of my closest fannish friends I've met through feedback sent and received. I regret that so many people cheat themselves (and me!) of that opportunity of finding kindred souls.

nostalgia lj: I've had some dumb fb in my time, but I still embraced it. It's better than the shuddering silence I'd get otherwise. And as someone who writes crap fb herself, I really can't complain about how others go about it anyway.

snacky:

Interesting. I'm definitely one of those feedbackers who have feelings of inadequacy. It's so hard, because I try to send feedback that I think the authors will like (after having read oh so many of the "good feedback/bad feedback" discussions over the years), where I point out my favorite parts of the story, what I liked about the characters and why, plot turns that moved/thrilled/wowed me in some way, the use of imagery/metaphor/what-have-you, and so on. After having it drilled into my head that feedback IS not a place for beta, I don't really offer much by way of constructive criticism, except for pointing out typos. But I still don't think I'm giving the right kind of feedback, because I rarely hear back from the people I send it to.

Just recently I saw an author post about how of all the feedback she received from her last story (one I read and loved and sent feedback on), only one person really got the story, and from the description of this person the marvelous feedback they sent, I knew it wasn't me. And now I'm wondering, "what didn't I get?" *g*

Really, I'm tending toward the one- or two-liners in feedback these days. "Great story. I liked this bit" and that's about it for me. I figure, at least I'm pleasing the all the feedback is good feedback people. And everyone else can just discount it if it's not up to their standards. ;-)

k2 daisy:

Send some to me, babe. I'll write you back - even if you start off with "I don't usually read non-MSR...". *g*

All this Feedback Decline talk is really interesting, but I'm beginning to wonder: maybe writers are getting less feedback because we're all too busy reading and commenting in each other's LJs?

(Hmm. I meant that as a joke, but maybe there's more truth to it than I thought. We each only have a finite amount of time to devote to fannish/online/whatever activities, after all. I know my feedback and even just regular emailing has dropped significantly since I joined LJ. Hmmm.)

autobadgirl:

I write and I cannot conceive of NOT thanking someone who took the time to write and comment on the story. It's just plain bad manners; mind you I'm not exactly drowning in the comments as I have only begun to write fic. A busy, popular author might get overwhelmed but, even a one sentence "Thanks for commenting. I appreciate the interest...so on" helps.

The great thing about LJ and fanfic in cyberspace is the sense of immediacy. Sharing comments and thoughts in real time or very close to real time despite vast geographical/social and cultural differences forges a sense of community. This shrinking world could also be leading to the consumer/commodity mindset. We have lost our appreciation for the technological marvel that allows such a gathering of individuals. The plus side is that cyberspace is truly one of the last democratic spaces left to discuss almost anything. Authors we admire are basically on the same level as ourselves. Perhaps we felt less inclined to provide feedback because we don't have the machine of celebrity urging us to revere so-and-so. After all, "familiarity breeds contempt"; we must be careful not to lose our appreciation for one another, even if the only community we are members of is a virtual one.