Negative Feedback

I agree that "I don't like this story" shouldn't be given as feedback. But I still think that negative feedback is probably the best feedback as long it is constructive. Sure it is no ego boost but it helps one to improve.
In a story you can't really complain on the setting, characters or plot since that's really the authors core idea. But comment on pace, descriptions, grammar and such things that you feel could improve the story is only beneficial for the author so he can create a better story next time.
But that also depends on what the author wants to achieve with his story; personal gratification? Readers enjoyment? There might be as many reasons why someone writes a story as there are authors.

I have done some pictures that I uploaded online and remember waiting for feedback that praised me, and it felt good the few that came but it was the constructive comments that made me want to improve; which i hope I did. Now when i think back, this might be why I haven't posted a pic for so long since I stopped getting constructive criticism, only praise.
I'm now working on my own story, if I ever publish it here be sure to criticism it between the praises if you want another.

I might be misplaced in this thread since I haven't done a single comment on this site (yet). Will try to change that now.

It is a new day and as I did not want to derail the earlier thread with my rantings on this issue, I'll take the opportunity to continue with a couple more points here. Thank you to Anon for the opportunity.

There is feedback from some and feedback from others. Look at sport. An elite athlete will listen much more to the criticism of a six-gold-medal-winning coach or expert than they would a sports journalist or fan in the stands. As such, the opinion of my 'heroes' of the genre (larafan, Jeremy-Wilson, Paul Smith) rate so much higher to me than someone who just comes on and says 'I can't remember what that story was about so it mustn't have been any good' (I can give you a link where that has been said about a submission of mine). Next comes the 'legends' of the site (njae, DKC, G7, Dr M and from the past Marknew) who make a high standard product time and time again. Below this comes those who don't write (the fans). They may have very worthy comments but in truth their opinions are weighted in terms of this hierarchy. To put it another way. If you think you can do better, let's see it.

The other thing, and indeed the point I was trying to make when I delved into the issue of muscularity, was the consistency in the commentary. Or put another way, an author may feel the feedback received is unjustified or just plain wrong. When he/she sees a similar story or theme and the feedback is all good they may think 'WTF? Why me?' Sure, two stories can be almost the same but grab a person in different ways. I also think that the fans get used to an author and either follow the site to see that person's stories or on the converse, decide in advance that they don't care for their work and ignore the latest offering. This might be a cause of some of the angst that senior authors feel when they post something and get no response. The fans lap it up and the non-fans just ignore it. Reading between the lines of what the authors are saying on this issue is, if you're a fan, keep reminding me of that and look at my product with critical eyes. I just don't think it is always in human nature to do that.

Perhaps some will read my two rants and think they smack of hubris or feel that I'm not really suited for this type of site ('Get thee to The Valkyrie' cried the Prince of Denmark). I don't wish to give that impression. I'm simply trying my best to add to a reasoned debate that may result in a better site and a good range of input in the future workshops.

It pretty much goes without saying that the mere exclamation "I didn't like it" won't help the author of a story at all. The problem here is that the reception is based on the personal taste of both the author and the reader. After all the genre of SWM is pretty far spread since the only actual rule is that there has to be a woman with superpowers in the story. This includes many different subgenres (fanfiction vs original fiction, good ubergirl vs evil ubergirl vs something inbetween, tall&muscular vs slim&petite, origin story vs already super... the list goes on indefinitely and everybody has certain things he likes and things he dislikes.

In order to give helpful feedback, the reader has to explain where his preferences are so that the author can interprete them correctly. If the reader doesn't like the base setting, it'll be clear that he won't be looking forward to stories with the same or a similar setting. The author still can choose whether or not his next story tries a new setting.One thing that should be avoided is ignoring an author just because he wrote a few stories that don't use my favorite settings - I might miss out my new favorite story because of it