Oh, dear. I was kind of afraid of this (which is why I've been hiding these posts on tiny comms in the past).

I really, truly am not trying to attack anyone in my rants. If you read through them, you'll see I'm careful to emphasize that what I don't like in each story is my personal opinion. I'm not saying the stories are bad, I'm just point out which parts of the story don't work for me. I'm also making an effort to include what *does* work for me (and, in fact, have apparently been so successful that folks are reading the stories *because* of what I wrote in my not-recs).

Right now the state of fandom is so delicate that constructive criticism (which is what my rants are) is considered flaming, which is why I'm not sending any of this feedback to authors directly. This way they can choose whether or not they want to read my thoughts on their fic.

(And I guess I should note that I would totally pay people to write posts like this for me. That was what finally gave me the push to create this comm, the knowledge that some authors really do want to know what folks didn't like about their stories. Sometimes negative feedback is the most helpful.)

Fair enough:) I will say that when I posted these in (admittedly smaller venues), not only did they not spawn any negativity (or wanking, which I was really worried about), but they actually seemed to prompt readers to try stories that they wouldn't have before (since the aspects that didn't work for me worked for them). Of course, I'm focusing on the positives, but I'll also be doing everything in my power to keep the comm civil (including a zero tolerance policy for flames/trolls/wank/etc.) If it doesn't work, it doesn't work and we shut the place down, but I'm hopeful that it will work out well.

Thanks for commenting!

Hm... I personal take on these rants is that they are not really criticisms, but more like 'this is a good story, I'll tell you why it didn't work for me, but hey, it might work for you'. Frankly, I wouldn't even bother writing a public review for a BAD story that I didn't like at all.

I've read a lot of Jane's rants before and ended up liking most of the stories she didn't. She and I just have very different tastes, and I think the same can be said for the rest of the fandom. One of the reasons why I pushed Jane to start this comm is that it would be a shame not to 'review' some of the greatest stories in fandom just because of personal quirks/kinks.

Thank you:)

Welcome! I hope you enjoy the rants:)