I've been wandering through the library of stories for the last week or so. I haven't posted any reviews for several reasons, which brings me to the reason for this post.

Is it proper to review a story if it isn't to one's taste? I've contributed a few stories so far, stories targeted to a very narrow audience. The reviews have been positive, and I certainly appreciate the comments, but it makes me wonder at how many started to read and gave up, out of boredom, disgust, or whatever.

That's why I haven't posted any reviews. I try to judge by the story codes which ones to look at. Even so I haven't found anything to my taste (admittedly the sample size has been very small so far). Would a review based on my negative experience be of any value?

My first thought was no, it would be of no value to those who do prefer that type of story, and it might discourage the author from writing again. The problem is, there are no objective standards on which to judge the stories in the library. Not everyone is a polished author with a literary degree. Nor is everyone a native speaker in English (yes it does show, no matter how many years of English class in school). The subject matter isn't always to my taste either.

But none of those problems are enough to criticize a story. I'm a firm believer in encouraging everyone to put words on electronic paper, regardless of how well the story goes together. This is an amateur site, a place where we can all give it a try. and we all want to know what others think of the effort, but this brings me back to the original question.

What form should a review take? Should the story be judged on how well it captures the reader's interest, or if the characters are interesting, or if the author's imagination has a unique twist?

What about the negatives? A few minutes ago I had to give up on one story because the grammar in the narrative was so bad the story was unreadable. It would never pass the "read it out loud" test. But I don't want to discourage a first attempt (if it was that, I didn't check). So what should I post? "Needs editing?" or something like that? Fine, but it doesn't address the story content. Or should I skip it?

My choice was to skip it. On an amateur site everyone gets to see the slushpile; so be it. I do have one suggestion though. For all those who don't want/like to write, ever consider volunteering as editor if someone asks for help? Or perhaps the review could include separate ratings for content and editing?
Jack Peacock