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

[parthenia14.livejournal.com]

*shrugs*

I think it's rude to leave direct negative feedback in one of the anon fests, but beyond that it's quite helpful to get fic reviews and recommendations in other people's journals. It might be a bit distasteful to some, but I find the idea of anon reviews at a distance quite interesting. But then I don't participate directly in Smutmas.

I do read the LJ you mention and I don't think it's negative (especially as the writer is frequently saying, 'this just isn't my thing'); if anything, it's pointing me to stories because I'm too lazy to read them all directly in the communities.

To be honest, I find the exchanges very contrived at times; a good reviewer will cut through all the artifice to point out that despite the fact that the fic featuring cross-dressing genderswap AU Bottom!Harry with six children, it's actually a groundbreaking story that deserves reading.

[geniusartist.livejournal.com]

As I said above, I don't generally object to public reviews (nor recs, for that matter). I support them more than I don't. I'm differentiating between reviewing fics being posted to a public comm and those being posted to a gift fest like smutmas -- in which case, I don't see much of a difference between leaving negative feedback directly or publicly posting an anti-rec in an LJ. And for the reasons that many have already stated here, included myself.

It's basically a difference of opinion between you and I as to whether or not the reviews are helpful or negative.