Most entitled thing a reader has ever said?

[DefiantMind]

They were kidnapped by flying iguanas?

No...but now I need a book with flying iguanas! Thanks for the laugh

 

[Bartun]

The few readers I have loved my story. To everyone else, it is completely invisible. My story never grew so popular as to attract entitled readers.

 

[Valmond]

The few readers I have loved my story. To everyone else, it is completely invisible. My story never grew so popular as to attract entitled readers.

I think you should probably count yourself a bit lucky there.

The higher up you go in the ladder, the more common this becomes.

I’ve had readers try to change the way I choose to approach my style. That in other words, try to change the way I write.

My writing is layered with metaphors and imageries. It isn’t an easy thing, and requires patience.

 

[3guanoff]

TL;DR: reader of a mature magazine blamed my short story for downfall of an entire genre; genre is alive and kicking

In my youth, I somehow (read: the mate of a mate of a mate...) managed to get a spot for a series of short stories in a small... magazine geared toward male adult readers. It paid.
The magazine eventually went under as people started getting their pictures elsewhere.
There was a section on the last page for readers to send questions and feedback. Terrible idea if you ask me.

My series of short stories, let us call it "Rendezvous", had to be very short since I only got two columns. These columns were less than 1/3 of the page's width since there were always pictures of a beautiful women next to them.
In theory, Rendezvous had nothing to do with the pictures, but they were placed thusly for a reason.

Long story short, one reader already well-known for sending "constructive" feedback with every issue took a liking to Rendezvous and initially suggested the stories should be longer. Then he demanded that Rendezvous should be one continuous story about the protagonist in my second short story. After all, only that man had depth and all my other characters were too talkative.
Well, that I could still consider constructive feedback.
After a year, the short stories, including Rendezvous, got axed in favor of more pictures. Not just mine, all of them. It was an editorial decision. I was not too upset since the amount I earned was not large and my financial situation had begun to improve a little.
That reader did not seem to agree. He sent a phenomenally loquacious three-page letter rant blaming Rendezvous and one other story for "the downfall" of mature literature. He then spent two pages making unfavorable comments about the editors of the magazine as well as yours truly. Lastly, he graciously offered to continue reading the magazine if they brought back the stories.
Needless to say, that letter did not get printed.

 

[DireBadger]

Remember, the dumber, more ignorant, and more thoughtless the opinion, the louder the source is going to scream and insist that they be heard and paid attention to.

That's how we get critics, politicians, and 'influencers'.

 

[Valmond]

Ya know, I am now remembering some hilarious things.

1. A reader who screamed in pain.

2. A reader that voiced they don’t want to decipher every single line.

3. A reader who said a story isn’t supposed to be written the way I wrote mine.

 

[Ruti]

reader who said a story isn’t supposed to be written the way I wrote mine.

Bet they didn’t tell you the right way

 

[Anonjohn20]

Bet they didn’t tell you the right way

That's because his critic doesn't know the right way either. Only I know the correct way to write your stories! lol jk

 

[Valmond]

Bet they didn’t tell you the right way

Nope.

 

[jthornfield]

Over a decade ago, I used to write some straight-up erotica under a different pen name. I would get a lot of entitled comments from people who wanted me to focus on this, ignore that- basically, cater specifically to their kinks and fetishes like I was an AI chatbot before they really existed.

My "favorite" one of those was the guy who pleaded for me to not include sex in my fetish-focused erotica story. I got the impression that he was very fond of ecchi anime and wanted sexy things to happen, but not progress beyond innuendo and titilation, I guess.

Much more recently, with my current litRPG story, I got a comment about how I shouldn't have had a character use the word "rendezvous". See, this is an isekai where the protagonist can magically understand the local language (like probably 99.9% of portal fantasy/isekai stories) and their reasoning was that the protagonist wouldn't hear someone using a French word, because it would be translated to them in English.

When I politely told them that worrying about that is too much because of all the loan words, words based on loan words, etc., they went on to complain about fantasy stories in which people make a "thumbs up" gesture, because that originated in the Roman colisseums, etc. etc. etc.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

When I politely told them that worrying about that is too much because of all the loan words, words based on loan words, etc., they went on to complain about fantasy stories in which people make a "thumbs up" gesture, because that originated in the Roman colisseums, etc. etc. etc.

And that meant something different than the current use - "Thumbs Up" meant "Step back, if they get up continue the fight." "Thumbs Down" meant "Drop your weapon, you won" and a thumb pointed to the chest meant "Stick your weapon in them so they can't get up again"...

 

[jthornfield]

And that meant something different than the current use - "Thumbs Up" meant "Step back, if they get up continue the fight." "Thumbs Down" meant "Drop your weapon, you won" and a thumb pointed to the chest meant "Stick your weapon in them so they can't get up again"...

They even said that in their comment! I'll post the whole thing here:

Thumbs up is another thing people do in these alternate worlds that bugs me. That comes from the Roman Coliseum, when the fight was over, assuming the slave won, the Cesar would listen to the crowd, and if they were happy, he'd show his thumb up, indicating that the Slave would live to fight again, while if it was Thumbs down, the Slave would be killed by archers. Unless something similar happened in the other world, they'd have different gestures. Likewise the OK hand gesture wouldn't translate if they didn't use English letters, or the word Okay.

So, heads up: anyone setting a story not on Earth post-Roman Empire needs to come up with entirely different hand signals, and you might want to just write your book in an entirely original language, to avoid any issues with loan words.