At The Crossroads...

At the Crossroads….

Writing.  It is the only thing I know, even though my hands don‘t work as well as they should to do so properly.  And not to sound too arrogant or cocky, I do it quite well…on occasion. 

For the record, I love Writing.com.  It is a wonderful place for writers and those who like to read stories, poems and etc.  from great writers.  But now I am somewhat soured on Writing.com.

Several weeks ago, on a late Monday night going into Tuesday morning, I decided to upload a piece to The Plug Page.  My personal policy has always been, if time permits, to read the piece that I bump off.  It is only the decent thing to do.  This maybe the Internet, but it doesn’t mean that one needs to forget their manners and upbringing.  Behind these pieces of various prose works, there are human beings who have worked hard to get down something real special that is near and dear to them. 

I did so as always.  I read the bio and thought maybe the writer was a teen or almost college.  Some people have writing styles that resonate even into their everyday writing.  I didn’t think much of it.  The piece in question was quite cute and well-written, but needed more in my view.  I tried to encourage the writer and sent gift points as well.

But the reply was something different.  I got two blunt replies back as well as the gift points which stated that the writer was not a teen or almost adult like I thought, but a kid under 13. 

First off, I was dumbfounded for how was I to know?  Second, I didn’t see any harm of what pointers or tips I conveyed.  And above all, I never said anything inappropriate or demeaning.  I gave a fair and honest assessment.  Those writers here at Writing.com whom I have reviewed know that I did just that. 

In short, I am at a crossroads as far as reviewing here at Writing.com, even though I don’t feel like I did anything wrong.  The circumstances of the situation have irked me.  It made me want to speak out for others who may have found themselves in a similar situation. 

I don’t mind reading ANYONE’s work.  It is an honor for me to do so as many know that I have stated in my replies.  But due to this situation, I have an opinion, which is just that, my opinion, that there either needs to be one or two policies to keep confusion down. 

The first suggestion is that the bios that one reads when first viewing one’s port should display whether the writer is a child,  pre-teen, teen or adult.  The second suggestion is that maybe kids need to critique kids and adults critique adults. 

I know a lot of people are probably going to take issue with me.  And also some of the people that I have critiqued who are underage my be disappointed.  But I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, least of all a kid’s despite the fact that my feelings were the one’s hurt by the parents response. 

Also a final message to parents which would really be a safer bet and trump my previous suggestions:  if you don’t want your kid’s work properly critiqued don’t enroll him/her in Writing.com and place the little one in the midst of adults without proper notification to the reader.  Your little one may be a good kid and have some writing ability that needs to be nurtured.  But you’re not doing the little one any favors by letting the darling’s work get critiqued and then trashing the reviewer.  You have to take the good reviews with the bad.  I have and have learned a lot.  They have helped my writing.  Had I had known that the little one was under 13, I probably wouldn’t have read it.  I would have went to the next piece from the bottom.     

And as for the parents of the kid in question, after several weeks or so of trying to figure out what I did wrong which I finally understand now was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, I will continue on “my little adventure” of being the best person I can be.  Like I stated, I won’t forget my manners and my upbringing.