a poll, because I am curious
Mar. 28th, 2013 07:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edenfallingTangentially to my last post, because I know people react differently to things:
(The poll is Dreamwidth only, since that's where I have a paid account, but I think you may also be able to vote via OpenID.)
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 20
Upon receiving a review of the form, "I usually dislike/hate/don't understand/can't believe in Story Element X, but you made me like it/understand it/see how it could work/enjoy your story anyway," how do you tend to feel?
View Answers
Flattered: "I'm such a great writer that I changed this reader's mind about X!"
15 (75.0%)
Defensive: "What's wrong with X anyway?!"
3 (15.0%)
Confused: "If you don't like X, why were you reading my story in the first place?"
10 (50.0%)
Something else which I will explain in a comment.
3 (15.0%)
Tickybox!
7 (35.0%)
(The poll is Dreamwidth only, since that's where I have a paid account, but I think you may also be able to vote via OpenID.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-29 03:24 am (UTC)Whether I would take "I still don't like X" comments as rude or awkwardly well-meaning depends on the phrasing - whether the reviewer is just acknowledging a difference in taste in the process of issuing a compliment or whether they are critiquing the author as having the wrong taste and implying they should change it.
If they write, "I don't like X, but I gave your story a chance and really liked it despite not being into X," that doesn't necessarily imply the author is misguided for liking X even though the reviewer doesn't like it. If really they don't like X personally and still don't like it after reading the story, it's got to have been an exceptional story in other aspects for them to push past the personal barrier of not liking whatever X is. I would most likely not make a comment like this because like
But if they write something to the effect of, "I don't usually like X, but this was good. It would have been sexier/better without the X." Then X isn't being pointed out as a neutral thing to be liked or disliked, and it's not being pointed out as a means to compliment, but the author's preference for X is actually being critiqued as wrong. That I would find rude and unnecessary considering that 99% of the time they could easily find fic without X if they want to. It sounds like these are the type of comments you've been seeing?
(I probably don't need to mention this, but obviously I'm assuming that X is a pairing or kink or narrative trope and not actually something where liking or not liking it is politically charged. Like, oh: "I don't like stories with any Asian or gay characters but the rest of your story was great despite it!" is guaranteed to be pretty inherently suspicious and offensive no matter what.)
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-29 03:58 am (UTC)However, the particular review that led to this poll read, as follows:
It's old. It's odd. It's short. And I am homophobic. But still, it's good for a laugh, and definitely WAFF-y. :) I like it.
...I was gobsmacked, frankly. It's one thing to say something along the lines of, "Slash is not my cup of tea, but I enjoyed the humor and WAFF-y aspects of this story," but to outright declare oneself a homophobe and then act as if liking a slash story despite that entitles one to a cookie is, um, well it made me feel as if I'd somehow been complicit in something icky.
The sad thing is that that review is noticeable less for the sentiment expressed than for the bluntness used to express it. Which is not to say I get "I think slash is icky, BUT" reviews all the time, but yeah, they're out there. And I have never gotten one of them that continued on to say that I'd changed the reviewer's mind, just that they'd liked the not-gay parts of the story. :-(
(no subject)
Date: 2013-03-29 04:02 am (UTC)