You're wrong here Funatc. It more like saying: "You can't have an opinion on THIS video Game unless you have played it all the way through." OR "You can't have an opinion on this artwork unless you have seriously LOOKED at it for a full hour." "Why?" "Because until you do that you don't know what the fuck you're talking about!"
... Regardless, I think we can agree that there's a right way to criticize, and a wrong way. And, further, I would say and it has been said, that criticizing about content or direction rather than execution isn't usually that constructive, as different people will like different content. If the content or direction doesn't appeal to a reader... there's another reader out there, almost guaranteed, who will appreciate it more simply because the story was taken in a direction that does appeal to them. Again, criticizing on execution is another matter entirely, and valid, but should be handled tastefully and preferably discreetly unless one is deliberately trying to open up the discussion to more voices.
The site is huge. Hundreds of stories to choose from. If you don't like someone's stuff, move on and find something else.
Yes we can, but only if you think MY way is the right one! (;p) But, in all seriousness, I agree with you, don't critique content unless it's both seriously objectionable and unexpected, like untagged non-con. And IF you happen to run across something like that turn it into an execution critique: like "I wasn't expecting non-con in this story, you should have tagged it." That is, in fact, my normal approach.
Maybe we should start a critique thread or sub. A thread or sub where people could post their stories specifically to be critiqued.
Supposedly. Though it seems to be more a place where authors go to yell in the woods about their story. I thought maybe if we renamed it. Maybe got volunteer critics who would do an in depth criticism of works. Set some ground rules like your story must be so many chapters words long. Other things that are escaping me at the moment. It might work better/as intended.
It's also why we have comments and PMs. And those don't mandate a story meet any prerequisites before it's judged. Renaming Story Feedback is a maybe, but otherwise the request is hindered first and foremost by the means to find suitable critics. Rather than go through the process of making a bunch of rules and weeding through a bunch of random users on stories we may not be too keen on, how about we instead find a method for rewarding sound, polite, constructive comments and let that encourage everyone who wants more incentive to leave comments? Remember folks, we're all hobbyists and volunteers, not paid professionals. Let's not turn CHYOA into an obligated detraction from our real lives, at least not until it gains a little more prestige.
I'm sure it's been discussed before, but some places use a vote-up system for comments, much like the stories here... People like votes, I think.
The vetting of critics would be the most difficult. As for how it would be done since we are all hobbyist I was thinking something like r/eroticauthors where there would be one day people could submit a work for review and someone would critique it. Might be could you read this one chapter or one thread. I just wish the community was more active and think this might be a good way for that to happen.
No, that's the easy part. We gather up all reviews and we pick the users with the most constructive comments that also adhere to some form of consistency within them, and ask the winners if they want to join the critic circle. The hard part is there aren't enough reviews already in place for us to do this. This leaves us right back where we started: How do we encourage people to critique our stories? And once that initial jump finally catches steam and we're swimming in assessments, we are left with very little reason (if any) to go forward with the plan since the objective of the plan will have already been achieved without actually utilizing the plan. All it amounts to is a new way to dress up an old problem.
I actually had a person contact me via pm to critique their story today. If people want to do that I will give my honest opinion to them. Please know it might take me some time depending on my schedule the length of your thread you want me to do. *My only limitation would be stories in 2nd person perspective.
Sorry 2nd person just pulls me out of a story. I read it and think "I would never do say any of that." Also the repetitive you pronoun makes me want to scream.
I know, I'm just racking my brains to see if there's anything I've written which you COULD Critique: I can use all the help I can get...
Why the Hell didn’t I think of this right off? The first story I ever wrote... MY story... https://chyoa.com/story/The-Adventure-of-Nemo-of-Utopia.9099
