ability to opt out of a critical response Oh, definitely. For much the same reasons as you, I don't think there is anything shameful or objectionable about a fan author saying "look, I'm doing this for my own amusement and I don't really care if you don't like it, so save your breath" for criticism left directly on her work. I just don't think this can or should extend past feedback; if a fan author does not want her work criticised in a public space, ever at all, the end, then her only real option is not to post the work in a public space. Anything else basically comes down to demanding that people cater to her specific needs and attempting to silence people in their own spaces, which has never once gone over well.
LJ feels like a closed community, but it's not. It would be a closed community if it were not accessible to the wide internet, but it is, and any sense of security one feels for being in this space is quite simply false. If you go poking around on delicious for H/D, you will see plenty of rec or to-read links, often compiled by people who don't even have an LJ and don't participate in LJ-fandom aside from occasionally looking for fic to read. Sometimes these links will feature comments on the story quality. That's par for the course.
I think the analogy between an author's relationship with her work and an actor's not wanting paparazzi in her private life breaks down immediately, because the critic is not peeking into the author's bedroom or snapping clandestine pics of her kids. An actor has a right to a paparazzi-free life, but a paparazzi-free life is not at all the same as a life free of theatre/movie critics, even amateur ones, commenting on the actor's work.
I don't know what you mean by "culturally negotiated" -- there is a cultural expectation not to criticise publically in some fandom spheres, but it is far from universal to all fandom, ever, even within the boundaries of LJ.
I'm less convinced of the 'right' to insist that those people receive te results of the critical exercise. Yeah, leaving criticism on work whose author has specifically requested no criticism is fucked up. Putting those critical thoughts elsewhere (i.e. any space not immediately controlled by the author), however, is a different matter entirely. An author has a full right to say "if you don't like this, don't tell me about it". She does not ever have a right to say "if you don't like this, shut up and say nothing about it to anyone, ever". She just doesn't.
As for personal attacks, well, flames are tacky. That's a universal, I think. :D It's difficult to talk about this stuff divorced from context, but it has been a very long time since I've seen a bit of constructive criticism that was actually a personal attack; so long that I'm not even sure what that would look like. Can you provide a (hypothetical, even) example?
I don't subscribe to "if you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen" standpoint -- I used to, long ago, before conversations with reasonable and also sensitive writers convinced me that it's not a good approach to take. I do subscribe to "if you can't stand the heat, take precautions against it and don't hang out so close to the stove" -- i.e. be upfront about not wanting criticism, don't seek it out if you know you can't handle it, and above all, don't attempt to silence people when you come across them being critical in a place where it's not for you.
no subject
Oh, definitely. For much the same reasons as you, I don't think there is anything shameful or objectionable about a fan author saying "look, I'm doing this for my own amusement and I don't really care if you don't like it, so save your breath" for criticism left directly on her work. I just don't think this can or should extend past feedback; if a fan author does not want her work criticised in a public space, ever at all, the end, then her only real option is not to post the work in a public space. Anything else basically comes down to demanding that people cater to her specific needs and attempting to silence people in their own spaces, which has never once gone over well.
LJ feels like a closed community, but it's not. It would be a closed community if it were not accessible to the wide internet, but it is, and any sense of security one feels for being in this space is quite simply false. If you go poking around on delicious for H/D, you will see plenty of rec or to-read links, often compiled by people who don't even have an LJ and don't participate in LJ-fandom aside from occasionally looking for fic to read. Sometimes these links will feature comments on the story quality. That's par for the course.
I think the analogy between an author's relationship with her work and an actor's not wanting paparazzi in her private life breaks down immediately, because the critic is not peeking into the author's bedroom or snapping clandestine pics of her kids. An actor has a right to a paparazzi-free life, but a paparazzi-free life is not at all the same as a life free of theatre/movie critics, even amateur ones, commenting on the actor's work.
I don't know what you mean by "culturally negotiated" -- there is a cultural expectation not to criticise publically in some fandom spheres, but it is far from universal to all fandom, ever, even within the boundaries of LJ.
I'm less convinced of the 'right' to insist that those people receive te results of the critical exercise.
Yeah, leaving criticism on work whose author has specifically requested no criticism is fucked up. Putting those critical thoughts elsewhere (i.e. any space not immediately controlled by the author), however, is a different matter entirely. An author has a full right to say "if you don't like this, don't tell me about it". She does not ever have a right to say "if you don't like this, shut up and say nothing about it to anyone, ever". She just doesn't.
As for personal attacks, well, flames are tacky. That's a universal, I think. :D It's difficult to talk about this stuff divorced from context, but it has been a very long time since I've seen a bit of constructive criticism that was actually a personal attack; so long that I'm not even sure what that would look like. Can you provide a (hypothetical, even) example?
I don't subscribe to "if you can't stand the heat, get outta the kitchen" standpoint -- I used to, long ago, before conversations with reasonable and also sensitive writers convinced me that it's not a good approach to take. I do subscribe to "if you can't stand the heat, take precautions against it and don't hang out so close to the stove" -- i.e. be upfront about not wanting criticism, don't seek it out if you know you can't handle it, and above all, don't attempt to silence people when you come across them being critical in a place where it's not for you.