hm

[farla]

Someone's asking about if I'll review a different person's fanfic. Not the first time it's come up, either.

I originally didn't want to allow requests of other stories, since it seemed like it was inviting people to try to sic me on others. But I'm doing a lot of reviewing that isn't by request, so it's not like I only review those who want me to in the first place.

Any ideas?

Comments

[niesse.livejournal.com]

They're either hoping you'll say something nice and are probably going to be disappointed, or they're expecting you to say something harsh and are probably a jerk.

I think the effectively random reviews you've been doing are best. You get enough accusations of picking on people.

[farla.livejournal.com]

I think it's more the former. But in that case it's not much different than when people ask for reviews of their own.

The picking on people is the real worry - but then, could people really complain more than they already do? Reviewing at random isn't really any more fair.

[niesse.livejournal.com]

With random reviews at least no-one's being singled out - at least, that's how I saw it. It probably doesn't matter. As long as you're not reviewing the same person seventeen times in a row I doubt anyone would notice a difference.

On the other hand, I can't see any particular good coming out of it, and - like you said - there's always the risk of people trying to use you in their fights. It's probably easier to just disallow it and be done with it.

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this.

[niesse.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me! Can we be friends?

[ember-reignited.livejournal.com]

Sure, but I don't post on livejournal so much anymore now that I've been sucked into tumblr.

[psychmoonshadow.livejournal.com]

Agreed with the above. Unless they specifically say they want their friend to get an in-depth review for whatever reason, I wouldn't assume the best in these cases.

That said, I think you could take reviews this way, but I wouldn't take every one you see if the reasons are those niesse pointed out.

~Psy

[farla.livejournal.com]

No, I wouldn't fall for something like that. But some people seem to just want to see what I'll say. I'm not sure if there's any particular reason not to - the requirement of actually having to review me does a wonderful job dissuading most people, so it's not like I'd get swamped - but I'm not sure there's reason to either.

[foxyuna.livejournal.com]

Do you do original fiction? If you do, then I'm willing to swap reviews with you. I'll review anything you want, just as long as you do an in-depth review for my friend's story.

My friend's been disappointed, lately, with the amount of people who only give generic one-liner reviews like "i luv this update moar!!!" or "lol ur the best writer evar update!!!1!!!!".

I reviewed her story, but I don't think I've analyzed it enough. That's why I really want someone who's adept at reviewing- you- to review her for me.

Thank you for considering.

[farla.livejournal.com]

No, fanfic only at the moment. Left Alone might be close enough for your purposes - it's closer to apocalyptic fanfic that's following a similar timeline as the canon.

[foxyuna.livejournal.com]

Um, I'm probably be reading this wrong, but is that the fanfic that you want me to read if I actually have a fanfic to swap? And what do you mean by 'close enough'?

Another question: do you have a specific fandom in mind that you do review-swaps? You're probably leaning towards Homestuck, but if you also do other fandoms, I'd love to know which ones.

[farla.livejournal.com]

Ah. I really need more sleep. I read it as you saying you'd review but didn't want to read fanfic.

I'm willing to read anything. The system I use on FFN (http://forum.fanfiction.net/topic/11834/22859795/1/) is I have a set of more recent stories I'm most interested in feedback on, and anyone who wants a review can pick which ones of those they prefer. Fandom doesn't really concern me, though if I don't know the fandom that limits how helpful I can be. (My home fandom is Pokemon, I'm comparatively a newbie at handling Homestuck fic.)

[foxyuna.livejournal.com]

I hope that you're getting more sleep >.<

[farla.livejournal.com]

Sleep is for people who aren't chronic timewasters!