Authors on the Boards

[Nerys Myk]

^ Replying to you, that is - and I actually have to break that promise now because I made a Borg cube-sized mistake: I meant Fallen Gods, not Fallen Heroes. Chalk it up to muscle memory!

With this,Timewalker might just have to give up the right to complain about people misinterpreting/misunderstanding her posts.

 

[T'Bonz]

OK.

I know that some are pissed that someone wasn't warned for this recently. I'll say what I said in MA yesterday.

"Shut the fuck up" is rude. Take away "fuck" and it's basically "shut up." Rude, but generally not actionable.

However, when said like that, it's almost guaranteed to elicit a negative response, so don't do it. If you're told to stop and continue with this kind of behavior (or other posters copycat it as done here) that is TROLLING.

Darth, there is not *any* doubt in my mind whatsoever that you did this on purpose. I'd warn you myself except that I don't want any more whining over this fucking stupidity.

Going forward - and it's posted in THIS THREAD since this is where it started - KNOCK IT OFF. Anyone going forward with this kind of utter bullshit will be warned as it will be deemed trolling.

As I said, don't test boundaries. It makes me angry when posters do that. I know that everything isn't done in a robotic fashion here and that we (and the posters) are human, which means sometimes things seem inconsistent. Really, we're trying to use common sense, in scant supply on the Internet. I don't get off on warning people nor do the other mods and if some of you would meet us halfway, you'd make life a little easier. If not, well, we will pull up the Admin panel.

I always have this hope that people will see what is going on and realize that people are trying to be reasonable, ratchet things down and not throw the Internet equivalent of a tantrum. All too often, I'm disappointed.

Stepping in here like this is meant to stop this behavior cold NOW - in here, and anywhere else but TNZ, where you came flame away to your heart's delight.

Shut the fuck up.

 

[Timewalker]

^ Replying to you, that is - and I actually have to break that promise now because I made a Borg cube-sized mistake: I meant Fallen Gods, not Fallen Heroes. Chalk it up to muscle memory!

With this,Timewalker might just have to give up the right to complain about people misinterpreting/misunderstanding her posts.

Oh, my. Well, I'm sure I'll survive. And I see no reason why it should be my fault if Sho typed the wrong title. The fact remains that I have read Fallen Heroes and enjoyed it. I haven't read the other book, so I have no opinion about it.

 

[JD]

Personally, I find it a bit annoying the authors come here. It creates an atmosphere where people can't be uncensored because of hurt egos/sycophant behavior. Thus threads like this emerge. And authors whining about "right" criticism and "wrong" criticism. Really?

If you can't handle any criticism you shouldn't read what people have to say.

It certainly doesn't seem to have kept to many people on here from posting negative comments fairly often. I've seen plenty of people give well thought out complaints that are actually justifiable and no one has had any problems with them.

Criticism is not what caused this debate (a case of willful public ridicule was), and being considerate and empathetic toward your forum peers is not "censorship". If people feel uncomfortable posting their unhappyness with a novel I certainly didn't notice it in my recent review thread for the nigh-universally panned Fallen Heroes. Personally I certainly don't feel intimidated into holding back my grievances with a work either, but I try to put effort into articulating them and avoid being mean as a common courtesy.

I also want to point out that a lot of the negative reviews on there have actually been very good examples of how to write a good negative review.

 

[Nerys Myk]

^ Replying to you, that is - and I actually have to break that promise now because I made a Borg cube-sized mistake: I meant Fallen Gods, not Fallen Heroes. Chalk it up to muscle memory!

With this,Timewalker might just have to give up the right to complain about people misinterpreting/misunderstanding her posts.

Oh, my. Well, I'm sure I'll survive. And I see no reason why it should be my fault if Sho typed the wrong title. The fact remains that I have read Fallen Heroes and enjoyed it. I haven't read the other book, so I have no opinion about it.

Actually I was referring to this part.

Replying to you, that is

 

[Timewalker]

What-EVER....

Look, it was the *authors* in question who misinterpreted my posts in the first place. The rest of you (collective "you" who know perfectly well who you are) just descended on me like a feeding frenzy of sharks, especially after I asked that it not happen in this thread.

As for Sho, I don't care if he replies to my posts or not, as long as he doesn't troll me, or claim that I said things I never said. Actually, he should probably just put me on his "ignore" list and avoid the whole problem. Nothing to see, no need to reply.

 

[Nerys Myk]

What-EVER....

Look, it was the *authors* in question who misinterpreted my posts in the first place. The rest of you (collective "you" who know perfectly well who you are) just descended on me like a feeding frenzy of sharks, especially after I asked that it not happen in this thread.

As for Sho, I don't care if he replies to my posts or not, as long as he doesn't troll me, or claim that I said things I never said. Actually, he should probably just put me on his "ignore" list and avoid the whole problem. Nothing to see, no need to reply.

They're just posters like the rest of us. Anyone can misinterpret the meaning in a post, it's not an *author" thing. I was pointing out, in a semi-humorous manner, that it can even happen to you. I know that on occasion my posts have been misinterpreted and sometimes it's my own fault due to poor word choice or sloppy sentence structure. Or I've totally missed the point of another poster's post because I didn't really read it close enough and missed the context.

 

[Timewalker]

What-EVER....

Look, it was the *authors* in question who misinterpreted my posts in the first place. The rest of you (collective "you" who know perfectly well who you are) just descended on me like a feeding frenzy of sharks, especially after I asked that it not happen in this thread.

As for Sho, I don't care if he replies to my posts or not, as long as he doesn't troll me, or claim that I said things I never said. Actually, he should probably just put me on his "ignore" list and avoid the whole problem. Nothing to see, no need to reply.

They're just posters like the rest of us. Anyone can misinterpret the meaning in a post, it's not an *author" thing. I was pointing out, in a semi-humorous manner, that it can even happen to you. I know that on occasion my posts have been misinterpreted and sometimes it's my own fault due to poor word choice or sloppy sentence structure. Or I've totally missed the point of another poster's post because I didn't really read it close enough and missed the context.

Or it could be that I chose which part of the post to reply to, and which part to ignore... To clarify, my use of "*authors*" was simply a shorthand way to avoid typing out their names again.

This said, misunderstandings are very easy and that's why I prefer to talk it out with people, ideally via PM. It's amazing how many arguments can be smoothed over that way. And there's very definitely a cultural disconnect between Canadians and Americans on some issues - I've seen it happen on lots of sites.

I've moderated on a computer gaming forum Off Topic area, and learned there to look below the surface words. There's a whole other communication going on, which we can only guess at, since it's impossible to read body language and voice-cues. Then add in all the people whose first language isn't English.

Moral: When in doubt of what the other person means, ask. And when I ask a question, it's because I really want to know the answer.

 

[DimesDan]

What's the phrase - "Your mileage may vary"? So no - I don't need to separate the two if I prefer not to. It's the same principle wherein I don't patronize local stores where the staff is rude. It doesn't matter how much of a sale they might have some week of a thing I might need - rude staff means they don't get my business. And authors who have been rude to me don't get my business, either.

I've just skimmed over this thread and to be honest all that has been said, has been said. I would just like to address the bolded part in this quote.

From what you've wrote, not just in this post, but multiple posts in this thread and other threads, you come across as a rude, self-important, older-woman who arrogantly believes the whole world should bend to her whims.

Now, I work in supermarket, we have your kind of customers every once in a while. If your behaviour here is indicative of how you are in real life, then you must do a lot of online shopping. Yes customer service is a key thing, but when a customer is being "rude", it is sometimes hard to hold back and regardless of what you think, the customer is hardly ever right.

 

[Timewalker]

What's the phrase - "Your mileage may vary"? So no - I don't need to separate the two if I prefer not to. It's the same principle wherein I don't patronize local stores where the staff is rude. It doesn't matter how much of a sale they might have some week of a thing I might need - rude staff means they don't get my business. And authors who have been rude to me don't get my business, either.

I've just skimmed over this thread and to be honest all that has been said, has been said. I would just like to address the bolded part in this quote.

From what you've wrote, not just in this post, but multiple posts in this thread and other threads, you come across as a rude, self-important, older-woman who arrogantly believes the whole world should bend to her whims.

Now, I work in supermarket, we have your kind of customers every once in a while. If your behaviour here is indicative of how you are in real life, then you must do a lot of online shopping. Yes customer service is a key thing, but when a customer is being "rude", it is sometimes hard to hold back and regardless of what you think, the customer is hardly ever right.

Well, then, it's lucky for you that we're an ocean and a continent apart and I'll never shop in your store, isn't it? Y'know, there are some customer service-themed threads down in Miscellaneous where we could argue about this; it's off-topic in the TrekLit forum. If you want to attack me, why not just do it there? Since it's about grocery store customers and how they irritate you, and not about something to do with books and how authors interact with their readers.

 

[zarkon]

Can't say I've ever had a problem with any of the writers who post hereabouts. Don't see any reason they shouldn't be able to say what they think, and if they may come off a bit sharp every now and then, well who doesn't?

Authors are people too

as is soylent green

 

[dahj]

as is soylent green

Not so much anymore.
It's all chemicals now, them big food conglomerates are always trying to screw you over... can't remember the last time I had some decent people.

 

[jimternet]

I've recently returned to the BBS as a lurker after some 2.5 years away, and the main attraction for me is that the authors post here.

I've even gone to the effort of reseting my password, logging in and breaking the first rule of lurking just to say this.

Thanks authors.

 

[Relayer1]

and the main attraction for me is that the authors post here....Thanks authors.

Seconded.

 

[MacLeod]

Surely having people like writers and people who have worked on the show who post is a good thing for us as fans. It can perhaps allow us to gain insights into why things are down in a such manner, why do you do a instead of b etc..

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Surely having people like writers and people who have worked on the show who post is a good thing for us as fans. It can perhaps allow us to gain insights into why things are down in a such manner, why do you do a instead of b etc..

Totally. That's one thing I really love, too. It's very educational.

Authors aren't here to be picked on. And I've yet to see evidence of a double standard, only evidence that authors will not be held to a higher standard than everyone else; holding them to a higher standard would only foster an environment where they could be picked on with relative impunity.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

For the most part writers aren't going to choose to either hang out in a place or not hang out in it based on whether people there like their work, any more than they're going to change what they write because of it.

To be clear on one point regarding how this latest go-around appears to have started: collecting sentences from half a dozen different books and posting them to demonstrate a "repetitious" piece of description isn't "criticism" worthy of any attention or respect whatever.

It's a stunt, it's not clever, it's beyond pathetic as commentary.

If someone thinks it's a good idea or relevant to do that kind of thing, I doubt that I could be bothered to have a further conversation with them either here or IRL - we're all here too short a time to court boredom that determinedly.

 

[MacLeod]

Re-describing a character etc.. serves a similar purpose to the Previously/last time on ... That TV shows use

They recap the audiance on something.

 

[iarann]

And there's very definitely a cultural disconnect between Canadians and Americans on some issues - I've seen it happen on lots of sites.

I know a lot of Canadians, both personally in the real world and online. There is a small cultural difference, but no more so than between someone from Iowa and someone from California. The things you have described previously as a cultural difference (such as expecting an apology for being called "dude") are not cultural differences, those are personal differences.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Authors should be treated the same as any other members of TBBS - and very much allowed to tell people to fuck off when they deserve it!

(BTW, it's awesome having writers here)