brawl2099

A recent experience got me thinking, and I wanted to post my thoughts to the journal. (Comments are locked so I doesn't start a fight.) It's a bit of an old fashioned rant, so please just let me vent a little.

One of the biggest problems with the comic fanfic community is the occaisional lack of constructive criticism. Too often I've seen a fight start with "So and so's (insert title here) sucks." Whether the fight happens between "so and so" and the poster, or others isn't the point. The point is, why? Why does it suck?

As some have seen, my particular experience accused me of ripping off a story from television. That was how it was phrased. How would you feel about that if you were accused? Now, the issue was meant to be a homage to the particular episode cited. I felt it was appropriate given the circumstance, and I felt I made the plot different enough that I felt it stood on its own two legs. That's not the point though.

The point is, it hurt. It felt like a personal attack. How could this have been approached constructively?

First, it could have avoided negative language. Sucks is negative. Instead, "poorly-written" or "ill-timed" or something to that effect. "So and so's X-Men sucks" can be changed to "While so and so's X-Men has some strong points, the jumbled mess of the plot makes it difficult to read." Sure, it took longer to say, but it's not so negative. It doesn't put "so and so" on the defensive. Sucks just, well, sucks. The same can be said for words like rip-off, trash, junk, and any number of descriptions involving the popular four letter words.

Second, why? What made it suck? Was it the setting, the dialogue, the characters? Was Archangel written out of character with no explanation? Was Metropolis written as a fifteen square-mile slum? Was Batman talking like Adam West, when you expected Christian Bale (as written by Paul Dini)? Is it obvious that "so and so" has no grasp of continuity?

Third, without saying "I'd do it this way," how can it be improved? "I'd do it this way" is just the same as saying rip-off, sucks, or piece of s__t. My reaction to that statement is, "fine, you do it your way, and show me that you're better than I am!" Instead, it could be stated "Please research continuity a little bit better so contradictions like this are avoided." Or "This episode would have made a better one to homage." Provide links or article names if you have to. I want to know how I can improve, but not how you'd do it. That doesn't help me at all. You and I are different people.

This is in no way meant to slight the person I had this conflict with. He's a great guy, and I've never butted heads with him before. To see a review like that actually surprised me quite a bit. I want him to know no offense meant in this, and I don't hold this incident against him personally at all. It's just been weighing on my mind quite a bit for a while, and this incident just made me want to get out some thoughts I've had for a while about this topic.

We've got to remember, we're all fanboys (and girls) and sometimes you're more intensive of a fan of a concept than someone who might be writing it.