I need to get this off my chest, I feel slighted

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Damn, I'm really sorry. I hope you didn't pay for that...I'd be mad too, if I waited 4 years just to get a garbage review.

This whole situation sounds kind of weird, though...why does this person bother keeping a 4-year-long waitlist if they're not going to take it seriously?? Why would anyone wait years for a review from someone who clearly can't be trusted to do decent work...?

I mean, I guess if they're not charging, you've got nothing to lose by throwing your name in the pot for them to look at eventually...but I dunno; I'd want to know who I'm dealing with before I give permission for something like that...

[skicoak]

Amateur reviewer with four-year waiting list?

Probably not going pro so they can compete in the Olympics.

[indagold]

Should just give your comic to be reviewed by friends or other comic artists... I mean it should be a red flag a reviewer takes 4 years to read a comic.

[puddle]

4 years? Wowie.. I can see why you'd feel hurt/slighted... and to not even get the "genre" right.. Wow

[darthmongoose]

It sounds like the reviewer didn't read the comic thoroughly enough to do a proper review, which sucks.

As somebody who does reviews, I always try to read the comic through as fully as I can, and sometimes that takes hours, but it's important to show that respect to the person who made the piece of work. They worked hard on it, after all, so even if it's rough around the edges, it shouldn't just be dismissed.
Sometimes I make mistakes because I'm only human and sometimes people's comics are long and complicated, but it's usually more like... you know, getting a character's name wrong... getting a bit confused about what a complex sequence of panels was trying to get across... you know, the kind of thing where maybe I wasn't quite paying close enough attention, but also maybe the creator wasn't quite clear enough in their storytelling and expected a lot from the reader. I don't think I've ever completely got a comic's genre incorrect, 'cause I at least always read them all the way through! Reviews are hard work but I think it's better to not do one at all than to half-ass it. The whole point is supposed to be to help the creator find areas to improve!

The four year waiting list I can sort of understand in a way. Anyone who has seen my review thread knows that I open for batches of around 5 at a time, and those slots all go within the space of a day, sometimes they're all gone within the space of around 4 hours. Then people who don't read the rules or pay proper attention still ask for reviews when it blatantly says "closed" on the thread title. I can't even imagine what the backlog might be like if I didn't close the submissions while reviewing. It's honestly pretty wild the reviewer kept to the commitment to review a comic that signed up 4 years ago. If I did that, I'd probably find a significant number of comics on the list had long gone dormant by the time I got to them.

Anyway, you don't have to take me up on this, @Hot_Coffee but when I start my new review thread, if you would like to be put at the top of the waiting list for a review, I will happily oblige, because it sounds like this experience kinda sucked.

[StrangeVision]

Cool, i'd be interested in that! The comic will probably be done as well, so you'd have the full thing to cover.

[StrangeVision]

Thanks, I appreciate it. Actually i'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the entire comic once it's completed next monday. Both barrels, as they say.

[skicoak]

Actually i'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the entire comic once it's completed next monday. Both barrels, as they say.

Roger that.

I will try to dig up my note from the contest and work from there. I subscribed at that time so I am fully up to date.

[rajillustration]

oh, that's really frustrating. It sounds like a review you could just give to anyone, youknow? like "work on your art by reading comics" is a very non-answer. Everyone's reading comics, and that's the advice you'd give to someone JUST starting out. To someone who's been doing this for years? ...man...And getting the genre wrong? Man that sucks. Sorry you had to go through that, it's totally fine to vent about it. I'd be pissed, too.

[Iris-Grimoire]

There are people that don't, but those are like starting out with a very small reference pool, or reading sprite comics (which have valuable info, but have a hard ceiling because it's limited to one, two angles). Going up to someone who's clearly doing serious work and acting like they're doing a half-baked fanfic is... Really disrespectful.

Also, a 4 year waitlist? I'd have given up on that already and paid someone, even if just a little bit for a quick read. Free starts being in quotation marks once they're asking you to wait through art improvements, writing improvements, self discovery, etc and disregard all of it as if you never left 2016.

[darthmongoose]

Cool, i'd be interested in that! The comic will probably be done as well, so you'd have the full thing to cover.

I'll bookmark this thread and tag you when I start the new one so you can take a slot if you want it

[amortelito]

Honestly, many people who think they are critics are literally self-righteous sh*t talkers. I can't find another word to describe what they do. some people think that the more negative they are, the more they expect to be perceived as "honest" or that they have "high standards" and they are too smart for you to please.

I think that no serious artist expect a "review" that is about praising them or just pointing out how good they are, we don't expect a destructive rant either. Especially if the criticism that doesn't even fit what the comic is about.

As a side note, I am not interested in anyone's review for now because I'm making the comic for myself and if anyone else likes it and gets invested in the story I am totally willing to listen to their petitions and criticism. (LOL my readers know that I love making them happy). But for now, I see no point in having the opinion of somebody who is not even interested in my work, in which I spend so many hours working to release for free.

[AVXP]

Not to be that guy...
AND IN THIS CASE, HOW COULD YOU KNOW?

But, the point of a review is not for YOU to use or react or take heed or ..accept as advice or whatever...
A peer review is to help you improve your book.
An editor and, and mentor and...and....that's their role.

A review is supposed to get THEIR audience (new readers) to check out (or skip) your work.
In other words, you don't get a critic to tell you how good (or bad) your stuff is.

They are not even talking to you.
They are speaking to a potential audience.

If a "critic" is "talking to you" - they are not a critic.
They are a fan sharing their opinion. lol
Critics talk about you.
Peers talk with you.
Fans speak for you.
Mentors speak to you.

If ANYWHERE there was advice (as you said) that was a peer review.
And I use peer because most of those giving feedback have comics (or want to) have comics of their own.
There's a huge difference.

*Most people sharing feedback on here are doing peer reviews, which usually amounts to "I would have" ...

Technical jabs, alone, are a thing and should always be paid attention to....
Also, on anyone's end, as a person submitting things for a "review" - are any of you taking the time to read their other reviews or at least their other posts to gauge what kind of insight this person has?

Are we asking a person with a terrible work ethic and comic (or no comic) to pass a serious judgement on our work?
Why or how could they? Really?

I know there's a huge thirst for attention "Somebody please read and like my stuff" but at some point we need to evaluate the evaluators. And that's no insult to all those who keep making threads promising to read comics and give feedback....

But there's an actual way to write reviews and be a critic.
Just because you claim to be doing a thing does not mean you are doing it.

I knew that was not a real review- from just how you felt about it.
That was a dismissal - something that a disengaged fan would do.

Sorry that happened to you.
Shake it off and kick azz.
Sounds like you are ready to do that - after you vented.
Well done.

[Lillumae]

My first impression to your post was thinking that I can't imagine most people would be up to the task of reading four year's worth of content and then writing hours long in depth reviews, after examining the notes they took a long the way. That's like a full time job. I'm not sure if there's some sort of standard episode/chapter/page limit most people are willing to read up to, but I wouldn't go into it assuming to have everything read. And I know you didn't want "first impressions," but if there's no set perimeters established--again, I wouldn't expect anything more.

I ended up finding both the review in question, as well as the original thread here. And it does look like there were no information or even any real promises listed at all, aside from (take it how you will) writing about what they felt needed improvement. No promise to read it in full. No promise to even answer the questions you wanted.

That being said, I understand your frustrations about the whole ordeal. The review, as you said isn't even a review on anything. It's not even a review or critique on the art, but rather reads as some shopping list curated by someone who is trying to establish themselves as an authority in the art world.

So I suppose that they did read enough of your work--none--if they got enough content at the start with your art to find something that needs improving. The only problem is that, yeah, I'm pretty sure you know where you're at in terms of art and so any comment regarding that only repeats information you most likely already know. The same applies for their reccomendations, which are just reitterations of the top reccomendations on any art blog/forum/website/video, etc. So unless you can offer some tailored art advice, it shouldn't have so much of a mention.

If you haven't, already, though, please look at the other content on their blog. I do feel a lot of it really does a good job at illustrating the type of content they put out, which appears to be in line with the type of review you received.

It's unfortunate after waiting so long with higher expectations, but I hope that you can detach yourself from it, because it in no way reflects on your work.

[AVXP]

You found the "review"? Where, um how?
I'd like to see it, myself.

[carloswebcomic]

Call me crazy, but a review of a free comic is like putting wheels on a tomato.
Utterly pointless.
Really, why is this person's opinion of any importance?
If I cared what reviewers said about my comic, I would've packed up and left long ago.
I only care what my readers think, not some random guy that thinks his/her word has any bearing on reality.

Reviewers can suck a dick, specially ones that review subjective material which is free to read and anyone can go and see for themselves.

[Lillumae]

I don't want to link it, out of respect that the author didn't post it, but if you're curious, you might have better luck finding it on google than the forums and then searching the blog name to find the forum post.

I'm not sure if comments are enabled on the blog or not, but if you find it, I think it's best to just read it for the sake of clarity and leave it at that.

@carloswebcomic I think what people are looking for in a review is honest and unbiased feedback from people who are seperate from established readers.

Readers read because they already like it or have some sort of connection that might create bias or a tendency to overlook certain elements. I would liken the concept of a review to that of an art critique, which even if delivered by someone outside the profession, will provide insight into what others might think and the impact, reach, and effectiveness in your work. So the goal for most, I'd imagine, would be for improvement.

[AVXP]

Really, why is this person's opinion of any importance?

To drive traffic to your title. If they have an established base of readers, it's them that reads the review and gets curious.
The point of a review is that the reviewer sees way more content and only recommends the good stuff.
So the reader doesn't have to sift through the 3,000 webcomics to find a good one.

Free webcomics bring free readers.
You get more leeway when it's free but nobody wants to waste their time so an entity pointing the herd in the right direction is helpful.

I did see it and ouch, but the analysis is still the same. The reviewer dropped down to a "talking to an amateur" level and suggested fixes.

It seems to have suggested fundamental fixes and really ragged on the basic issues.
Rough read, but the good news is- even bad reviews generate traffic.

People want to see the car wreck and almost always say "It isn't as bad as they made it seem."

[darthmongoose]

Reviewers can suck a dick, specially ones that review subjective material which is free to read and anyone can go and see for themselves.

It's a good job we reviewers are all robots and don't have feelings. We definitely spend hours reading people's comics at their request for free to give people advice in order to feel superior and show off how smart we are. All of us are total assholes, and telling us to suck dicks definitely doesn't make us feel upset at all, because as mentioned, we are robots. And also evil.

Definitely.... don't feel upset or insulted by that at all. Nope. Totally evil robot over here.

[carloswebcomic]

It's a good job we reviewers are all robots and don't have feelings. We definitely spend hours reading people's comics at their request for free to give people advice in order to feel superior and show off how smart we are. All of us are total assholes, and telling us to suck dicks definitely doesn't make us feel upset at all, because as mentioned, we are robots. And also evil.

Definitely.... don't feel upset or insulted by that at all. Nope. Totally evil robot over here.

Okay, reviewers can suck a dick except you then.