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Post by monkeymail on Oct 28, 2013 4:46:19 GMT -5
well let me know if its working when you get the time  |
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Post by LoveIsLouder... on Nov 3, 2013 4:55:50 GMT -5
Anyone else having trouble with FanFiction loading or just me?
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Post by unbeastly on Nov 3, 2013 5:31:09 GMT -5
It's not working properly for me either.
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Post by Kitty279 on Nov 3, 2013 6:48:36 GMT -5
Site seems to be down, sometimes it works for opening *one* page and then it's gone again. Annoying. And no explanation whatsoever, as usual, even after hours.
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Post by Miss Wings on Nov 3, 2013 6:53:19 GMT -5
I've just logged on and it's not working on Explorer or Chrome.
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Post by Kitty279 on Nov 4, 2013 0:58:33 GMT -5
It worked again in my evening - seems they had a technical problem.
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Post by RandomPasserby on Dec 1, 2013 8:00:51 GMT -5
Laziness.
No the UK does not use dollars, no 'it's fanfiction' is not a good excuse for why the UK is using dollars.
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Post by eskimoRock on Dec 1, 2013 9:45:49 GMT -5
Completely agree with that! Being English myself, it really bothers me that people can't be bothered to google something... And there are plenty of us willing to answer questions.
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Post by RandomPasserby on Dec 1, 2013 10:53:35 GMT -5
I'm English too.
Yeah, the story had the 'principal' of Harry's 'elementary' school. Oh and Humvee's as an inconspicuous vehicle.
I was rolling around with laughter just imagining a Humvee driving around Little Whinging trying to be subtle.
Oh, and Harry/Hermione/Ron using the word 'mom'. Some parts of the UK do actually use 'mom' but that's only really in the West Midlands where none of them are from.
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Post by eskimoRock on Dec 1, 2013 10:56:37 GMT -5
It's ridiculous sometimes how wrong people get it I'm from the West Midlands! I've definitely never heard anybody say "mom" seriously, thankfully |
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Post by Kitty279 on Dec 1, 2013 11:51:44 GMT -5
Laziness. No the UK does not use dollars, no 'it's fanfiction' is not a good excuse for why the UK is using dollars. So true! And nowadays it is so easy to google it. It's not as if you need some printed lexicon or something along that line to find out what currency a country uses. When I was young, that was a bit harder to find out, but in the time of internet, it's so easy. The worst is when these authors then, when you tell them it's wrong, get all b**chy about it. |
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Post by RandomPasserby on Dec 1, 2013 12:46:16 GMT -5
The hilarious thing is that it's HARRY POTTER fanfiction.
You know, the book series which is explicitly set in England. Which has mentioned pounds on more than one occasion. Which has a character who is referred to 90% of the time as either 'Headmaster' or 'Headmaster Dumbledore'.
There was one reviewer who pointed out that, the Author replied in an anonymous review and called the reviewer (who had been utterly polite, if somewhat opinionated) a troll.
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Post by Kitty279 on Dec 1, 2013 13:09:39 GMT -5
Now you have me wondering if the American version has changed the 'headmaster' to 'principal'. Well, I am German, so grew up with British English and had to look up 'principal' because the word didn't make much sense to me in context. And seeing what my dictionary lists as possible meanings for my language, it's a very imprecise word. 15 different meanings just for the substantives! No, I think I'll keep the more precise 'headmaster'  |
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Post by melodypottersnape on Dec 1, 2013 23:35:18 GMT -5
I really hate it when I find a story that had a good concept and ruined it with bad writing. I mean I'm okay with a few misspelled words here and there or even when they write your instead of you're, but I felt like choking some sense into the author when they wrote obsulvley or something like that instead of obviously.
I want to bang my head everytime they typed mabey instead of maybe. I mean you sound out the word and the second version sounds better. Then just when I was letting the grammer roll off my shoulders they suddenly turned the main character from a self conscious lovable girl to a bimbo.
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Post by Kitty279 on Dec 2, 2013 1:26:48 GMT -5
Some mistakes really leave you wondering if these authors ever bother to read over their stories even once before posting, don't they? Sure, typos can happen, and sometimes you overlook them, I get that. But with the amount I see in some stories, I am left wondering. Not to mention how some people keep misspelling the same words over and over and over again. It's annoying. After all, they then go on and post the text with all he mistakes for thousands of people to read - I'd die of shame if I published something with that many obvious mistakes. And I'd not accept the excuse that English isn't my first language from myself for that! That's what betas are for.
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Post by physicssquid on Dec 3, 2013 9:52:23 GMT -5
It's a sign of laziness.
I can forgive someone for a little bad spelling and grammar, particularly if they're a fourteen-year-old, and English really isn't their first language, as long as they admit to not being an English speaker, but for a Brit, or an American, or an Australian, to make hideous, obvious and painful mistakes, I can't forgive them.
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Post by RandomPasserby on Dec 3, 2013 10:26:24 GMT -5
I'm a little more forgiving as regards grammar, if only because I was never taught it in school. All I learnt about grammar I learnt from writing fanfiction and getting picked up on it.
Which brings me to another peeve. People who whine for reviews but get upset or angry if one has even the slightest bit of criticism in it. If all you want is praise, have the balls to say it.
I love critical reviews. I would rather have one long, well thought out review (even if it wasn't particularly positive) than ten 'Update soon' ones. That's not to say I don't love every review but when it's obvious that somebody has really read the story, has thought about it and has taken the time to write something about it which makes me think - that's just special.
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Post by Kitty279 on Dec 3, 2013 12:01:34 GMT -5
Sounds like me. Never really learned much grammar, either - for me it always worked from reading so much, and probably near instinctual. I know what's right without any rules in my own language, and with English, it was about the same, though I probably make some mistakes now and then. But there, I learned English grammar by reading fanfiction, too - luckily, I started on another site than FFN Ah, I know what you mean. Seen some of these upset AN myself and, after searching for the offending review, ended up wondering what on earth the problem was. Agree with you - while I haven't posted anything yet, when I read reviews, I enjoy the lengthy ones more, too, and I at least try to write some proper ones myself when I review. If an author works hard on a story, then they deserve some proper acknowledgement, IMO. |
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Post by physicssquid on Dec 3, 2013 19:28:04 GMT -5
I hate it when reviewers just say 'Update soon' or something along those lines. They don't help, at all.
And yes, I agree, people who whine for reviews are annoying. When I put my story up, I wasn't looking for reviews, I just thought that people could read the story, and if they wanted to leave a review, then they could. I was rather surprised when I got my first review, having not expected any at all.
And thinking about authors asking for reviews, I get annoyed when authors ask for people to suggest what they write, as if they've thought of an idea, but then given up on it, and are asking what their readers want to read. I can understand when an author asks for suggestions for small things, like names, for either children or pets, or even the locations certain events happen in, but asking for major plot details is irritating.
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Post by Kitty279 on Dec 4, 2013 1:21:53 GMT -5
No, and I always feel it sounds a bit demanding. Of course, I always am happy when one of my favourite stories is updated, but I know that writing a proper story takes its time, and rushing it won't make the story any better.
Oh, I guess reviews are nice, but you can't enforce them. The worst are authors who threaten not to update until they get X reviews.
You know, there were a good number of stories out there where I got the impression that the author had an idea for this one scene or something, wrote it, posted it straight away - and then realised that they had no idea where this was supposed to go. Then they ask their readers. The worst is when they then try to do everything suggested - you can be sure they won't get far, because the story doesn't make much sense when you mix so many different ideas with no real concept of where you want to go. Including an idea when it really fits into the story is one thing, but writing basically 'on demand'? No.
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Post by 8lottie8 on Dec 28, 2013 9:42:45 GMT -5
Remus J. Lupin Also I saw a RtB recently that had OotF - Aaaagahh! It''s in the title |
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Post by RandomPasserby on Dec 28, 2013 11:16:19 GMT -5
If their first language is English, that's reprehensible. If they're ESL, then it's understandable (there are several languages where Phoenix actually does start with an f). On a similar note. Pheonix. Drives me nuts. Yes, typing error but it still grates. |
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Post by Kitty279 on Dec 28, 2013 17:45:32 GMT -5
It's the same with some other words - photo/foto and the like. Still, if they can write fanfiction in English, then they have to know the English version by default, or they won't get far. I know that many names of places etc. were translated into other languages, so you need to know the English words to write these stories and not being a native speaker doesn't work too well as an excuse.
Argh, don't get me started on that sort of mistake! Yeah, it's a typo, but still … when it only happens once, ok, I can live with that. But some apparently don't know how to spell that. On the other hand, about 75% of the fandom, if not more, spell Dolores as Delores (or worse, Deloris), and there are all the misspellings for McGonagall. And my personal icing on the cake so far - Fluer Declare. The constant confusion of their and there. The use of defiantly instead of definitely. The 'would of' instead of 'would have' (recently I have seen 'would of have had' *whimper*)
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Post by 8lottie8 on Dec 29, 2013 14:20:16 GMT -5
The constant confusion of their and there. along with they're and theyre |
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Post by 8lottie8 on Dec 29, 2013 14:22:22 GMT -5
oh, and apostrophes in the wrong places
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Post by Kitty279 on Dec 30, 2013 0:27:22 GMT -5
That, too. And where/were/wear. Weather/whether. Past/passed. Or, as a recently often seen grammatical mistake, 'he drug him out of the room'. It's *dragged*, for heavens sake!!
Particularly when they use the apostrophe on nearly every word that ends with s. Names including. The worst is that even here that 'apostrophitis' is catching. People keep using them where they may have some right to be in English, but not in German. It drives me up the wall.
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Post by RandomPasserby on Jan 29, 2014 13:41:25 GMT -5
This actually has very little to do with Harry Potter but here are a few rants.
TW: Discussion of rape and child prostitution.
1. Rape as cheap drama - I don't think this needs any further explanation.
2. Stupid villains - In this case it wasn't so much that the villain was stupid but that the general use of the villain was stupid. His second in command was a plant by an extra-legal group who take down bad people for a living. This guy has no problem with killing people to make a problem go away, especially if they've hurt people and double especially if they've hurt children. And the author expected people to believe that the second in command wouldn't just kill the villain (who was raping an underage girl), especially since there was no reason not to (the way there is with the majority of villains they encounter).
3. Making the heroes accomplices to rape - If you are in a position where you can remove somebody from a very bad situation but you choose not to for a greater good (not even that, for a perceived greater good, because for no adequately explained reason this extra-legal group were trying to take the villain down legally when normally they just fake crimes and pin them on the people they take down - leaving the real police to investigate the fake stuff and then find the real stuff) you are a horrible person. The entire premise of the show is based on the heroes no longer being that sort of horrible person. And they let the rape and physical abuse go on for two years. With their planted guy as the villain's second in command being only a few feet from the crime and deliberately not stopping it (this is a guy who takes out goons by the warehouse-full with ease).
Oh and did I mention that this 16-18 year old girl, in the middle of being raped and abused regularly, developed a relationship with the second in command guy who was literally twice her age and pretty much complicit in the whole 'rape and abuse' thing. This relationship is treated as totally and completely healthy.
4. Characters doing things for no discernible reason - I'm not just talking about the heroes of the piece. The main original character (who, by the way, ended up with the second in command who was sitting around while she suffered those two years of rape and abuse) supposedly comes from an insanely rich family. By the age of 16 she has convictions for breaking and entering, assault, stealing and prostitution. Now the first three make some sense - rich kids tend to go wherever they want regardless of legality, hit people when they don't get what they want and will take what they want - but the last one was just out of nowhere. Why would a 14 year old (how old she was when the prostitution charge happened) who is insanely rich need money for sex? Also, I'm given to understand that the police do not generally prosecute child prostitutes (child defined as anybody under 18) because it is assumed they're being forced into doing it, instead they are treated like victims because they usually are. There's no reason given for it in the story, just 'by the time she was sixteen she had these charges'.
5. Again with the factual errors - no you cannot drive at sixteen in England, parking a limo on a street in London would attract a lot of attention, you cannot drag somebody into a limo in the middle of London in the middle of the day and have it be an effective kidnapping.
Yeah, that fic just pissed me off.
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Post by Kitty279 on Jan 30, 2014 1:43:57 GMT -5
Oh wow, how far did you get in that one? I doubt I'd have continued that for long. Way too unrealistic.
To 3. I can say that I've read an article many years ago which explained that in cases of long-time kidnapping or so sometimes a relationship between hostage and kidnapper can develop, but don't ask me for the details, it's been ages since I read that. Still, even if it can happen, that doesn't mean it's healthy. Even if that second in commant was the only one not to abuse her. So I completely agree with you, that doesn't make much sense in the setting you describe.
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Post by RandomPasserby on Jan 30, 2014 15:46:13 GMT -5
I actually read all of it, mostly because when I finished flipping through it the first time I was angry so I decided to review. In order for my review to be factual and not just mindless swearwords I had to re-read it a few times.
What you're talking about is called Stockholm Syndrome and it doesn't always have to be long term (the incident which led to its naming only lasted six days). It's less about a relationship and more about a psychological defence mechanism for the victim who starts identifying with the kidnapper in order not to provoke them and can trick themselves into taking anything from a kind gesture to a lessening of the physical abuse as an offer of friendship. The whole point of it is to keep the person alive and sane through an experience they may believe has no way out for them. According to FBI statistics though, it's only 8% of solved kidnapping cases which result in Stockholm Syndrome. If the purpose of it had been for Stockholm Syndrome to happen and for that to be the big twist, it would have been an interesting (if still very badly written) fic. |
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Post by Kitty279 on Jan 30, 2014 16:21:34 GMT -5
Ah right, that was it! Couldn't remember for sure and didn't have time to search (was at work). The case where I did read about it was a long term one, but as I said, it's been a very long time. Yeah, that is how it can happen, but what you said about the story doesn't seem to fit for that too well. Besides, as you said, it could have been interesting to explore in the story if done properly, but that obviously wasn't the purpose of the fic, either.
Wow, that's brave to even re-read the story. As a rule, when I don't like a story, I don't review because I can't say anything nice. So I'd not have had the patience and forbearance.
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