THE RIGHT OF REPLY

[Aisling]

Any writer must be prepared to accept critical reviews of their work, even if you regard the critic as a moron who is not interested in giving an honest analysis but uses the opportunity for self-promotion.

You do not normally reply because it implies that they have made a valid point that demands an answer.

But what if they question if you have written the piece yourself? Accuse you having plagiarised somebody else’s work, or used AI, or have authoritatively declared that the book is a ‘machine translation,’ whatever that means?

What to do if the would-be critics persist with their unfounded allegations, become abusive, and even question your explanation of your dual nationality being a factor in the choice of your pen name?

That even your ‘claim’ of your birthright is wrong, because ‘The way this person speaks is not how someone who is a native speaker would do?’

A generalisation implying expert knowledge of how certain racial types express themselves, and a huge slur on the creative population of a country that has produced too many fine writers to list.

I hasten to add that I am myself a writer of extremely modest talents with no claim to fame.

Would you stay on the platform to see if things improve, or would you move on, thinking this is not the place for me?

I have chosen the latter option, and bundling my meagre possessions under my arm, and deleting my book, I am off.

 

[Alski]

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Any writer must be prepared to accept critical reviews of their work, even if you regard the critic as a moron who is not interested in giving an honest analysis but uses the opportunity for self-promotion.

You do not normally reply because it implies that they have made a valid point that demands an answer.

But what if they question if you have written the piece yourself? Accuse you having plagiarised somebody else’s work, or used AI, or have authoritatively declared that the book is a ‘machine translation,’ whatever that means?

What to do if the would-be critics persist with their unfounded allegations, become abusive, and even question your explanation of your dual nationality being a factor in the choice of your pen name?

That even your ‘claim’ of your birthright is wrong, because ‘The way this person speaks is not how someone who is a native speaker would do?’

A generalisation implying expert knowledge of how certain racial types express themselves, and a huge slur on the creative population of a country that has produced too many fine writers to list.

I hasten to add that I am myself a writer of extremely modest talents with no claim to fame.

Would you stay on the platform to see if things improve, or would you move on, thinking this is not the place for me?

I have chosen the latter option, and bundling my meagre possessions under my arm, and deleting my book, I am off.

Cat~.

Also, you should always reply. In my experience, you must be prepared to fight for your place. Just like in your life.

Sometimes, something good comes out of it. If not, it is not necessarily your fault. If they only seek to put you down, you cannot do anything about it anyway.

 

[Terrate]

In my experience, you must be prepared to fight for your place. Just like in your life.

I like this.
Yeah, you better be prepared to fight first. You can take your leave after realizing that you were actually just arguing with brainless buffoons.

Edit: I see where the accusations are of, now. I still stand by my words. Be prepared to fight. Let's see who actually is the "Brainless buffoons" in the end.

 

[Arkus86]

Ah, I remember you. You are the writer who used AI to write a short post to promote your story, and used AI to write responses claiming you did not use AI to write your story...
To be clear, I do not know if your story is written by AI, but what I have seen on the title, the synopsis and your comments do not fill me with confidence of the story being human-written.

EDIT: For anyone curious what this is about, this is the thread where it all started.

“? Zhuangzi’s Butterfly – Sci-Fi/Fantasy Multiverse Adventure ?”

✨ Check out Zhuangzi’s Butterfly! This is a fresh launch of a special edition exclusive to Scribble Hub. — The theme is? man v intelligent machines in the inevitable battle for supremacy. The machines are smarter than us, but we have something they can never possess. Daily chapter postings...

forum.scribblehub.com

 

[laccoff_mawning]

I'd probably stay. I don't think that alone would be sufficient reason to delete my work from this platform.

That being said, It might prompt me to start looking for a second platform to write on, and if it does a lot better on that second platform, then I would start considering leaving this place.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Goodbye clanker! ?

 

[Macha]

I don't understand people. You want others to read and comment on your story. But after you get people to read and comment, you would just left because the feedback is not what you wanted? What do you expect? A praise?

Your account, your choice. You are free to delete your story and leave. Tony won't follow you home and execute you for leaving. At least tell Tony first if you have problems with some bad actors here. Unlike in some toxic pay-to-win online writing platform, Tony actually care about moderation.

For me? Some random strangers accusing you for doing things you might or not do is not enough to make me leave. If things escalate to threats and review bombing while the mods aren't doing anything, then I would consider going away and not returning. SH is one of the better writing platform out there, trust me.

If you aren't comfortable writing in this platform then you aren't going to do better in other place.

 

[Corty]

This reads like some pretentious snob who thinks they know better than anyone else.

Checks the user.

It's the AI dude.

Aaaaaand nothing of value was lost today.

 

[LeilaniOtter]

I hasten to add that I am myself a writer of extremely modest talents with no claim to fame.

OMG, I can see an AI bot saying this!!!

Hold me, I'm scared.

 

[JHarp]

I don't understand people. You want others to read and comment on your story. But after you get people to read and comment, you would just left because the feedback is not what you wanted? What do you expect? A praise?

Your account, your choice. You are free to delete your story and leave. Tony won't follow you home and execute you for leaving. At least tell Tony first if you have problems with some bad actors here. Unlike in some toxic pay-to-win online writing platform, Tony actually care about moderation.

For me? Some random strangers accusing you for doing things you might or not do is not enough to make me leave. If things escalate to threats and review bombing while the mods aren't doing anything, then I would consider going away and not returning. SH is one of the better writing platform out there, trust me.

If you aren't comfortable writing in this platform then you aren't going to do better in other place.

I think I've told the story here before but I left another writing site because someone tried making accounts in the names of my characters and posting 'child-speak' like accusations of different forms of harassment as if the characters were my children and I'd been abusing them.

Moderation didn't care about the multiaccounting abuse on that other site but in the end I considered the characters involved as dead due to the bad memories.
Now you lot get to put up with me lurking in the background for the years I've been here.

So I'd say 'random strangers accusing you' has it's limits on what is tolerable considering the topic.

 

[Aisling]

Ah Mr. Corky! The malicious little chappy! I remember you well - the yah boo sucks! type mud slinger who thought AI.SLING was a fiendidshly clever AI crptogram that only someone as perceptive as yourself could crack. I am only writing to you because you are the last on the page so don't think you are anybody special - this is for all my devoted fans.

THE FACTS
ZB was originally published some time ago but sales plateaud and I decided to try it out as a serialised web novel. Traction was rising (and still is) but too slow for my liking at about 1K a week. It is now about 25k readers and I set 30K as the target before applying for a contract. Meanwhile, I thought of editing it down to 1200-word chapters and going for readers with low attention spans who liked daily postings to read on their phones, and stuck it on here. I suppose I should have been slightly flattered that some people thought my promo and synopsis too snappy to have been written by a human, but, dear reader, they were.
A colleague once said that I wrote like a Victorian writer, and added that it was not intended as a criticism, but rather the opposite, an observation on a careful, moderated style, that chancers like Corky, cannot understand, and therefore label 'pretentious.'
Even reasonably dense prose is rarely seen these days but only a generation ago, children of ten read books like ' Treasure Island,' 'Children of the New Forest, and all the Dicken's classics. I came from a working class home, but we had all these books. Now I hear that they are even dumbing down Enid Blyton stories.
If Dickens wrote his famous first line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. or Jane Austin, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife'. armchair critics would sigh and say,
"So blatantly AI! These people should be banned!"
I must close with the sentiment that I do not give a flying fuck for the opinions of the know all bully boys on this half arsed platform, but not everybody. Othe respondents on different threads have shown a knowledge and love of literature.
This piddling example of people sticking to their opinions whatever the evidence against, is a symptom of a vastly more important agenda, viz. the growing intolerance of people with their own agendas, most notably in the USA, where dissenters are howled down, and double speak has become the norm.
"Napoleon is always right," has replaced tolerance and listening to the views of others

 

[dukerino]

God why do you YAP SO MUCH just say what you want to say.

you don’t write like a Victorian writer you write like a 17 year old who watched master and commander once and started wearing a Tricorne hat to school

 

[Joyager2]

Listen buddy, I think you should go outside for a bit.

 

[Corty]

Ah Mr. Corky! The malicious little chappy! I remember you well - the yah boo sucks! type mud slinger who thought AI.SLING was a fiendidshly clever AI crptogram that only someone as perceptive as yourself could crack. I am only writing to you because you are the last on the page so don't think you are anybody special - this is for all my devoted fans.

THE FACTS
ZB was originally published some time ago but sales plateaud and I decided to try it out as a serialised web novel. Traction was rising (and still is) but too slow for my liking at about 1K a week. It is now about 25k readers and I set 30K as the target before applying for a contract. Meanwhile, I thought of editing it down to 1200-word chapters and going for readers with low attention spans who liked daily postings to read on their phones, and stuck it on here. I suppose I should have been slightly flattered that some people thought my promo and synopsis too snappy to have been written by a human, but, dear reader, they were.
A colleague once said that I wrote like a Victorian writer, and added that it was not intended as a criticism, but rather the opposite, an observation on a careful, moderated style, that chancers like Corky, cannot understand, and therefore label 'pretentious.'
Even reasonably dense prose is rarely seen these days but only a generation ago, children of ten read books like ' Treasure Island,' 'Children of the New Forest, and all the Dicken's classics. I came from a working class home, but we had all these books. Now I hear that they are even dumbing down Enid Blyton stories.
If Dickens wrote his famous first line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. or Jane Austin, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife'. armchair critics would sigh and say,
"So blatantly AI! These people should be banned!"
I must close with the sentiment that I do not give a flying fuck for the opinions of the know all bully boys on this half arsed platform, but not everybody. Othe respondents on different threads have shown a knowledge and love of literature.
This piddling example of people sticking to their opinions whatever the evidence against, is a symptom of a vastly more important agenda, viz. the growing intolerance of people with their own agendas, most notably in the USA, where dissenters are howled down, and double speak has become the norm.
"Napoleon is always right," has replaced tolerance and listening to the views of others

Absolutely! Here’s a traditional Hungarian gulyás (goulash) recipe — this is the classic soup-style goulash (not the thicker stew-like “pörkölt” or “paprikás”), as it’s traditionally made in Hungary.

---

Traditional Hungarian "Gulyás" Recipe (Serves 6)​

Ingredients​

• 700g (1.5 lb) beef shank (or chuck, cut into 2-3 cm cubes)
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 3 medium carrots, sliced
• 2 medium parsnips, sliced
• 2 medium potatoes, diced (optional but traditional)
• 1 medium tomato, chopped (or 1 tbsp tomato paste)
• 1 medium green bell pepper, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp lard (or sunflower oil)
• 1–2 tbsp Hungarian sweet paprika (high-quality, like Szegedi)
• 1 tsp caraway seeds, lightly crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1.5 liters (6 cups) beef stock or water

Optional:

• 1 fresh hot pepper (whole, for heat)
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish
• Nokedli (Hungarian dumplings) or bread, for serving

---

Instructions​

1. Prepare the base (pörkölt alap):
   • Heat the lard in a large heavy pot.
   • Add onions and sauté on medium until golden and translucent.
   • Remove from heat, stir in the paprika (important: adding paprika off-heat prevents burning).
2. Brown the meat:
   • Return pot to medium heat, add beef cubes, and stir until lightly browned on all sides.
3. Build the flavor:
   • Add garlic, caraway seeds, chopped tomato, and green pepper.
   • Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomato breaks down.
4. Simmer:
   • Pour in stock or water to cover meat.
   • Add bay leaf, season with salt and pepper.
   • Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to low and cover.
   • Simmer for 1–1.5 hours, until beef is tender.
5. Add vegetables:
   • Add carrots, parsnips, and diced potatoes.
   • Add more water if needed to keep it soup-like.
   • Simmer for another 20–30 minutes until vegetables are tender.
6. Adjust seasoning:
   • Taste and adjust salt/pepper.
   • Remove bay leaf and hot pepper (if used).
7. Serve hot:
   • Sprinkle with fresh parsley.
   • Serve with crusty bread or nokedli dumplings.

---

Tips for Authentic Flavor​

• Use Hungarian paprika only — it makes or breaks the dish. Sweet paprika is the standard, but you can add a pinch of hot paprika for a little heat.
• Do not rush the simmering. The slow cooking develops the deep, rich flavor that makes gulyás special.
• Traditionally, gulyás is cooked over open fire in a bogrács (cauldron) outdoors — if you can do that, even better!

---

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I suppose I should have been slightly flattered that some people thought my promo and synopsis too snappy to have been written by a human, but, dear reader, they were.

I would use the words "Bland" and "formulaic" instead of "snappy" but eh...

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I would use the words "Bland" and "formulaic" instead of "snappy" but eh...

 

[JHarp]

Ah Mr. Corky!

I'm going to delete my first attempt at communicating in my draft of this post to redo it nicer here.

I'm going to be honest here. Your typing in the forums, against the majorities perspective; is probably quite solidly human. The main issues you are presenting is the overly formal grandstanding manner, with the fact you meander.

People here, in a casual forum, aren't expecting well polished, long walls of text. When I do it, half the time I throw it in a spoiler or some other reduction tactic because I 'have a lot to say' in my specific overly formal and rigid voice, but it isn't the only way I could be replying to a topic.

What people seem to have failed to communicate in the midst of the AI scare from all the fake/rage bait users being made to post and advertise AI posted books and otherwise, is the fact that AI tend to keep that 'overly polished' writing style, meaning when you start using em dashes, those little '—' symbols that aren't a hyphen, people are going to immediate jump on that.

The only people who were taught to use them outside of people who have interacted with the modern version of AI that now write stories, are high level grammar students and university students focusing on media and writing. It isn't a symbol on the keyboard, most people who know they exist, would be just as happy using a hyphen to save them the remembering of a specific alt key; of which many keyboards like apple computers, don't even have easily accessible.

So while the accusation was likely unfair, your tone, your doubling down on the specific style of writing in a more casual space, your choice to use what would be called 'ten dollar words' constantly, made it unapproachable. Even if you hold that kind of idiolect in your day to day, communication follows Grices Maxims, one of which is cooperation. You expect your audience to understand your communications and to do so, you author them in such a style that people can follow along clearly.

I think the meandering you incorporated into your initial posts didn't help with people trying to understand in this more casual environment, what you are trying to convey. There was no meeting mid-way to the audience; many of who might be english second language, to 'keep up' with the burst of complex words and references you might be holding on to.

 

[Terrate]

Ah Mr. Corky! The malicious little chappy! I remember you well - the yah boo sucks! type mud slinger who thought AI.SLING was a fiendidshly clever AI crptogram that only someone as perceptive as yourself could crack. I am only writing to you because you are the last on the page so don't think you are anybody special - this is for all my devoted fans.

THE FACTS
ZB was originally published some time ago but sales plateaud and I decided to try it out as a serialised web novel. Traction was rising (and still is) but too slow for my liking at about 1K a week. It is now about 25k readers and I set 30K as the target before applying for a contract. Meanwhile, I thought of editing it down to 1200-word chapters and going for readers with low attention spans who liked daily postings to read on their phones, and stuck it on here. I suppose I should have been slightly flattered that some people thought my promo and synopsis too snappy to have been written by a human, but, dear reader, they were.
A colleague once said that I wrote like a Victorian writer, and added that it was not intended as a criticism, but rather the opposite, an observation on a careful, moderated style, that chancers like Corky, cannot understand, and therefore label 'pretentious.'
Even reasonably dense prose is rarely seen these days but only a generation ago, children of ten read books like ' Treasure Island,' 'Children of the New Forest, and all the Dicken's classics. I came from a working class home, but we had all these books. Now I hear that they are even dumbing down Enid Blyton stories.
If Dickens wrote his famous first line “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. or Jane Austin, 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife'. armchair critics would sigh and say,
"So blatantly AI! These people should be banned!"
I must close with the sentiment that I do not give a flying fuck for the opinions of the know all bully boys on this half arsed platform, but not everybody. Othe respondents on different threads have shown a knowledge and love of literature.
This piddling example of people sticking to their opinions whatever the evidence against, is a symptom of a vastly more important agenda, viz. the growing intolerance of people with their own agendas, most notably in the USA, where dissenters are howled down, and double speak has become the norm.
"Napoleon is always right," has replaced tolerance and listening to the views of others

Bro is committed to his bit. Either this is really A.I. or the most big brained move, and that everyone is just too feeble to understand.

 

[Aisling]

I'm going to delete my first attempt at communicating in my draft of this post to redo it nicer here.

I'm going to be honest here. Your typing in the forums, against the majorities perspective; is probably quite solidly human. The main issues you are presenting is the overly formal grandstanding manner, with the fact you meander.

People here, in a casual forum, aren't expecting well polished, long walls of text. When I do it, half the time I throw it in a spoiler or some other reduction tactic because I 'have a lot to say' in my specific overly formal and rigid voice, but it isn't the only way I could be replying to a topic.

What people seem to have failed to communicate in the midst of the AI scare from all the fake/rage bait users being made to post and advertise AI posted books and otherwise, is the fact that AI tend to keep that 'overly polished' writing style, meaning when you start using em dashes, those little '—' symbols that aren't a hyphen, people are going to immediate jump on that.

The only people who were taught to use them outside of people who have interacted with the modern version of AI that now write stories, are high level grammar students and university students focusing on media and writing. It isn't a symbol on the keyboard, most people who know they exist, would be just as happy using a hyphen to save them the remembering of a specific alt key; of which many keyboards like apple computers, don't even have easily accessible.

So while the accusation was likely unfair, your tone, your doubling down on the specific style of writing in a more casual space, your choice to use what would be called 'ten dollar words' constantly, made it unapproachable. Even if you hold that kind of idiolect in your day to day, communication follows Grices Maxims, one of which is cooperation. You expect your audience to understand your communications and to do so, you author them in such a style that people can follow along clearly.

I think the meandering you incorporated into your initial posts didn't help with people trying to understand in this more casual environment, what you are trying to convey. There was no meeting mid-way to the audience; many of who might be english second language, to 'keep up' with the burst of complex words and references you might be holding on to.
[/QUOTE]
Thank you for your reply and the reasonable tone you adopt to express your points of view.
You note my ‘overly formal grandstanding manner.’ This was purposefully designed to infuriate the yahoos who were slinging unjustified accusations.
The language confuses them, and they resort to insults. This is highly gratifying and encourages me to use even more complicated sentences and ‘ten-dollar words.’ I imagine them dancing with rage, which makes me laugh.
It is not my normal writing style. In the doubtful event that you ever read one of my books, you will find my prose direct and unadorned.