A VIEW ON REVIEWS

A VIEW ON REVIEWS

Michael Welge

         If you will allow me, I am going to be a bit on the crotchety and curmudgeonly side, today. If you do not wish to allow it, I am going to be a bit crotchety and curmudgeonly, anyway.

         Okay, so you wrote your story. Then, you put it out there where other WdC members could read it. When you did so, you also made it available for them to review it.

         Were you surprised the first time you got reviews for your work? Did you appreciate that the reviewers not only took the time to read your work, but that they also took the time to analyze it and to point out areas that still needed work? Okay, maybe some of the reviews you have received only say something like, "Tihs is grate! Keep up teh goood werk!@!!" Overall, most reviews are meant to be helpful as well as encouraging. Some reviewers go to great lengths to provide a solid, in-depth analysis of what you have presented to them.

         The least you can do is acknowledge the review and say, "Thanks." Right?

         Right?

         I cannot hear some of you...

         Actually, I cannot hear quite a lot of you. (And it's not just because I am writing, you are reading, and neither one of us is talking.)

         This morning, I was checking my "Received Reviews" to make certain that I had responded to all of them. You know, right there in your left column, where it says, "Reviews: ### Sent." Click on it, and you can read all of your "Received Reviews" and well as your "Sent Reviews." (Most of you probably know that, but some others probably don't.)

         So, I was checking, and, sure enough, there was one review that I had not answered. Well, the reason why I had failed to reply was obvious. I had received one review from an anonymous reviewer, and I had failed to send a response to anonymity. I sent a reply right then and there, apologizing for not answering as soon as I got the review, which is my usual habit, thanking the reviewer for the kind review and (4 star) rating, and expressing my hope that WdC could deliver my message to an anonymous person.

         A mathematical analysis of my "Received Reviews" comes out: 78 80 136 142 Responses Sent / 78 80 136 142 Reviews Received = 100% Responses.(I got two reviews while writing this essay.)(I figured I should update this after so long.)(I updated again, and some of the reviews I got are gone, so I don't have an acurate number, but the %age of responses is the same,) That begs the question of, why do my "Sent Reviews" calculate as: 75 86 137 Responses Received / 120 129 177 Reviews Sent = 62.5% 66.667% 77.401% Responses? (The 2/3 now is a bit better than the 5/8 when I first posted this.)

         Is it that some of you just do not care?

         Is it that some are lacking in manners?

         Are some of you Life Members of the Procrastinators Club?

         If someone takes the time and makes the effort to review your work, it is only common courtesy (a less and less common commodity all the time, it seems) to send a note of thanks.

         PLEASE NOTE: A note of thanks should not include phrases such as, "How dare you criticize my work?" or "What gives you the right to pass judgment on my talent?" or "You completely missed the point of what I was writing, you stupid $%@*#!" or "Duh, what are you talking about, huh?"

         If you put your work out there and invited reviews, you really have no excuse for not sending a brief note of thanks to your reviewer, even if you completely disagree with everything that the reviewer had to say about your story. It is merely common courtesy. (An uncommon...) Maybe I am beginning to sound redundant, but I hope that you get the message.

         Not long ago, I got a review from a young person who thought she knew much more than she does. She gave one of my stories a less than satisfactory rating based on her incorrect understanding of what I had written. I immediately answered her and thanked her for her review before politely pointing out where she was in error. (It did no good, because she replied to inform me that, although she is only sixteen years old, she is endowed with superior intellect, and that I, therefore, had no sound basis for criticizing her. But I digress...)

         The point of this whole exercise is to encourage you to acknowledge the efforts of your reviewers by at least sending a short note of thanks. Have they not at least earned that much of your attention in return?

         If I receive one of those reviews that goes, "Tihs is grate! Keep up teh goood werk!@!!" then I send back the simple message, "Thanx for your review of my essay, 'A View On Reviews'" and sign it, Michael/GWFrog .