Webnovel.Forum

A common topic that has been reoccurring for a year is "Author deleted my review". Followed by tags "Diss" and "Novel Discussions" and sometimes "Find Sunny" :question:

@yaoyueyi could you possibly pin this sucker to the forum? So, this can be an Open Sounding Board for all those who want to talk about the whys, hows and shoulds of having verbatim deleted, and they don't want to open up their own diss posts.

From my view point: I've been fortunate that I've never had reason to delete particular feedback. I've gone "all rockstar" and deleted my book to start over. I see verbatim is hit and miss. Sometimes there're valid points to take note and think about. Sometimes it's just verbal diarrhea. This the beautiful thing about receiving feedback. To see many levels of passionate views expressed. How we choose to deal with other peeps verbatim makes a massive difference. It's important to note that your truth may not be someone else's So, your insight may not be relevant. Just as it might open up relevance and be meaningful to another.

I'm opening up this "open post" to be a sounding board for all on this matter. Good or bad.

Say away, if you like. Note that I won't bite. But I can be evil :smiling_imp: since I'm the Evil Overlord.

please don't slander the poster, rather address the view point civil like and objectively. Arguments are shut down once they go personal.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Gourmet_DAO
With constructive criticism, some authors welcome it, others will delete it because they won't want that review to derail their rating.
But isn't the whole point of reviews to get feedback?
Unless its a stupid pointless review or the person is a troll harassing the author then I don't think they should be deleted.
Plus people need to understand how to rate.
1 star is like saying your book is trash. With absolutely nothing redeemable in it. Bad grammar, stupid characters, no world building at all. Basically you just wrote crap and posted.
Which is not true for any book on here.
Unless such a terrible book existed then the 1star should never be used.
I feel authors should be allowed to delete such a review, especially if the reviewer never said what needs to be improved. At that point a review like this is just harassment.
On the other hand if the author wants to delete a review that actually makes sense. That someone took time to write out their criticism in hopes the author reads it and changes something, then that's just the author being a little ****
This only applies to reviews that actually raise valid points, not random exp reviews or hate reviews.

EternalNightLotus I am a beginner author, so the rating is not particularly important to me now. Criticism that can improve my work, I need it!

"If it's a stupid, nonsensical review, or a troll chasing an author, then I don't think they should be removed." - I think the opposite needs to be removed. It is a pity that the moderation service practically does not work. With effective moderation, trolls will always be in line.

This is democracy ... freedom of choice ... I choose constructive criticism because I want to improve my writing skills. Rating, while I do not really care. I am not interested in getting money from writing books either.

And so the author should have the right to remove the idiotic review, trolling, bullying, it destroys creativity.

I agree with you!

Dan_Ryder I'm not condoning. He had valid points from his view. But doesn't mean I agree with him. This conversation needs to be kept objective.

You do raise a good note about trolling.

Add: Aah! I just realised that my last post might have sounded like an endorsement. Sorry about that.
I respect the fact that both of you have been able to come here and express your views and experiences. To me, those are valid points. I don't think I explained it. Sorry.

Veronica8 Yeah you're right we should look at it objectively. On another hand, as long as 'webnovel' does not have some sort of system for managing reviews it makes sense for authors to have the right to delete more 'toxic' and 'unreasonable hateful comments. However, this also leads to extreme abuse of power by the authors who tend to delete anything they 'feel' like is attacking their work even though the 'attack' (reviews) may be truly objective which could benefit the author's story. It's funny to me when some people say authors should have the full right without reason to delete anything deemed 'negative' because the way I see it, is that it leads to authors only seeing in one way which is their way, therefore, anything that goes against their thinking gets purged from any critic no matter how reasonable and respectful. (Of course, I am not saying all authors are like that) Finally, I think the word such as 'trolling' is way overused and used more like a way to quell and discredit anything they dislike which makes the real trolls win.

Hi! I wanted to offer my thoughts too.

There is something that poeple collectively forget. Very few readers can actually give the reviews the authors want. Specific mention on grammar, vocabulary, stracture, world building in a way that helps improve the novel, character and side character building etc. Unless the review system gets more detailed to help guide the reader and give actual feedback to the author not much is going to change on the quality of the reviews.

I agree with many comments mentioned earleir but i still think that the easiest way to lessen the bots would be to change the exp system. Maybe reward the reviewer that the author finds helpful in exchange. I do not like if the author delete a review based on the stars given. If it is a complete troll/bot yes do it. The positive troll/bot reviews too though. I loved the system suggested early on about authors reporting a review, it geting evaluated and deleted or not afterward but it does take a lot of time and needs a lot of volunteers. Another inetesting one is the algorithm for screening the reviews might be easier to set so as emoji reviews get deleted automatically for example or reviews from readers that haven't even read any chapter but go for the exp.

Someone raised the problem of authors exchanging positive reviews. That sounds really bad and hypoctitical when here the authors are pointing fingers to the readers. How can the readers trust any good review under the novels? Unless the review is objective and said author reads the majority of said novel to give constructive review since they can most likely point out the weak points of said novel. Which seems not to be the case.

On deleting the comments.. Well i am conflicted on the subject. I know readers can be really harsh, unreasonably some times. Spams should definetly go and maybe the exp from a comment can be changed but that leaves the problem of where the readers would get the exp they need to level up. Plus, some readers like troling (not a negative sense, playful) or having a hate-love relationship with the author and the novel.

I feel like this is more of a reform of webnovel than a suggestion for improvement. Cheers!

*exp=expereince

Thanks everyone, for expressing your views and experiences so far. Really, appreciate it.
I'm just going to sum-up my understanding of what is said so far, and the need. Apologize if I get it wrong.

In my understanding:

• Authors would appreciate reviews to be legitimate feedback of the content.
• There's definitely a need for content moderation of reviews with quality standards to be in place.
• Readers need a review system that they can trust. Right now, the review function is a fking piece of sh.t. Not good.
• There's a need for community moderation mechanisms to actively deal with unwanted reader/author behaviors like spamming, trolling, indirect bullying and cancel culture.

So, now the question is... What if none of the listed is possible from Webnovel management?

As a community, what can we do to work around and deal with the things that bother us with the review system?

Keep in mind, if nothing is to change with the site, we can't rely on it to enforce any improvements towards these points.

Could we all agree to some common rules and practices for feedback? Those that would answer to the four points that I listed above?

Although, it would be hard to live by if WN themselves aren't supporting them.

What are your thoughts?

Gourmet_DAO Yes. Bot-moderation would be a good approach.

Ooh. My brain flashed. The bot holds the questionable comments for the author and an editor to review together. Maybe it sends a comment notification in Inkstone to both where they need to give approval after selecting a few options. This moderation activity would only be for those that fit the criteria to one on the report flag list.

The outcome of this, is if none or only one party are approving to publish the comment, it stays within Inkstone and goes to an archive folder, so the author doesn't have to see it. But they can still access it if they wanted to.

Yes. Good suggestions.

@Dannnnz Can you help here?
Sorry, i run back to the first "spokerman" figure on the Sept'17 post to find someone hopefully with some authority.
Not sure if they are still active though like out favorite bot here..

RABBITICOL Thanks. I didn't check. There was an active official member around dealling with some bugs a couple weeks (or more) back but i do not remember their name.
Found them. But they haven't sign in since May. Well, here goes nothing.
@Webnoveldeveloper