I got my first dislike on Horseshoes today. I thought, "Okay. Some peeps don't like this kind of stuff, I get that. Part of being a writer, know your readers, and so on." But then I mulled it over in my head more, and I thought, "$%@& you, stranger."

I wouldn't have minded it if the guy/girl/dinosaur explained why the story didn't appeal to him/her/rawr. But it was a downvote-and-run, basically. That's just inconsiderate, if you ask me. If you don't like a story, write a detailed comment why. I find that infinitely preferable to just belching your disdain on something you don't like for some reason, at some time, regarding some part or some character/event/pterodactyl. Dislike + no comment = random bird flip to the author. If a dinosaur doesn't like my story but isn't bothered to say what they didn't like...then I have no obligation to rawr. If you don't care, then why should I care?

The thing is...I don't think a story should be Disliked OR Liked until it's finished. I appreciate the latter when it happens, don't get me wrong, but what if it turns out the ending is terrible? Or what if a slow or unbearable story turns around and becomes awesome with the next update? It's a risk to do things like that. My other story got over twenty likes and favorites in two days, and it makes sense more than anything else because it's finished. People read it, and they get the point. Horseshoes...it's not that simple. People will either get sucked into it or find something softer, like...my other story. That's part of why I wrote it XD

(That, and it was a little fantasy I had for a while, but that's neither here nor there.)

So let me make this blog post useful to you guys. It's okay to tell me something you don't like about the story. I KNOW Horseshoes has problems; it's obvious, frankly. And I know Who Needs to Talk? could be better. But you know? I don't want to edit anything unless my readers believe it could be better or simply want it to be more than it is. If I see something I personally want to change in the story, then I'll make those changes for myself. I want readers to speak up if they want something to change officially. Otherwise, what they see is what they get. I am capable of making effective changes; I've done it before! Just speak up and I'll do my damnedest to listen to you. If I disagree with you, then I promise it will be for detailed reasons, even if they're wrong XD. We can discuss it, but either way I will try to make some kind of change, because you made it clear to me that the story could be better.

Random dislike, though? Screw it. I have nothing to work with there. I could change the font color, and that might be the pterodactyl the girl didn't like. Well-informed calls for change take long enough for me to process as it is.

So...whaddya say? Is this just a standard rant, or does it need more to it? Either way...you can tell me. It's okay XD