![Shifty :shifty:](./images/smilies/shifty.gif)
Most of the regulars know my pathological hate for she-pushes-him-away-then-he-pushes-her-away angst - at least in post season 4 stories, so I tend to get vocal on those, especially if it drags on through double-digit numbers of chapters. While I can understand the criticism that people say I offend the author by calling it 'ridiculous' or even a stronger selection of words, shouldn't I be then offended if people call my work 'creepy' or declare that they've 'given up on it'?
Funny thing is - I am not offended. Most of my stories are rather fluffy, so the well-established angstmeisters will not even read them and I know that, when I hit the 'submit' button. What it boils down to, for me, is that if I choose to publish something, I should be ready for negative comments, especially if I touch topics that are not universally seen in all parts of the world.
Let me give an example: There is one story in our archive (story and author shallt not be disclosed), which I regard to be the worst story ever written (in my personal opinion). I left a comment for this story and, while definitely not very flattering, I think I wrote it without being downright abusive. It was published before my time on here and I soon found out that the author is one of the 'legends' around here, so I started to dig into the ancient threads and found out that even other authors, which I hold in high regards (read: legends) started to call the plotline ridiculous and character portraits 'downright dumb' when the author had dragged out the mutually-abusive TnT-angst for 21 chapters too long.
So this lead me to some serious questions:
1. Why was directly criticizing an author acceptable in 2007 and not acceptable in 2011?
2. How to best deal with a story that on one hand is technically brilliantly written but on the other hand contains plot-elements that can be downright offensive (rape, abuse, violence). Should one just shut up or what is an acceptable form of criticism?
3. Is it forbidden to call something 'downright bad' if one thinks it is?
One of the most common lectures I get is, that 'the author put in a lot of effort'. While that may be true, but so did the workers at the Sachsenring car factory, but the result was still the worlds worst car ever.
![Dunno :dunno:](./images/smilies/dunno.gif)
That's why I'd really be grateful for some hints. On one side, I don't want to comment a bad plot with faux praise, just to not offend the author - on the other hand, I just as well dont want to offend everybody again and again
![Dunno :dunno:](./images/smilies/dunno.gif)