"It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."

Suggestion: Tell 'em when they get a review they should acknowledge it. I'd rather hear some disagreement than nothing at all. Lately more and more of my reviews have disappeared into a black hole.

Writing! That's the ticket. It's the primary reason I searched out a site like Writing.Com. The specific reasons I joined WDC--and I looked over several writing sites before deciding--probably vary from your reasons. I thought I was a very good writer, and sought some positive stroking for my ego.

I received my first review within two days of joining by a young lady who firmly, but gently disabused this cocky upstart of that 'very good' notion.

This conversation about rating and reviewing has continued since the beginning of time, or at least since the beginning of Writing.com (or as it was known back then, Stories.com ~ and yes, I was around back then). A constant battle ground of those writers seeking approval of their work and those simply seeking honest feedback with those reviewers attempting to provide honest opinions and those with other motives, whatever they might be at the time.

Reviewing will always be just an opinion.

It's real purpose, I think, lies in giving the author a bird's eye view of the
reviewer's perspective. The only way to truly formulate an opinion is to
read for oneself. Rarely, you find someone who reads your work and
truly "gets" it, almost speaking you back to the time when you penned
the piece in question. Anyone can just say,"Oh! I love it!", But why do
they ? And do they for the same reason you "want" them to?

Before you begin reviewing someone else's work, remember that their style will differ from yours, so don't go editing their work to match your own.
Point out what you liked somewhere within your critique. While making adjustments and criticism to an author's work is wanted, not all writers have a thick skin.
If you critique as you read, tell the author so. Also tell the author if what you're reading isn't normally in your to-read queue. (For me, this would be sci-fi--something about it just doesn't much hook me, but I'll still try to give it a read.)
To add on to that, if you're unable to continue critiquing the work, note the stopping point and explain why to the author.

This piece will not urge you to be sensitive to the feelings of the author being reviewed. It will not exhort you to encourage the author to “keep on writing.” It will not advance the notion that a review should be a tutorial on how to write or should provide a line-by-line edit. This piece is at odds with prevailing sentiment here at WDC and will generate serious debate on what should be this community’s philosophy on review.

A good critique helps two writers. Most of us, when we write, know what’s right about our work. We feel it; in that moment when everything just clicks and the words flow like oil from our fingers, we know. Presumably we don’t see the flaws, or we would have fixed them before sharing them with the world. Or we may know that flaws lurk in the thicket of phrases and paragraphs, but not know how to prune them without hacking the garden to pieces. So we throw up our hands and toss them out for a rate and review, hoping that someone else will spot them and offer a fresh idea. By reading with a more critical eye, and writing an in-depth critique of someone else’s story, we learn by practice to more easily spot the flaws in our own writing – ideally, before we commit them to paper or pixels.

Welcome to everyone at WDC please feel free to splash in the pool of talent here.
My job as a reviewer here is to help, to the best of my ability, to aid you in expressing your message in your chosen venue.

Each form, Short Story, Poem, Article, Essay etc has a wide latitude of expression. Each review given is just one view of a multifacted gem, that almost any piece can become. It takes patience and sometimes a lot of effort.

My reviewing habits developed further because of Facebook. Like most of the dreaming-to-be-writers of my age, Facebook provided me a platform to showcase few of my poems, and garner a lot of appreciation from my friends. But there were few responses which told me about a typo, or a tense mistake. I would frown at such comments, and rush to read their so-very-perfect-poem. The review of their poem made me feel better. It was a comfort to know I was not the only one making mistakes. Petty attitude, I know, and I’m ashamed of it too, but hiding from truth never changes the facts. So, there I was with my eyes squinted and a red pen ready to find an error, when I noticed that I was enjoying it. The drill to read and concentrate hard enough to find mistake made the time on Facebook more pleasurable.

The second most important aspect that attracts me into reviewing is, reading. The pleasure of reading grew with me ever since I first started reading books other than those in my curriculum, thanks to my dad who initiated me into this everlasting adventure. Pretty soon I realized that reading different books gives me new perspectives on people, God and the universe. It enables me in turn to review others’ experience understanding it from their angle.

In response to inkdripper's egregious insult (Grammar Nazi's) to those of us who have an excellent grasp of the English language, I can only say -- if you have a high school diploma, yet cannot write a complete sentence or even punctuate one, your insult is the only way you can save face for such inexcusable grammar errors. And I am appalled that the author of this newsletter would publish such an insult to those of us who know how to write and speak our native language. How dare you publish such an insult that calls us grammar NAZI'S?!

Suggestion: Tell 'em when they get a review they should acknowledge it. I'd rather hear some disagreement than nothing at all. Lately more and more of my reviews have disappeared into a black hole.

Thanks for the advice. I do appreciate these newsletters but I must tell you that I don't come here looking for GPs and frankly, I think Writing.com would provide a far more open and accessible format for member interaction and reviews without GPs. There are other ways of showing appreciation - one need not charge GPs fees to give or to receive.

Reviewing can be tricky.