More or less. Reparable things like typos, punctuation errors, typography, or presentation errors (spacing, non-appearance of images, etc.) should not be mentioned in public comments because that would necessitate an admin removing the comment after the fault is fixed. You wouldn't paint a sign on the forehead of someone's baby saying, "Stinky diaper!" when a whispered word to a caregiver would be much more appreciated.
Also, nitpicky points of word usage, details of history or science, or criticism of the inferred political or religious views of the author or other commenters are not appropriate topics for a comment attached to the story.
And, statements like, "I didn't like this story because it's a crossdressing story," or "I don't like science fiction" or "Magic doesn't really exist, you know?" are not appropriate either.
Any comments containing any of the things above might be removed by a moderator subject to referral to an admin. The original poster of the comment may or may not get a PM as to what happened to their comment.
Comments that are deemed unfriendly to the author or to other readers may also be removed and in this case, repeated infractions of the "keep BC a friendly place" guideline are considered violations of the terms of service and may result in account suspension. In more than six years, this has happened less than half a dozen times.
These rules apply not only to BC but also to Stardust, Fictioneer and OtherWorlds.
Hugs,
Erin
Quite right too
There are stories that I abandon or don't read for a number of reasons. Real life is increasingly intrusive.
As my old Dad used to say; "If you've nothing useful to say, don't say it."
And always remember that, unless otherwise stated, everything you read on these sites is FICTION.
S.
comments are life blood
It's simple really. Authors write a story and hope for some acknowledgement. Positive hopefully, but not essentially. Polite critique is good too. Polite being the operative word. I've seen comments to the effect that 'if I don't say nicey nice it's sneered at'. Not true, I have just lately within a generally positive comment taken issue with some parts of a story, two in fact by the same author in a case in point. Both times she responded and even if she didn't totally agree with me she did see my reasoning.
So be polite, question, argue, criticise, just don't be aggressive about it, authors can be delicate. Gently.
Oh and for those that feel old stories don't need a comment. Take it from me personally, if not as a rule, oldies need feeding maybe more than the two or three days they get as babies. A comment weeks, months or years later means something more, trust me on that. It's so bloody rare it's like finding an extinct animal alive and kicking. Life, see comment title.
Just be nice.
Kristina