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Help! Ethical dilemma!
Apr. 15th, 2005 04:56 pmYesterday, I was happily surprised when I got a review for one of my fics on fanfiction.net. It was a nice review. I like reviews.
However, my happiness turned to dismay when I saw who had reviewed it. I won't name them, but I actually author-alerted them after seeing one of their fics posted on the PPC posting board.
It is one of the most horrid Mary-Sues I have seen lately and the canon-lover in me is screaming "KILL! PPC! MST! DESTROY IT AND JUMP ON THE PIECES!". But the author gave my fic a nice review and I would feel incredibly guilty if I was to turn around and review hers (however Sueish it is) and be... well... very direct (and several others have already done so). I know the phrase "you have to be cruel to be kind" but still...
And what makes me feel really, really horrible is that the author probably found me through the author-alert system (if you author alert someone, a message gets sent to them to let them know). So she must think this is a sort of encouragement to her. And Eru knows that Sue needs urgent PPCing.
Aurgh. This is so damn complicated.
So what do I do?
1. Review the fic and follow my canon instincts, ie. offering very critical constructive criticism? I don't want to turn on her like that.
2. Review the fic and say thankyou for her review of mine, and offer more gentle criticism? I wouldn't feel so bad about her, but my canon instincts say that is a complete and utter cop-out. And that Sue really, really needs to die...
3. Stay quiet about the 'Sue AND the review. I think I'll MST it anyway, so my canon instincts won't be screaming at me, and as long as she never finds out about the MST I won't feel bad about biting at her. Still feels rather like a cop-out.
But sometimes, copping out is the only possible option, I suppose.
However, my happiness turned to dismay when I saw who had reviewed it. I won't name them, but I actually author-alerted them after seeing one of their fics posted on the PPC posting board.
It is one of the most horrid Mary-Sues I have seen lately and the canon-lover in me is screaming "KILL! PPC! MST! DESTROY IT AND JUMP ON THE PIECES!". But the author gave my fic a nice review and I would feel incredibly guilty if I was to turn around and review hers (however Sueish it is) and be... well... very direct (and several others have already done so). I know the phrase "you have to be cruel to be kind" but still...
And what makes me feel really, really horrible is that the author probably found me through the author-alert system (if you author alert someone, a message gets sent to them to let them know). So she must think this is a sort of encouragement to her. And Eru knows that Sue needs urgent PPCing.
Aurgh. This is so damn complicated.
So what do I do?
1. Review the fic and follow my canon instincts, ie. offering very critical constructive criticism? I don't want to turn on her like that.
2. Review the fic and say thankyou for her review of mine, and offer more gentle criticism? I wouldn't feel so bad about her, but my canon instincts say that is a complete and utter cop-out. And that Sue really, really needs to die...
3. Stay quiet about the 'Sue AND the review. I think I'll MST it anyway, so my canon instincts won't be screaming at me, and as long as she never finds out about the MST I won't feel bad about biting at her. Still feels rather like a cop-out.
But sometimes, copping out is the only possible option, I suppose.
