Common Complaints on Fiction Writing Websites

I am a member of various websites dedicated to writing and sharing stories, both original and fan fiction, and no matter how different the site seems, not matter how different the rules are and what's appropriate vs inappropriate, it seems that people continually complain about the same things on every single one of these websites. To put it frankly, I'm pretty tired of it because, usually, it's something that's out of that individual's control so there's literally no use in complaining about it because there is no way one person—or even a group of people—can stop it, but they also have a tone of voice that seems to say that they can change it, or, rather, that it should change. And because whatever they're complaining about can't be controlled, it just seems obvious that instead of trying to change everybody else, maybe they need to change their own approach to websites, their own writing, and to their potential readers and peers.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you to stop complaining—things that can change won't change if you don't complain—but I'm tired of the whole superiority complex that's behind some of these complaints both toward writers and also toward readers. Most of them are just alienating these groups of people and bashing them. There is no reason to bash people for any kind of reason, especially if it's over stories. Besides, some of these battles for change just shouldn't be picked (because it literally won't change no matter how many people complain about it).

Before you jump the gun and start yelling at me for complaining about reviewers, I didn't demand anyone to change how they reviewed every single stories from now on or that I would disregard and ignore any comments that didn't follow my protocol when commenting on my own stuff. I merely provided examples (along with my wit) to show that I do feel frustration and disappointment for lackluster comments that force me to reach for an equally lackluster reply, and I hate feeling like I have to copy and paste replies because I would rather contribute to an actual conversation. Things I Wish I Could Tell Some Reviewers Without Looking Like a Total Jerk was merely my personal complaint about common copy-and-pasted feel of reviews and comments about people's works, and when I say "my personal complaint," I mean my personal complaint. Whatever consequences that were going to come, was all going to happen to me, and no one else.

I'm didn't ask for people to rally with me and bash or hate on people that do this. No matter what comment I get, I'll still appreciate it, but this was to let my potential readers know that I would appreciate their comments more if they go into more depth. Furthermore, I explained two points on how such depth could be achieved, so it's not like I complained about a problem without also providing a solution, which would have made that piece a complete waste of time and would have made me look like a jerk (well, more of a jerk if I hadn't provided those two points). Lastly, I'm not telling people to stop reviewing altogether, whether it be for my stuff or other people's stuff. This was merely to let people know, "Hey, I don't mind generic reviews, but I would be even happier, and it would really make my day, if you took a little bit more time to personalize it." It's not like I said, "Hey, if your comments aren't going to be in-depth, don't bother reviewing." That would seem quite hateful to me. In fact, that would probably encourage people not to review, which is the opposite of what anybody would want.

Then there's Reasons I Will Not Give Your Story a Chance where I listed all the things some writers tend to do that makes their stories a turn-off for me, which includes using copyrighted images, stereotypical titles or titles that aren't properly capitalized and titles that are symbols or decorative, poor blurbs, and stories that are mis-genred or mis-tagged. I also included first chapters (as well as the rest of the story) that may include character sheets, author notes, lack of (noticeable) paragraphing, incorrect grammar, capitalization, spelling and punctuation, and more. Lots more.