Timeline of Concrit & Feedback Meta

This page lists meta and other written discussion about feedback, arranged in chronological order. Includes discussions on comment culture and feedback culture as it has evolved.

Feedback is a general term used to describe messages sent to the creators of fanworks in response to their works.

Also see concrit.

Unknown Date

• How To Give Feedback and Critiques by James (1999 or early 2000s)

1977

• I (and Sharon) have been backed into a corner defending a single position over quality controls. Frankly, I rather resent this. by Paula Smith (February 1977)
• So what do you want, good material or good friends?? by Paula Block (April 1977)

1982

• Why Review by Paula Smith (June 1982)
• What and Whom to Review by Paula Smith (October 1982)

1992

• Back-Talk: Reacting to Reviews and LoCs by Susan M. Garrett (1992)

1994

• And now, be prepared for something I've never done in print: BLOWN MY STACK! by Trisha Kehoe (June 1994)
• "I don't care" can be asbestos shielding -- and a simple statement of fact. (November 1994)

1996

• The Terranova Situation Review Debate (October 1996)

1997

• The Mannerly Art of Critique, by Peg Robinson (1997)

• Summer Review by Sheare Bliss (September 1997)
• Lack Of Feedback, conversation begun by CiCi Lean at alt.tv.x-files.creative (September 1997)

1998

• Myths About Feedback, ^{Archived version} (1998?)
• A Caution About Public Criticism by Nascent (July 1998)
• Tell me again how much you love me., ^{Archived version} by The Divine Adoratrice (January 1998)
• If You Can't Say Something Nice, Just Shut The Hell Up. by The Divine Adoratrice (February 1998)
• Peeve #12: The Feedback Feedbag (1998)

1999

• Apology for Criticism by Lucy Gillam (1999)
• The Secret to Handling Criticism by Flamingo (September 1999)
• Criticism and the Lost Art of the LOC by Lorelei Jones (1999)
• What's so bad about being bad? by The Divine Adoratrice (May 1999)
• "This was good, but I thought it could use some work..." by Arduinna (May 1999)
• Should There Be More Criticism of Fanfiction? by Janet (1999)

2000

• Convoluted Writing Thoughts by Flamingo (2000)
• Huggy Bear's Guide to Getting More Feedback by rebelcat and Elizabeth Helena (mid-2000s)
• Why I took my stories off of Fanfiction.net by The Brat Queen (2000?)
• The Darkness Within: Feature Article by cmakintosh (early 2000s)
• Raves and Flames: The Art of Feedback by Queen of Cups (early 2000s)
• The Unbearable Triteness of Agreeing by Ryp (January 2000)
• Good Netfic Through Better Feedback by Marla R. Reed (August 2000)
• Hey sailor, got some comments?, ^{Archived version} (December 2000)
• Begging for Feedback by Jane (December 2000)
• Encouraging Feedback for Your Story by Jane (December 2000)

2001

• The Art of Fanfic Critique: who and what it is for by Flamingo (2001)
• Check Your Head. by Jane (2001)

2002

• Oboebyrd's Guide to Writing Formulaic Fanfiction Chapter 6: Guide to Milking Reviews (March 2002)
• Stories on the Auction Block; archive link; archive link by thamiris (July 2002)
• On feedback and quality and judgement archive link, ^{Archived version} by julad (July 2002)
• On the issue of Feedback, post at ASC (August 2002)
• 24 Reasons Readers Don't Send Feedback by Destina Fortunato (August 2002)
• Feedback by Jenavira at Fanfiction.net (October 2002)

2003

• Semantic noodling...the word "gift" makes people -- or rather specifically me -- uncomfortable by Seema (January 2003)
• Notes on feedback (including feedback for vidders; archive link; archive link by heresluck (January 2003)
• Feedback Pie; archive link; archive link by mtgat (April 2003)
• Feedback musings by Roseveare (Apr 23, 2003)
• Daydreamer's Thoughts on Writing, Reading, Editing, and Feedback by Daydramer (written February 2003, posted June 2004)
• Dance with Them What Brung You by Hope (July 2003)

• Public Critique and Fan Fiction Writers: one writer's blunt opinion by Destina Fortunato (August 2003)
• Rant rant rant fucking RANT!!!!, ^{Archived version} by ladyelaine (September 2003)
• Now, I have always felt that it is wrong to fail to acknowledge feedback with a thank-you, but I have never thought that feedback requires this sort of reciprocity by isiscolo (November 2003)
• Who gets to critique?, ^{Archived version}
• notes on feedback, ^{Archived version}

2004

• EZ Feedback!, ^{Archived version}
• On Feedback; archive link page 1; page 2
• I don't believe that stories should be 'paid' with feedback., ^{Archived version}
• Maeg´s guide to leaving feedback; archive link; archive link (January 2004)
• On Feedback; archive link; archive link by prillalar (February 2004)
• Why feedback is bad for me but I still want it.;archive link; archive link by janedavitt (March 2004)
• Because everyone's talking about feedback. Well, they were, anyway. I'm kinda slow on these things; archive link; archive link by amanuensis1 (May 2004)
• "How does that help me?"; archive link page one; archive link page two by cereta (May 13, 2004)
• Expect the Inquisition, and Get the Flying Circus by Rana Eros (2004)
• Sit Down and Shut Up: Authors and Criticism by Emily Brunson (2004)
• interrogating the text from the wrong perspective by Anne Rice (September 2004)

2005

• feedback, getting replies to; archive link page 1; archive link page 2
• my delicate butterfly soul is cooking like an egg in mary's glass house: bettyp, ^{Archived version} and the response Anatomy of the fannish butterfly (and troll), ^{Archived version} (January 2005)
• Oh goody. round 3.45 billion of "the writer is god and every word is sacred" by Mary the Fan (January 2005)
• feedback, getting replies to: flambeau, ^{Archived version}; page 2, ^{Archived version} (February 2005)
• Criticism and Fanfic, ^{Archived version}, discussion at Fanthropology (June 2005)
• No comment by azdak (September 2005)
• Fanfic Discussion is for the Readers. Deal. by Arduinna (written July 6, 2003, posted September 2005)
• Social Construct Theory Applied to Fandom: Why Both Negative and Positive Criticism of Fanfic is Vital to Our Community, by viciouswishes (a response to discussion at thecuttingboard) (August 2005)
• on the shadowlands of story and author, ^{Archived version} by kattahj (a response to discussion at thecuttingboard) (August 2005)
• Feedback, Critique, and That Entitlement Thing by MTGAT (August 2005)
• My thoughts on feedback; archive link; archive link (a response to discussion at thecuttingboard) by marag (September 2005)
• Fan fiction and public critique (aka, deja vu) by Destina (September 2005)
• The practical side of feedback by Gwyneth Rhys (September 2005)
• Social Darwinism in Fandom by nnaylime at Fanthropology (October 2005)

2006

• Those were the days by Gwyneth Rhys (January 2006)
• Lacking Critical Feedback, discussion at Fanthropology (February 4, 2006)
• Fandom marketing and fic reviews, ^{Archived version}, post by painless j (April 2006)
• And like magic... feedback!; archive link page 1; archive link page 2, post by bethbethbeth (September 2006)
• Ruminations on good manners; archive link page 1; archive link page 2, Diana Williams (November 17, 2006)
• Dear Negative Reader by Laurell K. Hamilton (December 2006)

2007

• Inventing a Universe: Reading and Writing Internet Fan Fiction by Juli J. Parrish
• Writing and posting: What's your emotional journey?, ^{Archived version} by Mal (April 2007)
• Things I've Learned About Reviewing: archive link by hector_rashbaum (April 2007)
• On feedback response.; archive link page 1; archive link page 2, by thete1 (March 2007)
• What I Owe Fandom: Not a Whole Damn Lot, ^{Archived version}, by painless j (March 2007)
• I wish writers left polls at the end of their work or why I don't go to cocktail parties., ^{Archived version} by gaudinight (April 2007)
• Examining jdsampson's comments about newbies, criticicism and encouraging writers ; archive link by liviapenn (June 24, 2007)

2009

• Why Aren't People Commenting on My Post/Story/Whatever?, ^{Archived version}, post by thefourthvine (April 2009)
• Well, I Was Gonna Read Your Fic, But..., essay by Flash (October 2009)

2010

• Harry Potter fan fiction on FanFiction.Net, ^{Archived version}, post by partly bouncy, (January 2010)
• Feedback Reminder and Meta on amplificathon, post by paraka (January 2010)
• podfic feedback: how (when, why) do you do it? on podficmeta, post by lomedet (January 2010)

2011

• ratcreature, ^{Archived version} by Ratcreature, about DeviantArt (January 2011)
• Podfic Feedback Toolbox: 5 ways to give great podfic feedback on amplificathon, post by klb (June 2011)

2012

• Pod-Aware meta: story love, body love, performance love by greedy_dancer (November 2012) (AO3 repost)
• Fanfickers, futuros escritores (via Wayback Apr 23/24) by Hessefan (March 2012) (Spanish language) - "Popularity: “No one reads me and I write well.”

2013

• Feedback as a Tool, ^{Archived version} by Charlotte Frost (July 2013)

2014

• For the Sake of History, ^{Archived version} by Charlotte Frost on feedback on her Starsky & Hutch zines (April 2014)
• Podfic Stats 4: Feedback distributions for Podfics on AO3 on audiosnippers (November 2014)
• Commenting on Podfic: vocabulary on podfic-tips, post by yue_ix (November 2014)

• An Open Letter About Fic Writers to Fic Readers, ^{Archived version} by wordstrings (August 2014)
• Why I Won't Be Stalking You: An Open Letter to Readers and Authorsplainers, ^{Archived version} by Nenia Campbell (October 2014)

2015

• Protecting What You Love: On the Difference Between Criticism, Rage and Vilification by Emily Asher-Perrin (March 2015)
• Auralphonic 004: Feedback podcast episode by paraka and dodificus with guests yue_ix and greedy_dancer (March 2015)
• How to praise writers and influence fics, ^{Archived version} (April 2015)
• A Matter of Space: The big thing I miss about writing fanfic., ^{Archived version} (2015)

2016

• Do You Read Fanfics? Then This is For You, ^{Archived version} (May 2016)

2017

• Passively devouring content is killing fandom. (January 2017)
• Let’s hear it for lurkers, ^{Archived version} (April 2017)
• So you’re thinking about leaving concrit on a fanfiction…, ^{Archived version} by Dresupi (May 2017)
• Fandom, we need to have a talk..., ^{Archived version} (September 2017)
• Feedback culture is dead, long live feedback culture! (December 2017)

2018

• Just don't (criticize), ^{Archived version} by porcupine-girl (January 2018)
• 5 reasons to ignore unsolicited “constructive” criticism, ^{Archived version} by GingerTodgers (June 2018)
• To critique or not to critique (of the unsolicited kind), ^{Archived version} by tarysande (June 2018)
• Fanfic Ettiquette, ^{Archived version} by starknjarvis27 (July 2018)
• Unpopular Opinion - Reflections on a culture of nice in ficdom, ^{Archived version}, general discussion (August 2018)
• Unsolicited Opinions on Fic Criticism, ^{Archived version} by shinelikethunder (August 2018)
• Why shouldn't anyone leave any kind of comments they like on a fic? Free speech and all., ^{Archived version}, discussion (September 2018)
• reasons why people don’t comment on fics, ao3commentoftheday (September 2018)
• On Comment Culture (fandom/fanfic/AO3/I’m an old), by demyrie (December 2018)

2019

• What Fan Fiction Teaches That the Classroom Doesn’t by Julie Beck (October 2019)

2020

• Why Are people more verbally abusive on FanFiction.Net in comparison to Archive of our own?, a multi-user discussion from /r/fanfiction (September 2020)

2024

• "English speaking users who comment on accounts that speak non-English should stop using the 'Please kill urself aren't u ashamed ugh' 'I am mentally ill' etc when trying to express love/fangirling/fanboying on a post" (January 2024)
• What do you guys think of people reviewing fics like books?