META: The Problem of Subjectivity

Andrew Burton tuglyraisin at aol.com
Thu Mar 13 19:32:35 PDT 2008


Martin Phipps wrote:
> Yep.  They make me feel good but they are otherwise useless.  ... I
> take it back then: one good thing about a long post that goes on about
> how good something is is that it will encourage other people to read
> the story.

I totally didn't think I could get you to admit that, but you did.  You 
realize you just undermined your entire argument, don't you?  Look... 
See, up there where you said that a long post praising a story might 
encourage someone to read it...you have to understand, if that's a true 
statement, and I think it is, then the opposite is equally true: a 
review that goes on and on about how bad a story is will discourage 
readers from reading it.

Saying that reviews that go on and on about how good a story is have 
value because they make you feel good and encourage people to read your 
stories have value, but reviews that don't are worthless and unimportant 
is not an objective observation.  It is in fact a very biased statement, 
that seems to indicate you have a one-sided view from the writer's 
perspective.  You've essentially given people who read your work three 
choices:

1. Love me.

2. Prove me wrong with cold logic.

3. Shut up.

First off, this is the Internet, good luck finding the corner that obeys 
those rules.  Second, your world view completely extinguishes the life 
of things like MST3K, Twisted Mego Theater, and like 99% of all web 
comics.  Do you really want to live in a world without MST3K?

-- 
Andrew Burton
tuglyraisin at aol.com
http://utilitarian.us - A Guide to Esoteric Technology in Paragon City
http://jarodrussell.livejournal.com/ - Take a guess. ;)



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