To My Friends In WritersCafe.org ~

A letter to you...

To My Friends In WritersCafe.org ~

 

To be a friend, is to be honest. If I say something to you, it is for you alone. I don't say the same things to everyone in the Cafe. I give honest reviews, with tact. If I review you, know that my review is authentic, not copied and pasted, or filled with false flattery. False flattery is lies, and quite frankly, I have more respect for my friends than that. We are here to learn from each other, and lying is not conducive to the learning process.

 

Ratings and badges in the Cafe mean nothing to me. I do not review, to get reviews. I do not give high ratings, to get high ratings. In fact, I have turned that feature off on my writings. I am inconsistent with my activity in the Cafe, and disappear at times. This does not mean I do not respect my Cafe friends, it means that I respect my home life and for whatever reason, it demands more of me at any given time. I have five children and they take precedence.   

 

I believe in constructive criticism, and welcome it. Constructive criticism does not consist of negativity. I can point out an error in grammar or something I do not understand, without belittling the reviewed. Constructive is defined as: a positive building up process. I do value the reviewed's feelings and if I hurt them in any way, please let me know. I am not here to judge, or be judged, I am here to learn and sometimes, teach. I do not respond to negativity, it is unworthy of my attention. Any person who comes off as negative, will be ignored completely.

 

Every writer here, is important in my eyes...

 

God bless you all...

 

Imogean~    

Reviews

[R J Askew]

It's tricky isn't it...the balance between saying what we honestly feel and not wanting to offend or hurt in any way. Yet to flatter falsely is terrible. But some people are more sensitve than others in the nature of things. But from what you say I think you are a very honest reviwer and that is of vital importance here. The points system dilutes the reviewing process as many people are tempted to review positively merely to encourage others to do the same to them.

[THERISA]

A More honest opinion has never been utter than this:

Every writer here, is important

Wish more people would follow this philosophy when looking at someone else's posting. Thank you for reminding us this.

Therisa

[Blackbirdsong]

Well except for one seemingly wounded individual its seems that I'm not the only one who is saying bravo to this. I think the problem with many is not that they don't understand what constructive criticism is as much as not wanting to receive anything less than that everything they write is brilliant and beyond any sort of criticism at all. Its as if they want the cafe to serve as some sort of giant refrigerator door and we are supposed to be their pseudo mommies and daddies and tell them how wonderful they are.

To hell with that...I love everything you wrote here and agree 100%.

[Writer CW Kirkland]

Great letter to the Cafe members. You reviewed a piece of my writing, and I thought it was appropriate, honest, and genuine. Thank you for being a valuable member on the Cafe.

[Imperfection]

We are here to learn...
That single sentence sums up about everything.

Sadly, a few people don't agree with it. That's what has caused some of the recent problems here.
I'm glad you wrote this. I wish it changes some things here.

[THE BLACK SEAL]

that is well stated and i feel that sometimes i have to use kiddie gloves. i will be happy to give you some honest reviews later, but without trying to be flattering i would like to thank you for bringing this up

[Just Manoosh]

Honesty is a great gift ....... thank f*ck for that honey. Mx