Non-Humans R Us Newsletters

Reviews – Do’s and Don’ts

A while back, I was doing some Summer Dusting – Editing without actually Editing – so that I might get some Rates and Reviews of my items, because every so often, someone catches a mistake you made on an item two years earlier, one that you never noticed, allowing you to go back, and fix it. I tend to do this about once a month – you can practically set your calendar by it – about the second Saturday usually. In fact, I wouldn’t be too surprised if you’ve noticed when I do this, as you end up seeing a lot of my stuff about that time, and I get a lot of reviews then.

Of course, this isn’t without its drawbacks, although, if one is smart, the solutions can be simple, especially to find a specific item that’s not mine – alter your search terms, add the item to your Favorites/Fans – trust me, I do that one quite a bit. Another option is to wait a day or two, and the item might be back to the top in the case of an interactive, or just plain do some digging – I do my fair share of that too.

This time though, I got an angry email from some person who has some serious issues. The guy did some massive complaining, especially about bad tags – said that the items were not related to the tag. I tried to help him find alternative search terms – I’m guessing he forgot to take his meds or something, as he didn’t want my help – practically demanding why I posted all my items at once, and then said that he’d tell everyone what a terrible person I was. The next thing I know, I get four of the worst reviews I’ve seen, all from this guy, all with a 1 rating. The following is a Paraphrasing.

“Bad Tags. Jumps all over. Terrible story. Do not read. Nothing to do with vore.”

Needless to say, I did some things I’ve never done before – 1. Added this guy to my Block/Ignore lists – both of them. I’ve never used those functions before, but I didn’t want him to post his rants on my things. 2. I Hid those four “so-called Reviews”, especially since they were Public reviews. I’ve never hidden any reviews, and I’ve received more than a few of bad ones – thankfully those ones were Private, meaning that only a few people could read them. Public though, anyone could of read that – probably wouldn’t have mattered, but I didn’t want to see those insults hanging over my items, so I hit that Hide button, and now no one can see those reviews, not even me. The only annoying thing is that those stars are still stuck to the items – thankfully, the averages can be bumped up by posting the items in a few places.

Now that the rant is done, I’m going to talk about Reviewing.

Reviewing is a way one can share an opinion about another’s items, and perhaps give out some advice. This can be very useful, especially to writers who have issues with certain parts in grammar. After all, Spell-Check doesn’t catch everything.

When it comes to reviewing, there are some Do’s and Don’ts. I’ll list a few examples.



Don’ts

         1. Don’t review when you are angry, or otherwise in a bad mood. For a number of reasons, the least being that you’ll say something you can’t take back, it isn’t a good idea.

         2. When someone is writing fiction, don’t say that a creature wouldn’t act that way. After all, the person might have read different stories than you did, or they are creating their own spin on the story.

         3. Don’t review the wrong person. I once reviewed someone, who had agreed to review a few of my things. The problem was, while they claimed to have been doing them, I wasn’t getting them. So, I asked the person for links to the reviews – let’s just say that I’m not the only one with a wolf in my handle. Even crazier, I already knew the other person. Thankfully, I was able to point out the mistake to the reviewer, who then went to work on my things.

         4. Don’t review things in a language other than your native tongue, unless you know exactly what has been written, and you know how to write in said language. Sure, there are those translation sites – I use one myself, for adding in real foreign languages – but they aren’t always the most reliable.

         5. Don’t review an item you don’t like, unless you have to. For the most part, it’s often better to ask someone if they have an alternative item for you to review – most everyone writes different things, to get the most readers possible, a tactic employed by many authors – if that piece of Erotica is a little much for you, ask if they have a Spiritual poem about family – I myself have some Erotica, and I have some Spiritual-type poems – guess which one has more rates and reviews.

         6. Don’t compare the item to one of the Classics, and then call both of them trash. I got a review like that – compared my Dragon’s Eyes interactive to that of Beowulf, and called both of them ridiculous things that only a child would believe in.



Do’s

         1. Always say something nice about the item. Maybe the story is full of bad spelling and grammar, but maybe the concept behind the story is interesting.

         2. Reread the item before doing the review – you might catch something on the second reading.

         3. Have something of an open mind. We all have different opinions, different religions, political backgrounds, and all of that – meaning that you’ll, eventually, encounter someone who thinks differently from you.

         4. Be respectful. As I just mentioned, we are all different. For instance, I use a lot of wolves – been using them before I joined the site. Other people use dragons. Others deal in aliens. Some people use robots. Other people use angels. Some write poetry, and others churn out those fifty-thousand word Nano Novels every November.

         5. We each create our creatures differently – some will take a dragon, and turn him into a destroyer. Others will take a dragon, and turn him into a savior. Some will take the Devil, and make him that Evil Bastard that some of us read about in the Bible. Others, well, in one movie, he’s depicted as the Warden of a very large prison – or so we are told, as Drive Angry focuses more on the “Escaped Fugitive”, John Milton – but apparently, he’s at least nice enough to let the “Hero” try to rescue his granddaughter.

         6. Have some fun. For all you know, this guy that you’re reviewing might turn out to be a famous writer, and that person might be the first step in getting you published by the Big Boys, as it were.


Overall, when it comes to reviewing, be in a good mood, have an open mind, have fun, and be friendly. In fact, those four things are more important than the rest of the list – yes you might need to be firm at times, especially if someone breaks the rules to a contest you’re running, but do so in a manner that says that you’re willing to help them improve. Also, let’s face it, sometimes the fact that we are all so different is actually one of our strengths. After all, it would be a boring world if we all wrote the same story the same way.

Well, have fun reviewing.