Veronica8 I'll pin this thread for a week to see what happens! Feels like this topic is pretty controversial, so I'll just grab my tea and popcorn and watch from the sidelines for the rest of this after speaking my thoughts. Hope things don't get out of hand, so I won't have to do any thread-locking.

My thoughts though: I just want WN to get a good site moderation system going on. I know it's probably not going to happen, but heck, I'd even volunteer to do it. :wave:
But until they have a moderation system, the review deletion function does help since it prevents spam. I've had on some really bad days, tens of pure emoji, reading-status 0 reviews get posted on my novel, and I've deleted them all, regardless of how many stars they gave. It's really a bother to report them for spam and to get no response (since the current moderation system on WN is practically 0) when one can just click delete.
It does suck that people abuse it. And I've definitely seen people abuse the review deletion system. But then again, at the same time, the review system itself is just a big mess. You have people spamming for exp, you have people inflating ratings, you have people using reviews as a way to harass/attack authors, or you have people rating a mediocre novel 1 star without considering word building/grammar/character/all those factors in the rating just because they didn't like one part of it, or a mediocre novel 5 stars without considering all those factors either just b/c it's their fav genre... the whole system is really broken.
I think I've said this in the past, but the review deletion function really is a big test for authors and their ability to handle negative feedback + a little bit of ethics/morals thrown in there too. There are ways that it can benefit the community, and there are ways that it can harm the community. It's just overall... messy.

On the topic of comment deletion, my thoughts are pretty much the same-- I wish there was an active moderation system. I keep saying this, but it's the only thing I really want haha. I do feel like, in my experience, I have less comment spam than review spam, and I haven't found a scenario where I have a need to delete any comments yet. I personally think feedback should be kept, as long as it doesn't step into the realms of harassment/personal attacks. Except, there also comes the problem that authors tend to treat their stories as their brainchild, so any negative feedback might be taken as a personal attack, even when it's not intended to. And, there also comes the problem of readers lacing potentially offensive/borderline personal attack in what they feel like is honest feedback, even when they were intending more sarcasm.

Really do feel like my thoughts are messy/was never the most eloquent speaker. I can see why people would get angry to have their review/comment which they spent a while writing, carrying genuine criticism, get deleted by the author. I can also understand how some authors might be a bit more sensitive and genuinely feel a need to delete reviews/comments to keep themselves happy. Not shaming anyone for doing so; it's all just a personal choice, and if an author can have a better mental health/day by deleting the review, then maybe they should. I guess I do want people to know/realize though that this is the internet, and by putting your work out there, you should brace yourself to receive criticism, since none of us are perfect and people are always going to have differing opinions.

Anyways, hope that no one gets offended by my words since I did try to tame my opinions down a bit. (flashbacks to 2018 me on the forum being really quite blunt lmaoo). Just me blurting out my thoughts on this open board.

tea

      Thanks Yue-bot and AriaKang for your view point. ❤️

      I think it's good to gather as much perspective to one link on the matter. It'll help to give Webnovel a larger picture on the issues.

      It's also good to see different ways of thinking and perception. So we can start to get a better insight to each other. Maybe retrain feedback practice here to something more common ground acceptable.

      @WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL If possible, please create a Review Moderation Team that can check for reviews that have been reported. And, if they find it offensive, they can take it down. The present state of things gives too much power to the authors and even if an author hasn't touched the reviews, he gets called upon manipulating the reviews to get a high rating (Since there are numerous precedents and this fact has been etched into the brains of the readers).

      The only option open to the author should be Report Review when he/she finds a review abusive or bordering on personal attack or spam. Once it gets reported, the Review Moderation Team can work on and take it down if they find it against the guidelines.

      Moreover, it would also make the reviews more Genuine and Trustable when a reader can only give a single review to a story. This prevents the spamming that generally occurs when a reader is just pissed at the author and takes it to the reviews to vent and bring the author down. Moreover, the other side of the coin also exists. When a reader falls in love with the story, he/she spams 5-star ratings soo much that the entire rating of the book gets skewed.

      As @yaoyueyi has volunteered for it, I too would like to volunteer for the task. It would make the Review section more genuine and trustable and remove the current mess it has become. After that, no reader will question the author of manipulating the reviews to get a higher rating.

      Many novels I found really bad use this practice. They remove any review under 4. So u find a novel with 5-4.5 mark and its absolute garbage. Some authors just clean everything under 5*. I think authors must not be able to do that. They just scam plle into thinking their novel is good. But as you start reading u find that it is really bad.

        yaoyueyi A good moderation must absolutely not include writers to be honest. Moderators have to be a third part not biased and hired paid to do a good job. So that's impossible, Webnovel is never trasparent and never wants to pay anyone, so a good moderation is impossible.

          Contracted Author here chiming in, I've never seen someone that leaves a 1 star review even read the entire story or leave any constructive criticism of the novel. No one that has left a bad review of my novel has even read my locked chapters. The sad truth is 99% of bad reviews novels received are from trolls who by all rights should have their review deleted.

          If you took the time to read to my current chapters even paying for them then you have ever right to leave a bad review. You have experienced the story and what I had to offer you and found it was bad and could give a good reason why people should not read my novel. You've paid for my product and were unsatisfied with your purchase. You have every right to leave a bad review.

          This fantasy world isn't what happens in reality though. Bad reviews come from people that read a few chapters or have a personal vendetta against the author. Never from valuable readers, who give real constructive criticism like the 1 starring trolls would like to paint it. Their opinions are usually worth less than dirt and by all rights their reviews should be deleted.

          If they made reviews require a reader to read 80% of the chapters available for a novel all contracted authors would be glad to lose their power to remove reviews.

          Heres every bad review that my novel Devil's Rise https://www.webnovel.com/book/16835288905430105/Devil's-Rise has ever received.
          alernatetext

          None of them give the helpful insight that trolls would want you to believe their 1-star review does for novels. They all are personal attacks against the author.

          As far as comments are concerned, anything that stops a reader from enjoying my story is deleted. It's my lawn and I have a right to pick weeds out of it for the enjoyment of new readers. The entire Volume 1 is a free sample of my novel that decides if readers will move on to purchase my paid chapters. Trolls have no right to spam this section to diswade my new readers, when they never became paid readers themselves.

            Dan_Ryder As a reader, i can only understand part of your furstation on the trolls, personal vedettas, the reviews just for the exp (the last one really needs to stop). But what do you mean that the readers that do not buy your chapters are not entitled to review your books? Everyone has their own opinion and are free to express it. If your "true" readers feel they need to leave a good review they can but you can not prohibit anyone else from doing it as well. Some people might really dislike your novel. You have to accept it. I had a personal experience myself and didn't hold back when reviewing. Of course the example is bad since said author is accused of deleting any bad reviews to get recommeded which is how the novel landed on my library. It seems that they stopped though since my review of 2 months still exists. Anyway, I felt entitled to warn anyone like-minded of what the first 10 chapters of that novel had in store for them. I still get furious when i remember it.
            On that note, it is really hard to get 1 star review. You have to be intentional. I hated that novel but still it got 2 stars from me; how would i know how often the author released, and quality was decent.

              I would have supported the option for author deletion of reviews if I wasn't aware of review swaps that garner 5-star reviews regardless of quality. I could write thrash and review 20 books for 20 different authors and have them all give me 5 stars on mine while deleting all the real reviews that give future readers a clearer picture. I'm not here to shade authors that review swap and neither am I implying that review swapping authors delete their negative reviews. All I'm saying is that it's hypocritical if you cannot tolerate fake negative reviews while simultaneously farming fake positive reviews. Moreover, it creates a confusing atmosphere for readers of original novels. I don't want to read a sub-par book that has inflated reviews because frankly its a waste of my time. And if I as a reader cannot trust the review system, it makes me less inclined to try new original novels.

              Perhaps the review monitoring idea would be feasible if the monitoring council does it's job properly. I foresee a long list of review requests that might not get attention if there aren't enough volunteers to do it. I also want to state that I can't help but appreciate authors who are working so hard on their novels and that nobody deserves to be spammed by jerks who ruin their ratings. But as of now, the review system is absolute bullshit. It needs balance. I'm sorry I don't have a solution. I just wanted to add my two cents to it.

              So Just like falling in love with a flawed lover, show me all your secrets baby. I want the good and the bad ;) if I see a potential suitor showing only his good side, I get suspicious. I'm getting old ah, let me know your flaws too so we can get married. Yes? I have dowry, you have 6 packs? No? It's ok. Just be honest with me and I'll explore you.

                Dan_Ryder Mate, I am that 'troll' that you have accused me of being. But seriously your novel of 700k+ views has the rating of 4.9 stars. Which is near impossible, you must of at least had one star 3 review from somebody. However, all of them are 4+ stars and none with less than 4. Moreover, you have kept the spam of XP 5 star reviews but on other hand deleted 1-star negative review which shows you don't care about your works feedback unless its bootlicking, but also shows that you clearly purged all less than 4 star reviews no matter how thoughtful the reviews may have been.

                    Im still against the idea of authors being allowed to delete reviews but i've come to terms with it; Qidian is Qidian. I'm of the belief that all criticism, good or bad, should be allowed. The negative spam bots and the trolls do need to be accounted for, but I feel like Qidian should just make a bot detection system, and find some report and review system for trolls. Giving authors the permission to just silence all criticism is going way overboard.

                      I just had a thought. Since webnovel has a system in place that tracks reader activity and time, why not implement that? Say, each reader has to spend an X amount of time reading Y chapters and then having the review function unlock. Depending on the average reading rate for each reader, webnovel can calculate the time and chapters. Any thoughts?

                      Dan_Ryder Wait am I understanding what you're saying correctly? If someone reads 68 chapters (what you have as free) and decided they didn't enjoy the story enough to continue reading then their review isn't valid? That seems a little absurd if that is what you are saying.

                      I personally have stopped reading novels after 20-40 and sometimes even 60-80 chapters because they weren't engaging enough for me. Granted I don't go and leave a bad review because I don't particularly like the way the review system works on this site. Just seems ridiculous that because I never unlocked any chapters that my critique should be invalid.

                          melonbread Yep I don't even read any Original Novels on the site because of the facts you mention.

                              Towel The core theme of my post is there are no detailed reviews by one-star trolls. They are incapable of providing valuable feedback for other readers or the author period. The fairy tale 1-star detailed review after reading 68 chapters does not exist.

                              You don't even read original novels to start with, so your opinion in this matter is void.

                                  Veronica8 Please don't feed the troll. Why would you ever condone the actions of someone who spammed a novel over 50 times with a 1 star review. Spams negative comments throughout all the chapters. Then left negative comments on every review posted on that novel. If webnovel had an actual moderation system he would have been banned long ago.

                                      One should probably distinguish between two types of reviews:

                                      1. Swap
                                      2. Honest

                                      Swap means confidently getting 4 or 5 stars. Equivalent exchange as in the manga Full Metal Alchemist

                                      Honest. Well, he speaks for himself.

                                      Although there are exceptions in Swap Reviews, it is easy to get 2 or 3 stars.

                                      An honest review, the good thing is that the critic points out weak points to the author, suggests ways of correction, and gives advice. It really helps to fix the job.

                                      At the same time, usually those who have English as their mother tongue, they treat with some prejudice, maybe from the side seeming a little snobbish, in relation to novels written in not very good English. In reviews, the main criticism comes down to grammar, not complex assessment, content, title page, schedule of updates. This aspect is also worth considering.

                                      At the same time, having given someone 5 stars in a swap review, you, as an author, can get 2 or 3 stars, which you did not expect. Since the principle of equal exchange is violated. But we are all human and the rules that exist for swap reviews are based on their word of honor.

                                      Sometimes I receive notifications that about three dozen of my comments and reviews have been removed. These were honest reviews. A bit unpleasant. But on the other hand, this is how the author received advice on how to fix it and reacted to them.

                                      I myself am happy to receive advice from critics on how to improve my novels. But at the same time from adequate critics, arguing their criticism and showing ways to correct mistakes. It only makes the novel better.

                                      It should be noted that there are few real reviews, so to speak classical ones, which would analyze the text, first giving strengths. then they showed the weak, talked about the structure of the work, paid attention to the content without focusing on grammar.

                                      Here it would probably be nice to somehow highlight the "swap" and "honest" reviews, maybe in the background color scheme or put letters.

                                      Or maybe the form of filling out the "review" itself should contain all the points of the evaluation criteria, and only then such a review can be admitted to publication. But this is all difficult to accomplish.

                                      Plus, there will always be biased reviews. For example, few people control whether the same author has multiple accounts. He can write to himself from 2 to 10 reviews. He can call friends and will wind up his rating.

                                      If you are honest and objective as an author, you will fail ... if you don't write a swap review, no one will notice your original work. If you limit yourself to 10 swap reviews, someone will write themselves 100. You will lose again.

                                      Being shameless means doing good PR to your work. But this is not interesting.

                                      Such are my thoughts on this matter.

                                      The thing with negative reviews, although they are annoying they are also a good indication if a book is good or bad.
                                      If i see a 1 star review on a book and the reviewer hasn't read more than 5 chapters I'm going to ignore it because its obvious this person is a troll.
                                      I've started reading books because of bad reviews. These ones were from people that actually read hundreds of chapters and wanted to tell the author something they didn't like.
                                      Sure, they may have left three stars or something but they actually gave valid points.
                                      As a reader i got interested because of those points and I want to see if the author ended up adressing them later, and guess what. Most of those complaints got resolved in later chapters so I feel like if the review wasn't there in the first place the author wouldn't have seen it and fixed the plot holes and the book would remain bad.
                                      Negative reviews are not all bad. Aside from the trolls, there are those giving constructive criticisms. Real fans that actually bothered to read the book and give an opinion rather than just flattering the authors ego.

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