Cheryl’s Comments (group member since Jul 30, 2011)

Cheryl’s comments from the More than Just a Rating group.

We're doing well, and I'm almost ready to 'go public' (use the Feedback group topic to ask that we be listed as a Featured Group). When that happens, we'll probably get a bunch of new members, and hopefully even more activity. So, I should recruit a back-up moderator.

If you're interested in helping to make newbies feel welcome, (and in filling in for me if I'm offline or ill), please send me a PM telling me how you want to help. Thanks!

Yes Tammy please do.

I can empathize with you Karen about emotional reviews. "Oh this book made me cry!" doesn't tell me much - I can't help but feel prickled into asking "Why??" Ok, so, if they blow their nose and go on to explain why, then it's ok.

Just my personal opinion - as always if one of you reading this thread writes emotional reviews please don't feel admonished! You-all write what you want, and remember that any review is better than just a rating! :)

Thank goodness for all the community reviews to help us decide, at whatever point we're losing interest, whether to give it a few more pp or give up!

heh

I don't like it all. Books vary in length so much - I try to give 15 to 20%, or more if the reviews hint of a slow or odd start. Anything arbitrary or fixed is suspect.

heh-heh :)

I'm sure. But some of us are way far behind in all this tech stuff - I'm lucky I have an idea what a blog even is!

This is the explanation added by GR member M. Lori for adding links that self-identify. I keep trying to learn it, so let's see if I can use this:

In the html string below you put the url of the page you want to link to in between the quotes. In between the > and < you type what you want to appear as the link.



my review of Half Brother

My husband often reads series out of order and really appreciates it when people avoid giving spoilers. Tammy's idea of putting a warning at the top of the reveiw is a good one.

good point - thanks

The only time I had an author come in and talk to me, it was because I'd wondered about something specific in my review. ("I wonder why the author gave that behavior to that character.") The author sent me a PM to explain his choice. It made so much sense to me I revised my review and gave the book another star. Then I PM'd the author back and told him that and he said that he didn't mean for me to think about that but just wanted to explain his choice.

So anyway, I think it made a difference that a) I practically invited him and b) he sent me a PM instead of a comment.

In your situation, Tammy, I'd ignore her. Just take it as 'no harm no foul' for now. If the behavior persists, or another author does something more squicky, then you can do a few different things.

The easiest thing to do is just delete the comment, if you feel the need to. It's considered your review, so comments made to it are yours, effectively, too.

I, personally, am not terribly bothered by most authors' efforts.

Those publisher's 'bait-and-switch' blurbs are so annoying. I really appreciate it when an actual regular reader gives me a more strait-forward snyopsis.

But the re-telling with editorial annotation sounds like fun, too!

Welcome Martha! We've got just the thread for you - "if you could tell a beginner just *one* encouraging thing..." in the "tips" folder.

Hi Sashana! Welcome!

Maybe this would be a good time to give a little spiel to you and to everyone:

I've tried to make this whole group a comfortable place to learn and share. And I'm getting lots of help from all you wonderful folks! Feel free to read existing threads, or to start your own discussions.

I hope it's easy for everyone to find their way around in the group, but if you have any navigation questions you can ask them in the 'off-topic stuff' topic in this folder.

Tx - I'm glad I'm not the only one who can admit to being squeamish about some things. ;)

I totally 'like' reviews that warn me about the Yuck Factor. As I said in another topic, I do not read thrillers, horror, Oprah picks, because I do not like reading about stuff like rape, child abuse, alcoholism. But lots of Literature and science-fiction also has that kind of stuff. So, I'm very grateful when reviewers warn me about Yucky Nasty stuff!

Yes, very few books are going to get all the same(ish) ratings from everyone. I'm hoping that we in this group help each other to write helpful reviews that say a little bit about *why* we rated a book the way we did.

One of the reasons I read reviews of adult books is to try to learn about the Yuck Factor. I do not read thrillers, horror, Oprah picks, because I do not like reading about stuff like rape, child abuse, alcoholism. But lots of Literature and science-fiction also has that kind of stuff. So, I'm very grateful when reviewers warn me about Yucky Nasty stuff!

Welcome more new members Ella and Sandi! I'm so excited we'll have enough members for quite a diversity of viewpoints!

Dawn, msg 3, external links refers to a different discussion thread topic in this group. It's not very active, so sometimes you have to click 'more' from the front page to see it.