The Etiquette of Holiday fics

[geoviki]

Like all the rest of you, I'm delighting in the reams and reams of new stories and art (and this year's art is especially terrific!). There's the granddaddy, merry_smutmas, and then others like harry_holidays, hd_holidays, smutty_claus, lupin_snape.... an embarrassment of riches!

As we are encouraging each other as writers and artists, I'm trying to leave feedback as well. One thing that caught my notice, though, has left me feeling uneasy, and I wondered what your views are: In your opinion, is it uncouth to leave concrit that's negative on a fest fic? (Disclosure: this is not anything that's happened regarding my own fic, just other folk's.)

I don't see the author requesting any, for one thing. Personally, I won't do it, but then I never leave anything less than praise unless I'm asked specifically and privately. If I don't like something, I just pass it by. Which unfortunately is the same response to something I've not yet read, so the writer is never sure if I'm unhappy or just behind (if the writer even cares what I think), but there you go.

But IMHO, these stories are gifts. And I can't see criticising a gift. Am I over-sensitive? What do you authors and artists think?

Comments

[kattahj.livejournal.com]

I think it's perfectly all right to leave mixed comments on gift stories - the "I loved X and Y, though I'm not sure I understood the ending" kind of comments. I don't really see why everything would have to be positive - if the writer wrote the story in two days, she'll obviously know that already and can use it as an excuse. Sure, only the recipient really matters, but the comment function is there so that people can comment, and if your reaction is mostly squee with some un-squee mixed in, I think the comment should reflect that.

I think it's incredibly tacky for the recipient to point out flaws, though.