Anonymous asked:

In my fandom there’s someone who does reviews of bad fanfiction and really rips into it. They say it’s all in good fun but with my anxiety I’m just so scared they’ll review one of my works like that. Even if mine aren’t as “cringey” as the ones they’ve already reviewed. I don’t want to give in to fear and delete everything but it’s really anxiety inducing that the possibility is there.

ao3commentoftheday answered:

*hugs* I’m sorry, anon. That really sucks.

I’m really not a fan of that kind of “critique.” Personally, I find it less fun and more bullying. I think it creates a really negative space in a fandom and can lead, as you say, to severe anxiety on the part of people who write in that fandom - which in turn means fewer people write. 

If you want people to do more of a thing, tearing them down is the wrong way to go about it. 

I’ve never run into one of these people, myself. As a result, I don’t know if you could approach them and ask them to stay away from your works. If they really are doing it all in good fun, then they’d abide by your wishes and make sure they never did that to one of your fics. If they’re doing it as a way of bullying other fans or otherwise expressing their superiority, it might draw their attention to you when it wasn’t on you before. 

Has anyone else had experience with this sort of thing? Can you give anon some advice?

[conceptadecency]

Yikes, that’s really awful. It’s definitely bullying and I can think of no possible good reason to do that to other fans, especially the ones who are putting themselves out there and creating and sharing. 

And does this person like reading fics or not? Certainly not a good way to encourage more people to write. 

I’m really glad the Garashir fandom seems to be fairly positive and supportive. I’ve never seen these kinds of unkind, unfair comments or reviews and I really hope they aren’t happening in places I don’t see them.