The feedback question
Jul. 11th, 2002 11:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenThe concept of feedback: why, why not, and where do we screw it up? has been making it's rounds. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
destina came up with an excellent list of why some readers don't feedback, and zortified came up with some ideas about how to solve the problem with clearer communication on the part of the writers, but the question remains of whether or not the current climate is too muddled for such communication to work.
What I'm wondering now is if we need to break the mold just a tad. IMO the "Feedback:" header in a story has become too corrupted to be useful. Either writers lie about what they want, or they become too demanding and readers are put off by it. I don't think there's any way we can (easily) save that header.
However, what if we created something else to help clarify our feedback desires? What I'm picturing here - and I'm open to suggestion - is something like a page on a writer's website which explains in detail their feedback wants/needs/feelings. Then this can become general information for any readers who are wondering (and curious enough to seek it out) without being this in-your-face "I demand feedback!" style requests.
Granted there would be bugs in the system - like the readers having to seek the information out and remembering it for each author - but if it became something of an "industry standard" so to speak it could become as much a habit (or strongly suggested habit) to check a writers' "Feedback" page as it is to check out a FAQ before joining in on a newsgroup or discussion.
Again - not saying it's perfect, but maybe it's got the start of something workable in it?
destina came up with an excellent list of why some readers don't feedback, and zortified came up with some ideas about how to solve the problem with clearer communication on the part of the writers, but the question remains of whether or not the current climate is too muddled for such communication to work.What I'm wondering now is if we need to break the mold just a tad. IMO the "Feedback:" header in a story has become too corrupted to be useful. Either writers lie about what they want, or they become too demanding and readers are put off by it. I don't think there's any way we can (easily) save that header.
However, what if we created something else to help clarify our feedback desires? What I'm picturing here - and I'm open to suggestion - is something like a page on a writer's website which explains in detail their feedback wants/needs/feelings. Then this can become general information for any readers who are wondering (and curious enough to seek it out) without being this in-your-face "I demand feedback!" style requests.
Granted there would be bugs in the system - like the readers having to seek the information out and remembering it for each author - but if it became something of an "industry standard" so to speak it could become as much a habit (or strongly suggested habit) to check a writers' "Feedback" page as it is to check out a FAQ before joining in on a newsgroup or discussion.
Again - not saying it's perfect, but maybe it's got the start of something workable in it?
