Saturday, October 15, 2011

Saturday Discussion (2): Commenting on Negative Reviews



This is a weekly event hosted by my Big Sis Amber at Down the Rabbit Hole.  This event is to highlight fun things to discuss about blogging, reading, or life.

This week’s discussion topic is:
Do you comment on negative reviews?

To be honest, I don’t usually comment on many reviews whether they’re positive or negative, simply because I don’t read many reviews unless I’ve already read the book.  I look at reviews for the rating to see in general if the person liked or disliked the book.  If I don’t plan on reading the book being reviewed then I’ll actually read the review but I like to stay in the dark about everything to do with a book if I’m going to read it.  I generally don't like spoilers, and as much as everyone says "spoiler-free" reviews, for me, no matter what is said, there's always some sort of spoiler, even if it's a general one about the storyline. I like to experience the books myself, without anyone else's opinion going through my head while I read. 

If I read the full review, I usually tend to leave a comment because it lets the blogger know that people are reading the reviews, and it gets discussions going if there is a disagreement about why a book is liked/disliked.  Comments are fun to receive as a blogger (on essentially any post, but especially on reviews since that's what most blogs like to highlight), and they're fun to give because the more you talk to other bloggers through comments, the more blogger friends you get) :)

I don’t think I’ve ever commented on a review because I disagreed with the fact that it was a negative review.  But if I look at the star rating of a book (good or bad star ratings) and plan to read the book sometime down the road, I tend to bookmark the blog’s review as one to come back to after I have read the book to see if I agreed with the review or not, that’s when I’ll usually comment.

Like Amber, if I haven’t read the book yet and don’t plan to, I will usually comment that it was a shame the reader couldn’t get into the book.  And I absolutely agree that writing negative reviews and commenting on them should be done in a respectful manner.  I wouldn’t appreciate someone trash talking me or something I worked hard on, so I wouldn’t do it to an author who tends to spend years on the books they write. 

Do you comment on negative reviews? 

1 comment:

  1. You make some good points. I like that you'll bookmark the review and go back to it. Thanks for sharing little sis!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! They make me super happy, I read all of them and try to respond to most of them!

This is now an award free blog, I'm super flattered to be chosen for awards, but I can't find time to complete the requirements to pass them on. Thanks!