What makes you give a story a 1-star rating?

[LinXueLian]

From the testimonies, I'm feeling that the SH community rates 'enjoyment' rather than 'writing' when I personally feel it should be both. Eh.

Not exactly. It really depends. I'm extremely picky as a reader and it does matter to me how someone writes. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, author voice, moderation in exposition, being able to bloody stick to the past/present tense, author persona, etc - all of that is important to me. If I see any glaring errors, I'm out in a heartbeat.

I tend to only give solid 4's or 5's because I can only stick to a story long enough if it's good in every way. I don't generally give anything below these because if a story is bland, poorly/blandly written or unattractive, I won't be sticking around to read through enough to even give it a three. If I'm very happy with a work I'd even give it a 500-word review plus fanart. I've done heaps of that in AO3, by the way. Well... maybe more than 500 words.... I gush quite a bit.

Sometimes I like to think I'm that legendary commenter.

On the flip side, I don't really make it a habit to whine or complain about how awful a story is if I don't like it. Every story out there has a lot of competition. It's extremely easy for me to drop something and move to something new, as it is for a lot of other readers out there. A lot of writers go, "Oh, but it'll get better by X chapter" and I'm like..... sorry darling, can't wait that long. Oh, here's a story that's is already good FROM chapter one. Toodles!

 

[Azazel_E]

Not exactly. It really depends. I'm extremely picky as a reader and it does matter to me how someone writes. Grammar, punctuation, spelling, author voice, moderation in exposition, being able to bloody stick to the past/present tense, author persona, etc - all of that is important to me. If I see any glaring errors, I'm out in a heartbeat.

I tend to only give solid 4's or 5's because I can only stick to a story long enough if it's good in every way. I don't generally give anything below these because if a story is bland, poorly/blandly written or unattractive, I won't be sticking around to read through enough to even give it a three. If I'm very happy with a work I'd even give it a 500-word review plus fanart. I've done heaps of that in AO3, by the way. Well... maybe more than 500 words.... I gush quite a bit.

Sometimes I like to think I'm that legendary commenter.

On the flip side, I don't really make it a habit to whine or complain about how awful a story is if I don't like it. Every story out there has a lot of competition. It's extremely easy for me to drop something and move to something new, as it is for a lot of other readers out there. A lot of writers go, "Oh, but it'll get better by X chapter" and I'm like..... sorry darling, can't wait that long. Oh, here's a story that's is already good FROM chapter one. Toodles!

+500 words AND fanart definitely makes you a legendary commenter

 

[LinXueLian]

+500 words AND fanart definitely makes you a legendary commenter

BOOOOOOOOY lemme tell you I've written WAY more in terms of comments. Like, I would quote all the parts in a notepad document or something then write underneath it. If a fic has like 5 chapters.... that's 1500 - 2000 words I've written in comments as a whole. That's right, it's as long as a one-shot.

Then I spam fanart.... or like, I like discussing it with the author first? The coloration and the style....

Speaking of which, it's usually very helpful if an author has like a basic character sheet somewhere for reference. Half the time I have to create that thing myself and I can't tell if the author likes the design or not

Yeah I'm pretty celebrated on Reddit/AO3 for being a noisy commenter. I don't write that many stories myself, but I can tell what I like a lot. Bonus if it's a rare ship or ship dynamic that I like. Can't get enough!!!

 

[Azazel_E]

Speaking of which, it's usually very helpful if an author has like a basic character sheet somewhere for reference. Half the time I have to create that thing myself and I can't tell if the author likes the design or not

I am very much a planner. Before I even begin to write something, I've got a stack of character sheets (basic appearance, personality, traits, etc.) Wish I could draw though. My hand is all thumbs when it comes to anything artistic (maybe not fingerpainting? Big maybe)

 

[LinXueLian]

I am very much a planner. Before I even begin to write something, I've got a stack of character sheets (basic appearance, personality, traits, etc.) Wish I could draw though. My hand is all thumbs when it comes to anything artistic (maybe not fingerpainting? Big maybe)

Oh snap yeah, it's not easy to make a sheet! Fortunately there are sites like picrew I've also heard of sprite sites like Gaia Online and Kingdom of Knuffle though. Those might work!

 

[Azazel_E]

Oh snap yeah, it's not easy to make a sheet! Fortunately there are sites like picrew I've also heard of sprite sites like Gaia Online and Kingdom of Knuffle though. Those might work!

You...are you a goddess?

Just checked out Picrew. Why have I never known about this? All the thanks.

 

[LinXueLian]

You...are you a goddess?

Just checked out Picrew. Why have I never known about this? All the thanks.

Yes indeedy! I'm shocked you didn't know I was a goddess, hmph!

Ikr? I didn't know about it either until recently. It's pretty limited though - in terms of apparel, I recommend Gaia Online. I just looked it up. Over a million clothes to choose from, it seems!

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Completely unreadable or morally offensive.

usually if the author makes a perfectly good story of wholesomeness into ntr, if its completely unreadable, or just very very morally offensive and questionable

My story is morally offensive and questionable! One star, please ?

 

[peelsdeeni]

My story is morally offensive and questionable! One star, please ?

I mean, what can I do? She wants the one-star doesn't she?

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

My story is morally offensive and questionable! One star, please ?

You are the only one I have ever rated. 1* or any rating for that matter! I tend to be a lurker when I read. lol

 

[_oinkchan]

Your personal experience isnt indicative of the overall toxicity of the community as a whole. We can be. It's just not FULL of it. Some people are just vocal assholes, but most of us dont even comment.

You wont even get views in most other sites unless you are both good at marketing your story and appeal their that site's most popular genre, anyway.

You dont go to Wattpad and expect a mystery crime novel to flourish. Know what I'm sayin'?

True, they won't give toxic comments and instead will just give a 1 star. Well, that aside there are many people in the community who are quite good but they don't even comment nor do they rate.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

True, they won't give toxic comments and instead will just give a 1 star. Well, that aside there are many people in the community who are quite good but they don't even comment nor do they rate.

If you want comments, go to writing.com, leave reviews on a bunch of other people's stuff to accumulate gift points, and offer those gift points to other people to review your stuff.

 

[Derin_Edala]

I've never given a 1 star rating, because any book that might be deserving of 1 star, I usually don't read far enough into to rate. (I don't rate a story I've only read one or two chapters of, I don't consider myself informed enough to rate at that point.) I'd just close it and read something else. Even books that I think are awful, I mean Ready Player One levels of terrible writing, are worth at least 2 stars, because they were competent enough for me to be able to actually read. Usually I consider a 'bad' story (a book I'd read but find boring, contrived or plot-hole-heavy) to be worth 3 stars, an average to be 4, and something I really like to be 5.

The only 1-star-worthy stories that I read far enough into to rate are stories I've specifically promised to read, and the only people who are asking me to read writing of that quality are beginners. Usually beginners who are either very young, or speaking English as a second language, or both. It's not helpful to anybody to give a beginner 1 star, that just discourages them and makes it less likely that they'll keep writing long enough to get better. (And if they're kids or writing in a language that they're still learning, it's also kinda mean.) In that situation, I avoid rating if I can, and focus on giving useful feedback (which is why I was asked to read in the first place), pointing out what the writer seems to be the best at, and what might be useful for them to practice.

Basically, I've never been in a situation where it is both honest and useful to give a 1 star rating, so I haven't.

 

[_oinkchan]

If you want comments, go to writing.com, leave reviews on a bunch of other people's stuff to accumulate gift points, and offer those gift points to other people to review your stuff.

Why would I do that? There is no difference if the reviews etc are fake.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Why would I do that? There is no difference if the reviews etc are fake.

What's fake about exchanging your time?

I've never given a 1 star rating

Can I be your first?

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

What's fake about exchanging your time?

Can I be your first?

Trying to pop cherries, I see...

Kitty is watching you, goddess.~

 

[Derin_Edala]

Can I be your first?

Sure, there you go.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Sure, there you go.

Thanky <3 <3 <3

 

[CL]

I hate to say this, but there was a recent time I, and many others, wanted to boot somebody off of a website. This person, on that other website, had uploaded content (some original, some not) that was designed to be offensive towards the theme of the website and the variety of readers this other website called an audience (it was TG-related). The whole ordeal that community went through to get the administrator to do something, anything, wasn't just horrendously negligent, it was ignorant. The admin didn't lift a finger towards the offender ever, not once, during this incident. That admin tried changing the topic...

Hold on, I'm going to stop talking about the admin because he was a whole other episode that pissed me off. I'll stick with this guy (the one who started the affair) because he's the point of why I had rated some of his stuff with a one star.

Now then, the guy (I'm just going to call him that) threw up on that website more and more content for all to read (the guy got recognized as a top prolific "author" for a time). I think a third of those pieces of his were in another language that had translated (Google Translates sucks) into articles published from somewhere in China. Other items that guy uploaded were paradoxical logic on why we all should think more like him. A lot of us commented, reviewed, and rated his content as low as we possibly could take them.

We either couldn't comprehend or hated his content and, sadly, we wanted him gone. Since the admin did nothing, and this guy did more than enough violations to warrant a ban, we did what we could to make him feel unwelcomed. I believe we won that battle when he deleted all of his content and, finally, shut himself up (sort of).

In this incident, I would agree with anybody who'd point this out as an abuse of the rate system. In my belief, it was. It was also the only time I thought a one star was deserved.

 

[Azazel_E]

I hate to say this, but there was a recent time I, and many others, wanted to boot somebody off of a website. This person, on that other website, had uploaded content (some original, some not) that was designed to be offensive towards the theme of the website and the variety of readers this other website called an audience (it was TG-related). The whole ordeal that community went through to get the administrator to do something, anything, wasn't just horrendously negligent, it was ignorant. The admin didn't lift a finger towards the offender ever, not once, during this incident. That admin tried changing the topic...

Hold on, I'm going to stop talking about the admin because he was a whole other episode that pissed me off. I'll stick with this guy (the one who started the affair) because he's the point of why I had rated some of his stuff with a one star.

Now then, the guy (I'm just going to call him that) threw up on that website more and more content for all to read (the guy got recognized as a top prolific "author" for a time). I think a third of those pieces of his were in another language that had translated (Google Translates sucks) into articles published from somewhere in China. Other items that guy uploaded were paradoxical logic on why we all should think more like him. A lot of us commented, reviewed, and rated his content as low as we possibly could take them.

We either couldn't comprehend or hated his content and, sadly, we wanted him gone. Since the admin did nothing, and this guy did more than enough violations to warrant a ban, we did what we could to make him feel unwelcomed. I believe we won that battle when he deleted all of his content and, finally, shut himself up (sort of).

In this incident, I would agree with anybody who'd point this out as an abuse of the rate system. In my belief, it was. It was also the only time I thought a one star was deserved.

Teamwork makes the dream work