Darth Annihilator's general rules for reviewing stories

Okay, now I know that there's some debate as to what is considered a proper review: some authors would say that a review is something that helps their story improve as it goes on and thus only constructive criticism is allowed whereas some other authors like all kinds of reviews from ones that say things like "great story, please update" to ones that point out every grammatical error in the chapter and still other authors prefer mainly positive reviews. The point is, the requirements for a review change from author to author, so I'm going to state what I like to see in a review, what I find unacceptable and give a little advice that I got from a forum on Fanfiction.net for what could universally be considered as a "good review".

First of all, my requirements for a review/comment on my story or one of the chapters:
1) They must be phrased in a polite and comprehensible manner. Rudeness is annoying and often hurtful to the author, sometimes to the point where a few bad and rude reviews can be what stops an author from writing what could've been an excellent story, so if you have something to say about the author's spelling or what you think of the story, make sure you say it in a neutral or positive manner if possible.
Remember that the author has devoted their own time and energy to creating this story when they could've been doing something else, so nothing's worse for them than getting a review that says something like "Your story's absolute rubbish, you never should have written it in the first place!" when they're five-ten or more chapters in, not only is that demoralizing but it has no backing and no reasoning behind it making it totally unhelpful for improving the story; alternatively, something like "iloveyourstory,itsextremelywellwrittenandfunny" isn't helpful either because it's not easy for the author to read, so try and proofread your reviews please, just because it's easier for the author.

2) Any constructive criticism should ideally have evidence to support it. I'm not saying here that constructive criticism cannot be given without evidence e.g. a quote from the chapter, to support it, but it really helps the author fix the issue when they know what to look for. Here's an example of what I mean: "Your spelling, punctuation and grammar needs work." - now this is helpful because it makes the author aware that there's an issue with it but something like "Your spelling, punctuation and grammar needs work, I've noticed that you use "there" instead of "their" and "hear" instead of "here" and you particularly use "were" instead of "we're", these are the issues that stood out most to me but there could be more." is better because it identifies the problem that the author has and gives them an example to look for when correcting it or writing future chapters. Again, this is more of a personal preference rather than a necessity but I find that it really helps me fix errors in my story.

3) If you disagree with my writing on a plot point, please specify whether this is a personal issue or a canon issue. Right, again, this is more of a personal preference but one that I'd like to touch on nonetheless. The best way to explain this (in my opinion) is with an example: lets say you as a reader disagreed with me on me saying that it's canon that Alicorns are born in one of my stories and you wanted to let me know - a review just saying that "that's rubbish, Alicorns are made and not born. This is proven in Magical Mystery Cure when Twilight becomes an Alicorn" is more helpful to me as an author than something like "that's rubbish, Alicorns are made, not born" because I can check your source material and verify that this is true and then I can specify that my story is an AU rather than set in the canon universe. Alternatively, if you disagreed with me when I said something like "Twilight is one of the best Unicorns in Equestria" and you disagreed but it was a personal opinion, specifying that saves the author time that they might have spent looking for source material that proves your statement. As I said, this is a personal issue and a pretty minor one at that, so don't set too much stock by it.

4) Any feedback is appreciated. This is probably the most important of my points. As an author (though not one as good as some on this site like SaiyanUltima or Zamariac), I can tell you that it really gives us a boost when someone takes the time to read the story and comment on it or something similar, even a review as simple as "I liked your story, please update soon" can be extremely helpful to the author's drive to continue the story because they know that someone likes their story and liked it enough to give them a positive comment. Though, as I said earlier, please try to phrase them in at least a neutral manner - even if the story took a turn you didn't like - sending negative reviews can often damage an author's confidence and drive to continue the story, which is not fair on the readers who actually liked the story. So if you must comment on the story, try saying something like "I've followed this story for a while now but it's taken a turn that wasn't exactly my thing, so I'm not going to follow it as closely anymore but I wish you all the best with it in the future" instead of "I hate this piece of trash!".

Now some of those were obviously extreme examples but I'm hoping you get what I'm trying to say here and that this helps you with your reviewing in the future (assuming you've not gotten bored and left by now), so here's the guide for a good review from the Benaiah's Inn forum on Fanfiction.net (the original source can be found here: https://www.fanfiction.net/topic/160586/136703290/1/Caution-Reviews-in-Progress-READ-AND-SIGN-BEFORE-PLAYING#148479673):
Your review must be at least 150 words of helpful critique. This means your feedback on the story has to be more than "this was cool". Explain the reasons behind what you think or feel. Reviews often include topics such as:

Plot
Scenes
Writing
Characterization
Spelling
Grammar
Techniques
Setting
And much more!!!

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Right, if you're still here after reading all of my prattling and not getting TOO bored, I thank you for bearing with me and say you deserve a reward; so, you get an imaginary cookie and a picture of Spike with a moustache

Thanks for reading and Until next time,
Darth Annihilator - out.