Mr. roguescholar said:
Subject: seemed constructive to me
Body:
I felt the rhyming passages pulled me out of the flow of an otherwise well crafted piece. It just didn’t seem to fit.
that, my friend is constructive and honest. It’s even specific to certain passages of the poem. (the rhyming passages)
Did you turn this in for a refund merely because you didn’t like the criticism?
You should really grow a thicker skin if you’re going to put your work out there…
Best of luck to you.

...and then blocked me! heeehee!
So here’s my answer if he ever takes a peek here:

1. Sorry, but I don’t know about which of my pieces you are talking
2. “flow” isn’t a term in poetry, it explains nothing as it is generic and subjective.
So, yeah, honest but not constructive; as you see, the Review Guardians, who decide about the validity of a review, agreed with me.
3. I love CONSTRUCTIVE and SPECIFIC criticism. You may even call my stuff shit but explain exactly which parts and why and I will send a big thank-you-sir your way. On the other hand, if you say something like “A GOOD WELL ROUNDED POEM I LIKE IT” (I actually got a review like that, yes that’s the whole review – 8 useless words) then it’s a trip to refund-ville for you.
And don’t worry bout my skin thickness ;)

Cheers, J.

Hear, hear!

I’ve got skin like a grape.

Grapes are those admantium thingies, right? ;)

I just sent someone an evil message and then blocked them. I feel guilty now, although in my defence I honestly forgot that blocking them would stop them from messaging me back. Still he deserved it. No one should ever lable a 900+ word review as unhelpful.

I have. Actually, the long review I gave an unhelpful rating to (and bitched about it just a little in the forums) was over 1500 words long. It was one of the least helpful reviews I’ve ever received because almost everything this guy pointed out was wrong. Long does not always mean helpful, but short normally does. It’s not length, but how you use it, in other words.

Ah true, but mine was VERY useful. Full of corrected sentences, information on point of view and show/tell issues, suggestions of where to take the story, plus things that were good about it. I might write long reviews occasionally when I see someone in need of being told about stuff like POV and show/tell, but it was through people writing similarly long reviews on my early pieces that I found out about those issues myself.

The aforementioned situation was the only case of my receiving negative feedback on one of my long reviews – all the others have been extremely grateful – and earlier today the case of littlegreenpills V Bravis resolved itself. He clicked on ‘NO’ by mistake apparently, causing me fresh waves of guilt for responding so negatively. I have now unblocked him and I’m feeling much more valued as a reviewer.

As for length – too true. Although I’ve always found girth to be crucial too.

Oh okay, you meant with reviews.

No, no. Girth is fascinating. Can’t argue with that.

Did you know that you are the third most prolific contributor to these forums? Only five more and you overtake nelson1 to claim second place! Someone’s going to need to disable Squarehopper’s computer somehow for you to get first place though.

Oh

well

let’s

see

how

far

I

c

a

n

get

tonight.

No, seriously. I hadn’t thought about the forums as a competition. I am quite_ competitive.

That’s genius. Night night (again).

Yep, next time I submit something for publication I’ll be sure to tell the editor in bold letters that on the Urbis forums I have 319 posts. Should make me an automatic shoe-in! Acceptance is guaranteed.

::runs away from the penis length competition::