After discussions this week, I finally decided that I needed to address this issue. Based on the premise that folks who "enable comments" would like to know that their work was actually read, and would like to have it critiqued - it would be gracious of readers to at least say: "thanks for posting this," or "interesting write," or "please fix your typos, it's worth developing," or even "needs work." If writers weren't hoping for feedback, they wouldn't bother enabling comments. I just think it polite for readers to leave a comment of some sort. (IMO)

True tien avielle, but sadly a lot of people are not comfortable with leaving constructive critism, which is not always well received so they tend to say nothing at all. The same thing happens in all the galleries. I don't tend to leave comments on written work because I don't feel I have the necessary skills to critique it. I'm sure I'm not the only reader in this position. Shanna :-)

I don't expect most of the readers to be professional writers, reviewers, or critics, but I'd still like to know if they responded favorably to something I've written, or found it offensive or worthless. Skills needed - ability to read... you have that skill! (-: At other writing sites, I've seen a lot more feedback, and much of it was actually beneficial! Again, it's just my opinion. PS - especially with poetry, I have to admit that often "I just didn't get it." But, by reading assorted comments, I gained insights through other people's interpretations. It becomes a much richer learning experience.

I agree with Tien here: indeed I find it extremely difficult not to comment on something I've just read. FOR ME [and please note that part] it would be discourteous not to comment. For example, I know nothing of 3D art techniques - but I can say that I find a piece of work visually exciting, or moving or simply pretty. Similarly, even if I'm unsure of the nuances of a writer's work or the deepest meanings or the complex imagery, I can still say I like [or don't like] how it sounds. To use a Lancashire dialect phrase "owt's better than nowt" owt = ought [anything] : nowt = nought [nothing].

To add one last comment, thank you Shoshanna and Meico for providing me with feedback! (-: It is truly appreciated! ~Tien

I've been trying to comment on writers' work, but I can't usually find nice things to say about work that I do like, so you can imagine how hard it is to say anything about stuff that I'm indifferent to, and I feel that to compliment someone on their punctuation is worse than nothing at all. And there is so MUCH stuff posted here. I can't comment on everything. I come here to hang out, I already belong to a critique group, and I've got a goal of 1000 words a day to meet, so by the time I get here I don't want to work on writing anymore. So mostly I stick to commenting on Fantasy and Science Fiction prose works that don't already have a lot of comments. What I think people here who want more comments should do, is band together in critique groups, where everyone in the group makes an effort to say something about everyone else's postings. If you make a deal with six other people, to comment on all their works if they will comment on all of yours, that will four or five comments per post, (yes, I can count to six, but trust me, someone always turns up missing, life is like that). Anyone who writes genre fiction prose, or classically rhyming and scanning poetry, and avoids the gruesome, the depressing, or the pornographic (although the TOS pretty much forbids that anyway) is welcome to join me in forming a critique buddy group. Commit to commenting on my postings, (not a hard commitment, to date I have posted all of ONE thing.) and I will commit to commenting on yours. Expertise in anything in particular not required. (Good thing too, I know nothing about art.)

I'd be happy to have one or two objective readers who comment. Unfortunately, too often a circle of "friends" makes for rather meaningless pats on the back. But, I do hope you find a critique buddy group anyway - it is a start! My latest project doesn't meet your criteria, I'm afraid /-; but I have done some things for the challenges that might. As to the comments, a simple "I liked it" might be just the encouragement someone needs. Lol, I once wrote an editorial and a reader wrote a comment twice as long as my write, haha. ?Where is he now?

I for one would love to have people tell me what they "don't" like about my submissions. That is one of the reasons that I upload. I am a total novice at writing, and need all the help I can get. The positive feedback is wonderful, it is what keeps me wanting to keep contributing. However, I for one really need to know where I could improve. I also would love to become part of a group that honestly critiques each others work.

A critique "buddy" is a different thing from a friend who wants to make you feel good, and so only says polite things. I find that critique buddies often become friends, but it's a different kind and quality of friendship, than the kind that goes around giving out meaningless pats on the back, because a polite but fearless honesty is part of the relationship from the start. Critique buddies should be people who are interested in the kinds of things, and so are willing to spend time on each other's creations, but who are different enough in personality and thought patterns that they will have varying insights and complimentary strengths.

I haven't been commenting on gallery submissions because when I do a critique, especially on longer pieces, I usually take up a lot of space in my comments. I treat Gallery works as finished submissions while posts here as drafts. I also read and re-read drafts a few times before I critique them, so it's usually a few days after a post before I comment on them. Unfortunately, there have been several cases of someone leaving an honest, polite critique on a gallery piece and being raked over the coals for it. There have been IMs to Mods complaining that so-and-so is out to get them because they left a "Great" instead of an "Excellent" on their work. In a few cases, the artist turned around and started trolling the person who'd left an honest comment on the piece. rolls eyes On the other hand, anyone who gets offended by an honest repsonse for a work posted in a forum tends to get slapped down by all the other forum members, so people treat forum posts as safer for real critiques. I haven't seen any problems with critiques in the Writers' Gallery, but I know the problems from other Galleries have made people shy to post honestly in this Gallery as well. What you might want to do is post a request for a critique here and link to your Gallery post. You can also request critiques in the Writers' Forum and post the URL of the thread under your submission in the Gallery in the comments area. That way, you get more viewings by being in the Gallery and a better chance of critiques by posting in the Writers' Forum as well. I think people will feel more comfortable that you are serious about wanting critiques if you do both. Hope this helps! Cres

Thanks to everyone - and sorry that I started this thread and then had pc problems and couldn't follow it. I am strapped for time until September, but am growing interested in the "critique buddy" idea. As oldrogue said, some of us really do want polite, helpful feedback so that we can improve. I'll be away much of this week, but will try to post links to my current project as Crescent suggested sometime tonight or tomorrow. Again, thanks to all for the input!

I find that when I read something I either like it or don't, and find it difficult to tell you why either way. Some stories I stop reading after a few lines because they just don't grab me. Most people would take comments like, "I don't like it", or "It just doesn't grab me" the wrong way, and so they should as they would be complaints rather than constructive criticisim. Whilst on the subject of the galleries can we have some sort of indication in the thumbs to say whether a piece of work is a story or poetry. I'm not much into modern poetry and am usually disappointed when I find a thumb that looks like it might be a good read only to find it's a poem, regardless of how good said poem may be.

While I agree with many things that have been said, personally, I'd like to say: A true friend will be honest with you, a stranger will usually be honestly brutal, and someone who cares too much or is too scared, won't say anything at all. If you post a story/novel/poem/lymric/whatever on here and enable comments to be posted, you, being the one who allowed it, shouldn't have a right to get mad at a HELPFULL, but CRITIC comment. Anyone would be mad if they recieve a comment saying, "Your writing sucks." But if it were "Your writing could be much better if..." or something similar, then, in my opinion, you shouldn't get mad. As for me, I am a writer and have been for about 5 years I guess and due to my unpopularness here and the fact that a lot of people, from what I've seen myself, are too brutal for me to post something that means so much to me. LOL. Just as some advise: If you want your work critiqued, find your best friend(s), ask/beg them to be completly 100% honest, and ask them to read your story. It's what I do. :-D

I've blabbed long enough...enjoy everyone.

Jay