The_Unholy_One So why does that warrant a 1 star rating? If the story is about a slave, then it's about a slave. How is fair that you go read a story about a slave, and then rate it one star while complaining that he is a slave?
I certainly don't go to a romance story and complain about how it's about a couple dating, nor do I go to a fantasy story and complain about it being about magic.
Tomoyuki i didn't finish the reply forgot to add, Had i finished chapter 81 i wouldn't have made the review.
The_Unholy_One Okay...I don't quite understand why, but all right.
The_Unholy_One
Giving someone a low score because you are frustrated or dislike how the plot is going is not the proper way to review. Your personal feelings would likely differ from others, so giving him a 1 star just because of that feels rather shallow.
A review is meant to critique the writing as a whole in terms of the novelty of ideas and the strength of writing. To bash a work purely because the story is not in your taste is tactless.
Think about it, if it could hold your attention for an entire 81 chapters, how could you possible treat it as a 1 star? Almost anyone would treat it as a troll vote to bully the author.
You wrote a review, and I presume that was to convey criticism and help author improve. The author read, and disregarded the same, perhaps because he/she didn't find it useful or simply because he/she did not want to accept the faults you thought were in his/her book. That's about it, no? If you were trying to be genuinely helpful and the other person didn't quite get it - then it's his/her loss. Why on the earth would you get behind him/her and harass, yes, I am actually using that term, him/her by repeating what he/she isn't willing to read?
The person has put his/her book out so I get that it is open to appreciation and criticism, both but there is a way and limit to do that. The fact that you are writing a review ten times on his/her profile after he/she has deleted it, just shows that you've taken it on your ego and it is no longer with the intent of being helpful.
Well, not that anything I say would change your mindset, I know that but still, know that the person you are dealing online with, could be dealing with something harsh in life. I see absolutely no point in going after people, telling them their works suck and stuff. If you don't like it, leave it. Isn't that a more peaceful way to deal with it?
I mean, come on, we don't like a lot of things in life. Doesn't mean we stay stuck over them, and keep whinning about the same. We find better things and invest our time in then.
Tomoyuki In my honest opinion, a 1 star review is in no way fair, but i can say the same thing for 5 star reviews. I mean really, i honestly don't believe any author who is at least honest to themselves could ever think their novels are basically the epitome of perfection. That is what 5 star means. Only those with the most inflated ego would think as such. Deep down, however flattering it may be to receive a 5 star review, i believe most authors realize this is just not realistic in any way, just like the 1 star reviews. Now, the problem is, i only see authors deleting negative reviews, while completely ignoring hundreds of the unrealistic or irrelevant 5 star reviews. Most 5 star reviews aren't even real reviews actually, yet they stand, because most authors are inherently hypocritical and biased, no matter how much they may think they are not. Well, it is not like i am blaming them really, they are human after all, just like the rest of us. I'm just stating the reality of their hypocrisy and bias. In my eyes, only those who doesn't touch the reviews are free of hypocrisy really. They accept both sides of the ridiculousness. Be it beneficial to them or not. So i am still really against authors having any ability to delete reviews, as i don't believe even 1% of authors can be truly impartial, no matter how much they may claim otherwise. It is just human nature, and it ain't easy to beat...
N0xiety Exactly, all these authors on their high horses talking about 1 star reviews being unfair, thinking their work is actually work is actually worth a perfect 5 star rating. It's extremely hypocritical.
You'll see them respond here that they don't think their work is worth those ratings, but what do they do about it? Delete them? I'll believe that when I see it. If they can show just one of their novels that doesn't have any 1 star nor any 5 star ratings, I'll believe them to be justified in their opinions here. Otherwise they're just arguing to make themselves feel better. If people are free to make 5 star reviews, they should also be free to make 1 star reviews. My personal opinion though, is that neither of those are proper scores to give in 99% of cases.
bruh, yall are the big dumb-dumbs. In the context of this website, 5 stars doesn't mean 'perfect,' it just means 'this is worth your time, you should read it.' I don't know who in their right mind told you 5 stars on webnovel meant 'perfect; without flaws,' but that just... is foolishly ignorant.
The only reason some authors care about the ratings system is because they could lose their income if their score gets too low (or something like that.) It doesn't help that this website encourages review spam with their leveling system.
PLUS, you're literally saying that someone's opinion isn't fair. It's not supposed to be fair? Its an opinion broski. The review system is arbitrary and allows a user to quickly browse this site to find something to look for. Augh god, this is the fourth or fifth time I have had to explain the definition of a review. As in... you're looking back at what you read. You're in review.
All this BS about 'human nature,' is dumb and makes you sound like an isekai villain. Go outside. Interact with others. It's good for you.
OnLy ThoSe wHo DoN't toUCh ThE ReViEw SyStem aRe FrEe Of hyPocRaCy reaLLY. <-LMAO
Lilliny bruh, yall are the big dumb-dumbs. In the context of this website, 5 stars doesn't mean 'perfect,' it just means 'this is worth your time, you should read it.' I don't know who in their right mind told you 5 stars on webnovel meant 'perfect; without flaws,' but that just... is foolishly ignorant.
The only reason some authors care about the ratings system is because they could lose their income if their score gets too low (or something like that.) It doesn't help that this website encourages review spam with their leveling system.
PLUS, you're literally saying that someone's opinion isn't fair. It's not supposed to be fair? Its an opinion broski. The review system is arbitrary and allows a user to quickly browse this site to find something to look for. Augh god, this is the fourth or fifth time I have to explain the definition of a review. As in... you're looking back at what you read. You're in review.
All this BS about 'human nature,' is dumb and makes you sound like an isekai villain. Go outside. Interact with others. It's good for you.
OnLy ThoSe wHo DoN't toUCh ThE ReViEw SyStem aRe FrEe Of hyPocRaCy reaLLY. <-LMAO
Lilliny What a condescending twat you are. I like how you feel like you're the only authority of what a review is.
Also, by your logic, which I don't actually disagree with, if a 5 star review means it's worth reading, then a 1 star review must mean it isn't worth reading. This is a fair opinion.
But man, you talk like a repulsive teenager. I feel disgusted reading that comment.
JakeRay Why are you responding to me if we are in agreement.
But... Imagine getting butt mad when you get called out for your weirdly anime-based world view. Can't even handle a few light jabs lmaoooooo.
And then you don't even have the decency to give me a number out of 5 so I know how you really feel.
This is the 5th 'discussion' about reviews I've been involved in, and I've seen way more. Almost every single time someone comes in whining about things that are arbitrary/don't matter/they can't change/they just misunderstand.
Is this one about if authors can delete reviews? Again? I can't wait.....
Lilliny Mad? No, just disgusted, genuinely. Also, you've never really "called me out" on anything, are you sure you aren't confusing me with someone else?
The only thing I've said that you've commented on is about the meaning of a 5 star rating, whether it means "perfect" or just "worth your time", which is an opinion, not a fact.
No idea what you're talking about, what 'give you a number out of 5'? What are you arguing against? Is it still even me you meant to say this to? If it is, you're talking in riddles.
Also, if you don't care about it, why do you get involved at all? If it's not your problem, just ignore it and let others talk about it.
For someone who has been involved in so many threads about reviews, it's really a wonder how immaturely you speak about it.
What?! I never said anything about 5 star reviews, or whether the guy's story was worth 5 stars, or that it's perfect. I never even mentioned 5 star reviews, so why are you condemning me as hypocritical and assuming that I think my story (or whoever's) is perfect and worth 5 stars?
I was only explaining to The Unholy One why the guy deleted his review. If I get a 5 star review that's nothing but stupid emoticons or doesn't actually say anything about my story, I delete it. I don't even delete 1 star or 2 star reviews, I leave them there, but I can understand why the author that The Unholy One wrote a review for deleted his story. is he right in doing so? I don't know, but I'm inclined to think yes. Is he right in leaving 5 star reviews that pretend that his work is perfect? Probably not, and I wouldn't take those reviews seriously either. I don't know why you assume that I'm a hypocrite who thinks my story is only worth 5 stars and is perfect. I never even mentioned anything about that.
Tomoyuki I was being hasty writing "all these authors" in my previous comment, it was an unnecessary hyperbole. From you comments here, I even believe you to be very reasonable. And I do not know what novel you've written, so I do not know either how you treat reviews.
The discussion went in this direction because, from what I read, people are assuming THE_UNHOLY_ONE didn't write a decent review, even though he gave it 1-star. Look at the first reply to this thread. Immediate put down of any reason to post a 1-star review.
But knowing the reality, the fact that you left 1 star review, means that you most likely did it just to annoy the author, making you the bad person.
There are 5 ways in which you judge the novel, and if you can't find even a single possitive thing, then you wouldn't read so far to get invested enough to leave a review. Simple logic
This is why I pointed out that, by this logic, the same could be said about a 5-star review. If you can't find a single negative thing, then you probably weren't looking for it, and probably shouldn't be reviewing. I do not find this to be very sound logic. At least here on WN, where the large majority of readers are amateur reviewers, it doesn't seem to be good reasoning.
That's why a 1-star review saying "I don't like this, it's hard to read and/or follow" should be just a valid as a 5-star review saying "This is the best I've read, very funny/interesting story. Can't wait for more". Even more so for authors (not you..) who doesn't delete 5-star spam reviews, they shouldn't delete 1-star spam reviews either. All reviews, no matter the score, should be judged by the same standards by the author. Can't put low scoring reviews to a higher standard than high scoring.
All of this boils down to that the first reply in this thread should have said:
"Authors have the ability to delete any review, because Webnovel does not have the required manpower to moderate reviews themselves. Therefore, some authors delete spam reviews regardless of the star rating, while some authors delete low score reviews to maintain a fake high rating. This unfortunately won't change before a better system gets implemented by Webnovel."
JakeRay Oh, as it turned out, the review he wrote was: "Read if you like masochist slave protagonist that makes stupid decisions also he purified the keys of the girl that almost beat him to death."
I mean, if he actually had a legitimate reason why he thought the story deserved a one star rating, I'm all for it, but this just sounded vague and unhelpful. That's why I said I understood why the author deleted it. If The Unholy One had been more specific and provided more elaboration on what exactly construed a "stupid" decision, and how that led to unbelievably contrived situations, unlikeable characters or repetitive slapstick scenarios whose humor grew old, I would understand and agree, but...yeah.
Sorry, not getting enough sleep. I shouldn't be taking everything so personally.
There's a popular saying: Do not force your beliefs to anyone. If they wish to be stuck the way they are, deluding themselves and look bad in the process. It's not your loss... You did your part, rather than putting yourself in a stressful situation. Let them be!
I said it once already, it is all about respect for me.
Does a 5 star review with emoticons is disrespectful to me? Not really. At worst, i'm just sad i couldn't get a proper review, but if the review is not fake at least you know someone genuinely enjoyed your work.. There's also children here. They can review however they want. I would delete however spamming reviews, for example when a reader publish the same review once or several times everyday.
The 1 star review, sorry to say it, but it is almost always disrespectful. I haven't received one yet, but i'm pretty sure the day i get one the review will have nothing worth to keep.
If the purpose of the review is to help the author to improve, then the rating doesn't matter. If i was reviewing a novel i would let the same rate as the current rating average, but with my detailed rating and constructive critics in the review itself. The author can delete it, since my opinion and advices have been conveyed.
If my purpose is to make anyone aware that this story is awful and no one should read it, i'm then reviewing for the readers. And the line between defaming the author and informing other readers is quite thin. I could keep such a review, if the reasons made sense as a warning for new readers. I could even pin it. But as before, respect first. The author has the right to decide how he/she feels about this in my opinion.
Don't be naive, though. If i decide right now to do a false constructive review, falsely respectful, but with the hidden purpose of libelling your story, i can really do some damage, especially for these new stories that don't have yet all these 5 stars spamming reviews to drown the bad fish.
In the end, this debate is endless. Want to keep 1 star review because you think it's fair, at your own risk. But in general, i think an author should pin a 5 star and 2,5-3.5 star constructive reviews(if he has some). It gives the pro and cons for a new reader under 2 differents perspective and that's an honest behavior from the author.
I've had a fair number of my reviews deleted. They are solid reviews presenting aspects for each and every star.
At first I thought: 'This is the author removing everything that's not a five star review. Bloody idiot!"
I sure some are, bloody idiots that is, but there are probably another reason to delete a review.
An honest review pointing out weaknesses, say a 3.5 star review, simply becomes obsolete half a year later if the author acted on the pointers, rewrote earlier chapter and overall kept up the new and improved standards. In that case that once honest review becomes false.
I agree with StenDuring
What I wrote at the beginning, and what I am writing now, there are some improvements. I myself see this as an author. The comments of critics I take into account. rewrote one novel 4 times.
I leave reviews in 3 or 2 stars. For all the time since February 2019, as I started writing, I deleted only 1 review. He was 1 star. Deleted, because the reader did not write anything constructive, did not offer advice. But he simply wrote "You are a fool, you are bad, a novel is shit" and a bunch of emojis. This does not draw on a review. And frankly, few write a classic review.
Honestly, if they wrote me 10 reviews and scolded me, I would delete everything and write a request to the moderation service about furious trolling. But if the author appreciated my works and scolded the characters, even with 1 star, I would be glad.
I am not very worried about the rating yet, I am writing because I want to share information about the Silk Road and history.
Grammar has become a little better because I use two DePle machine programs skipping already written text in English, then Grammali.
Something like this.
StenDuring Agreed heartily.
Though I do doubt of the latter case ever truly happening, to any large degree at least, because just from observation, writers don’t edit entire stories in order to make significant improvements. Writing here on WN is fast-paced, so writers are more likely to start a new story instead of honing a finished story like an author who’s looking to traditionally publish might. Few people are both interested to both improve and edit a story in its entirety. Sure, lots might claim that, and I do honestly believe they meant it. But they just never got around to actually fulfilling it in its completion. I could name those that do (of ppl and stories that I know) on one hand.
So in that case, I hardly doubt your good reviews fell into the latter scenario. At one point, back during my review swap days, I was convinced I’d someday see a StenDuring review on every original book. (jk, but that would be nice, for readers and writers, maybe not you lol)
