• Member Since 19th Jan, 2015
  • offline last seen 7 hours ago

Meep the Changeling


Channeling insanity into entertaining tales since 2015-01-19.

More Blog Posts518

  • 20 weeks
    New Story out now!

    Hey everyone! Remember that thing I said I'd be doing a while back? Well... Here it is!

    TEvergreen Falls
    A group of mares in a remote Equestrian town uncover some of history's most ancient secrets.
    Meep the Changeling · 218k words  ·  26  0 · 438 views
    0 comments · 98 views
  • 28 weeks
    Hey guys! What's new?

    So, I haven't been here in a good long while. I got the writing itch a while back, specifically for ponies and my old Betaverse fics. I might have something in the pipeline. I've got a few questions I'd like to ask the general pony-reading audience if you don't mind. Just so I can see if my writing style should be tweaked a bit for the modern audience.

    Read More

    15 comments · 330 views
  • 100 weeks
    Stardrop's Lackluster Ending

    Hello everyone. I know I've been away for a while, but that's due to me deciding to finish stories before I post them to revise, edit, and alter them to give you all better stories to read. I don't feel free to do so when I post stories live. This results in me getting frustrated with how a story is shaping up and then dropping it. That wasn't a problem when I was younger, but it's become one as

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    17 comments · 763 views
  • 105 weeks
    Anyone know artists who do illistrations for stories?

    I'm low key working on a story which I intend to complete before posting. I'm enjoying being able to go back and improve, tweak, and change things to make the best possible version of the story, and it's nice to not feel like I am bound to a strict schedule of uploads.

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    4 comments · 283 views
  • 127 weeks
    A metatextual analisis of "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified" to show how it fits in the series timelines

    A lot of people like the rebooted XCOM series, and a lot of people also insist its lore is bad/nonexistent. This isn't true in my opinion, but is the product of the game that sets up the world for the series having been released a year after the first game in the series as a prequel, and also it sucks ass to play. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is not a good game. At all. The story is really good,

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    18 comments · 450 views
Aug
28th
2018

Dislikes, Comments, and Trolls · 10:59pm Aug 28th, 2018

It occurs to me that this video is very much applicable anywhere online. I recommend giving it a watch.

Report Meep the Changeling · 329 views ·
Comments ( 6 )
Comment posted by Sanitizer deleted Aug 28th, 2018

I always feel a twinge of sadness when someone dislikes one of my stories. They're free to dislike it, and I don't hate them for not liking it, but I often wonder why because few people respond with any kind of feedback when they dislike the story. I think something worse than a dislike is plain apathy. If someone doesn't care about what I did, I feel like I failed. I remember being an overachiever when I was in school. Getting a B on my test wasn't acceptable. An A- was barely tolerable. Life after school has been one massive failure after another, coupled with an "incomplete," so my stories become my escape.

Still, I can handle dislikes as long as people aren't awful about it. Like what was said in the video, someone saying "I... didn't really like it." Okay, I can deal with that, even though I'd clearly like to know more, but then there's the "I hope you die and burn, you <insert slur here>" people, and they are trolls (at least I hope they are, because otherwise... eek). It's easier to tell a troll in a comments section, but much harder when they only leave a "dislike." I've seen dislikes on stories that have been out for 3 minutes, and you just know those are trolls who dislike a particular author, or just want to push back against a story that looks like it's going to become very popular very quickly.

Still, all of this is a microcosm in the grand scheme of things, a tempest in a teapot. It still hurts a little, though.

4927427 I absolutely agree with you. I for one always explain why I have disliked a story. It's just courtesy. Even if the reason is stupid to others, you should explain why you dislike something so the author can try and improve. Now of course, there's no accounting for taste. If the dislike is for "I dislike character x", there's nothing to be done or be sad about. But if the dislike is for say "You keep comma splicing and it drove me insane, dislike!" Then while rudely worded, that at least offers a writer something to focus on.

If someone doesn't care about what I did, I feel like I failed.
Oh man, tell me about it... I feel I have failed the audience if my like dislike ratio drops below 90%. Which is why I shared this. We as authors need to be less sensitive about this kind of thing over all. My stories are my only source of personal pride and satisfaction.

I've seen dislikes on stories that have been out for 3 minutes,

I did once, and I disliked it too. Because holy SHIT was that the single most racist thing I have ever seen in my life. TLDR, story with a cover of a human dude in blackface, with a racial slur in the title, about a civil war era characracture of a black slave haunting Twilight in a very rapy way.

99.999999% of stories are not stuff like that soooo, yeah.

4927444 -

I absolutely agree with you. I for one always explain why I have disliked a story. It's just courtesy. Even if the reason is stupid to others, you should explain why you dislike something so the author can try and improve. Now of course, there's no accounting for taste. If the dislike is for "I dislike character x", there's nothing to be done or be sad about. But if the dislike is for say "You keep comma splicing and it drove me insane, dislike!" Then while rudely worded, that at least offers a writer something to focus on.

True. I had one reader dislike my story because they felt my prose was "too flowery." Well, my prose is flowery, it's the way I like to write, so I have to accept that there are people who do not like that kind of writing. I apologized and told them I would keep other options open in the future, but that flowery was the way I preferred to write. That one was fine, because the reader gave me their reasoning. I knew I didn't fail, just that my story wasn't to their liking for its style. I can live with that.

Other comments regarding punctuation and grammar are most welcome, though, because I can't fix problems if I don't know they exist.

Conversely, I have downvoted stories, but I leave a reason. One story I disliked because the content was just way too violent, and this was back when Fimfiction was still working out the tags system, so it wasn't as capable of content warning as it is now, and I did not like the violence and gore, and made my displeasure known. I wasn't against the author, just the story.

Oh man, tell me about it... I feel I have failed the audience if my like dislike ratio drops below 90%. Which is why I shared this. We as authors need to be less sensitive about this kind of thing over all. My stories are my only source of personal pride and satisfaction.

Agreed. I like to tell myself that I could have 100 dislikes and 1 like, and I would still be happy but that's kind of stretching it. I would be happy to have pleased one reader, but that 1 up against 100 would be awfully painful.

I did once, and I disliked it too. Because holy SHIT was that the single most racist thing I have ever seen in my life. TLDR, story with a cover of a human dude in blackface, with a racial slur in the title, about a civil war era characracture of a black slave haunting Twilight in a very rapy way.

99.999999% of stories are not stuff like that soooo, yeah.

Oh, yes, that would be an exception. I generally speak of stories that are four or five thousand words, where there simply isn't enough time to read the content in order to leave a like or dislike. I would most definitely downvote something that racist, too, though. *yikes*

4927449

generally speak of stories that are four or five thousand words, where there simply isn't enough time to read the content in order to leave a like or dislike.

You know, it wouldn't be too hard to program the site so users have to open a story's first chapter and scroll to th ebottem of the content before they can like/dislike it... Sure that's still abuseable but it requires the content be at least OPENED.

4927606 - That would be an improvement, I think.

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