Modly note: Answers here and here.


What can be done about flames (rude / inappropriate reviews)?


I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this or not, but I just received two abusive Anonymous reviews on my story "Kindred Spirits, Bound Souls", and I wonder if there's any way to report them? I deleted them from my story, but I still have the e-mail alerts from them. Is there anything that can be done about the person leaving them, or are we only able to delete the review(s) and they get away with it? I'd appreciate any help with this, these reviews were just uncalled for and disgusting.

I'm afraid there is probably not much what there could be done though.

However I move it to the right place so NAPPA or anybody who is familiar with this can help you

~Phoenixwriter

Next time it happens, PM a ficmod (me, Mogliecat, Szaranea, Hermione's Twin, Adam, etc - we have a green cap each under our names - or NAPPA) and we'll see if we can get their IP address and ban them.

Well, you could always make the change that you don't want Anonymous reviews...um, at least I think you can. But Rach (Scrivenshaft) was right. Just let one of them know if it happens again.

Kris

I think we can - we'd need NAPPA's help though, as I can't see them either.

Rach, also total n00b

Um, not meaning any disrespect or anything, or wanting to stick my nose in... but... people get these all the time right? I must have had at least one for every fic i've ever written, not just on here, on FF.net as well... surely you should just delete the review and ignore it?

I usually do ignore them, but this was three very hateful reviews within five minutes. I can deal with some of these that tell you they hate your story, they'll never read it again, or worse, but this person used derogatory words and every swear word there is. We shouldn't have to put up with reviewers like this that do it just to harass the author. I don't mind flames, I've had plenty before too, but this one was just really offensive. Thanks to everyone that's responded to my question, by the way, I appreciate that you've taken the time to try and answer it for me!

Hey, there's always idiots. I once had an (anonymous) reviewer telling me how my story sucked on so many levels, and the best they could come up with to offend me is to mention the fact that I happen to live in Austria

Ignore 'em

Ri

I am posting this here rather then wasting the time in regards to starting a totally new thread...

I actually was coming in to the forums BECAUSE of Anonymous reviews...

As I understood it, part of the whole reason why so much emphasis was placed upon the age issue in reading R & NC-17 fan fiction was so that there would be no abuse to that function of Portkey... But then, I have an NC-17 story that gets anonymous reviews... how is this possible?

I understood that you had to log on with your user name to read NC-17 stories... I had been out of the writing loop for quite awhile so I hadn't noticed the change before... I can understand not posting the e-mail address and such for reviews... but being logged on insured that minors would NOT be able to just sneak into that area of Portkey...

As a writer and a mother of minors this DOES upset me a bit... not that either of my children would be accessing those sites (Only my 5 year old can read at the moment!) But it does cause me concern for the OTHER underage readers we may have...

I definitely appreciate the ability to respond to readers based on their reviews on the web based response system and that IS how I have been responding to Anonymous reviewers... but I had time to think about the entire issue later...

Does any of this make sense??? I am writing this on the fly trying NOT to tie up my phone line too long...

Anyway... We really DO need to have a more diffinitive way to deal with Anonymous reviewers...

Miss you all in the forums... wish I could be here more often!

In response to Muirnin, I don't think that much can stop an underage person from reading an R or NC-17 story. I don't read them, being underage and not particularly fond of smut, but that's not to say that I haven't clicked on an NC-17 fic before. The page with the two buttons declaring how old you are comes up and I think that the rest is trusted to your own discretion and honesty. It's easy enough to press the other button - nothing's ever happened to me because of it.

At least, that's the way I always thought it worked.

~Nelli.

NC17 and underage readers: Before a person can read a fic that is R or NC17 they must click a button stating that they are of age. Essentially the links on the fanfic page don't jump right into the fic, but a person does not need membership to read any fic on portkey.

We have discussed in the past changing this, but ultimately decided to leave it alone. We did not alter the system because a person could easily lie to us on their membership.

While I know a parent can not control everything a child does, I think NC17 information is something best left to the parent to control. I feel that if a parent is open enough with their child, then the child will either stay away from the fics, or will be well informed enough to read them. In any case, we have no way of verifying actual age of members or casual users.


Anonymous reviews: I recommend that you just ignore them. Everyone gets the crazy reviews from time to time. If this is not satisfactory you can disable unsigned reviews using the author options link in your control panel.

Moglie

MOD NOTE: merging this into a related thread.
~gal-texter / Pen May2008

What can be done about flames (rude / inappropriate reviews)?


Hiya,

I was reading the reviews, (yes I am one of those people who like reading the reviews of some fics)

And found a very rude review. Nothing to do with the fic...not a flame. Just insulting and disgusting.

The story is The Talisman by Fiish.

I tried clicking on the report link...but I am not sure what happened. Since it didnt move or no other window pop up.

And I didnt knew who to adress this request...so just to let you know.

Best thing? Bother FanFiction Mods. Dunno who they are or if they still have a different group or something....wait here you go this are Fic Mods. PM them or better PM the Admin in question.

Please send me the details, and I will remove the review. Authors can delete their own reviews, by logging in to their own accounts at the top of the Review Display Page. Once that is done, the option to delete reviews becomes live.

NAPPA

Well right now the review can be found here: The Talisman reviews

The author has answered him quite nicely, but still I doubt that the portkey standars can tolerate that.

And also the author is new, so she might not know how to do that with her reviews.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I am just fond of her work and was shocked to read a review like that on portkey.

Just wanted to add this: authors can try the Author Options menu > Author Options link
Then try the various Review Options there. There are dropdown menus for:
Allow / Manage / Deny reviews from anonymous members and
Allow / Manage / Deny reviews from registered members.

There's also a check box to Disable Unsigned Reviews

I'm not an author though, so I don't know if there are bugs with these options. So here are more suggestions of dealing with flames:

-- Reviewers can report those flames to the Fic Mod Team by posting on this thread. We'll delete those reviews asap.

-- Authors are strongly discouraged from replying to flamers, as that would give them the attention they're so desperate for but do not deserve.

-- Authors are welcome to rant about flames here. Not really a solution, but it might help.

-- Anyone's welcome to suggest more stuff we can do. Perhaps designate some people to be Flame Police?

.