I am seriously disappointed · 3:43pm Apr 27th, 2013
I'm not going to point any fingers, but some of the stories that get featured on this site do not deserve it. Not because the authors are bad people, not because the story has a bad plot, not because of anything like that. It's because some of these things have terrible spelling, grammar, and formatting. Even that would be forgivable, though, if it weren't for the fact that these authors don't even try to get it right or do anything to fix it.
One of the stories in the featured box as I write this has terrible grammar and spelling. Once upon a time, when dinosaurs still ruled the Earth and I would read anything, I offered to edit that story. I said I would find all the grammar and spelling errors I could, then fix them. The author of that story said that he "Doesn't think those things matter". Now, a bajillion and seven years later, that story is still flopping around the featured box almost every time it gets a new update, like that one bad song that you finally get out of your head, only to hear it on the radio and get it stuck there again.
It's okay not to be good at grammar. It's okay not to know how to spell a lot of words. I'm not going to scream at you, or hate on you, or anything like that.
It's not okay to publish a story you know isn't as good as it can be.
Now, I know what you're thinking. "But Cluelessbrony, I've been following you ever since you changed your name from that other one that was a bitch to type every day! You post a lot of stories that you delete afterwords! Stop being such a hypocrite!"
The difference is that at the point of publishing, I thought they were good. I was completely and utterly wrong, but that's beside the point.
Tl;dr version- Get an editor. Don't be an ass who thinks they're entitled to a feature slot even though they don't put their all into their work.
Let also not forget that almost everyday there's a new clopfic there as well....
1037770
I'm not getting into that. If people want to write that stuff, fine by me. I just want them to have a separate feature box or something.
I wouldn't say an editor's necessary... heck, the hogwash I come up with doesn't go through an editor first! But I do appreciate what you're saying, some folks generally don't polish their wares as much as they could and (in most cases) rely on shipping to get them places.
1037775 Oh yeah that's a great idea.
That way, you can go straight to those, instead of having them mixed in with the other stuff.
The feature box is a terrible thing, that seemingly zeroes in on the worst of this sites fanfics and displays them for all to see.
It is a joyous day when there's something there that doesn't make me lose faith in bronies.
Either the fanfic is objectively terrible and poorly written, or it's a god-awful fetish fic.
So many of them need to be purged.
With FIRE!
i862.photobucket.com/albums/ab187/TomasRichards/Gifs/Brahmastra_zpsd6f7807c.gif
1037834 Most likely.
Almost half of the fics in Featured are ships. Usually ones like AppleDash (which I hate) and TwiDash
1037770
Nothing wrong with that. The subject matter isn't what makes a story worthy or unworthy of being noticed, it's how it's written. And there are a number of very well-written clopfics/stories with clop in them, thank you. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's a bad story and should be shunned.
1037775
Not a bad idea practically-speaking, but sets a potentially bad precedent. That aside...
When you offered to proofread this story that flops around the box each time it updates... did the author rustle around in his pocket and find no fucks to give? /poke of curiosity
1038702 Well, what I meant is that, while clop is a part of the fandom I dislike, I do still find it annoying that many of them (regardless of quality) get featured.
The best thing to do would be to give them their own feature box. That way, if a clop fic is worthy of feature, it can go there AND to the main feature box.
1038702
He acknowledged that there were many problems with the story, but said he would leave them as-is because he didn't want to go back an fix them. I'm not sure why, but my guess is he was either lazy or had a person holding a gun to his head and demanding his story be mediocre.
1039023
I was actually sort of prodding for a down-low clue-in as to the identity of it. But regardless, that's pretty bad. It's one thing to not realize you have problems writing, that goes away with time.
It's quite another to KNOW you have problems and not care enough to fix it if you're going to be even half-way serious about what you're doing.
1039542
I'm not going to give you any clues as to which story it is. That would be rude.