Aug
28th
2014
Strange, Isn't It? · 1:36am Aug 28th, 2014
Why is it that whenever I write a story that has 20-something likes, there always seems to be that one person who downvotes it. Just one. Sometimes two. My question is why? They don't comment. The stories have nothing objectionable in them. What makes this random person downvote these stories, while twenty or more other people like it?
Just musing....
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Dream Bolt · 596 views
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Trolls who have no lives. That's who
Possibly people who object to you as a writer. Something that is fundamental to you as a writer that makes them dislike you as a writer?
Not to mention that 'while twenty or more other people like it' is not a valid argument against other people not liking it. I've seen stories with 1:2 Like:Dislike ratio with over 20 likes.
2452467 It's when they don't leave any comment as to why that kind of makes me wonder. And it's not the ratio factor either. It's usually just one or to people, regardless of how many likes, and they always come at the very beginning.
I do my best to keep very close to canon, and I don't stick in anything offensive. If they don't like my portrayal of the characters, I understand that. Leading the Herds or something which causes some debates on political matters and such I can understand. And I can understand not everypony likes crossovers. But only one person downvoted my original At the Mall story, compared to the 66 people who upvoted it. I just question what they didn't like that made that one person downvote it.
2454709 I enjoyed at the mall enough that I upvoted it, but I can see why someone might genuinely downvote that story without trolling. Perhaps they just weren't good at expressing themselves, and believed (perhaps wrongfully, perhaps rightfully) that giving badly worded advice that gives writers the wrong impression is worse than giving no advice at all?
(As to why I can see why it might be disliked - since you're no doubt curious as to how I can see someone disliked it - the story doesn't really have anything going on. Pinkie and Rarity are at the mall, doing nice and stupid stuff, generally enjoying themselves, and it's mostly just a series of antics without any plot. There's a heartwarming bit near the end, but it seems like most of the rest is just fluff. Well written fluff, and fluff that I found entertaining, but fluff that exists for the sake of itself nonetheless. And a number of people have an aversion against fluff, since there's no development or nothing learned on the part of either the characters or the audience. It can be perceived as a waste of time - of course, this is dependent on the audience, and most of your audience is happy with your fluffy stories, so advising you against writing fluffy stories is pointless).
The stories just aren't compatible with their tastes. It's nothing worth trying to figure out.