stars

You are very brave, stars and cherries have been very controversial on this site. There are a number of possible explanations - you may have marked the wrong box when registering, as you are asked whether you want to allow people to grade your work. Or, maybe nobody graded it - this doesn't necessarily mean that nobody liked it; my guess would be that readers who don't write are probably less likely to grade, or just that sometimes people just forget to grade... And anyway, if there are a sterner bunch of critics than unpublished writers, I can't think of them, so it is best not to get too hung up either way. As I keep saying, an email from someone saying what they liked about your story is much better than cherries !

I only grade if I really like something or think its well written or if I hated it or thought it was badly written. If I just have no feeling about a piece at all - then I don't usually grade it. I know I shouldn't do this and should comment but what you gonna do?

What about having a poll-type box for each piece, with categories for areas of general (positive) comment that the reader would like to make? eg. 'nice imagery but needs more work', 'good ideas but needs more pace' 'completely perfect' (for Carly's poems only, of course)... That way writers could get instant feedback in a bar graph type format without feeling dissed, and readers could give advice anonymously and without having to spend too much time... Probably far too complicated, but might solve some of the star-related complaints...