Honestly, where has the AFF team spirit gone? There always used to be somebody around to answer you or help you brainstorm - even if they weren’t on your friend list!

I know, it’s kind of a grandma/grandpa thing to say, but things have changed around here. I’m not talking about anything beyond the average users powers - Layouts, navigation, mods, etc. I’m talking about why some users are way too above the bar of helping others. Why is it that I [and everyone beside the ones posting them] see review/graphics shops and RP collections but no “Writing Improvement” groups? In the last five days alone, I’ve made more than ten comments helping other people - and that’s coming from someone who has very nearly given up on reading around here. During one comment, I had to put “I’m not trying to pick a fight” at the begininng because some people have grown so accustomed to hate, rather than friendly advice. To my surprise, that user seemed genuinely happy with the random help.

Maybe if we stopped complaining about clichés, spellar and grammings, we would actually be able to make it through a recommended fic.

Most of these users with mistakes have - on average - have more than 50 subs per story than me. I want to know why these subs/commenters say nothing except “Update soon” and “URGH AUTHORNIM I LUV U FO-EVA!!!” when they could be helping the author fix their mistakes. If you really enjoyed the story, you’d want to help. Please, tell me this is a sane thought.

I don’t claim to be better [clearly, as my stories aren’t well known], but sometimes, as writers, we skim over the work we’ve done; we seem to accidentally skip mistakes. Most people say “Get a beta reader”, but it isn’t as easy as it sounds.

I’m sure most of the new writers have no idea where to start with that comment. Most probably don’t even know what a beta reader is, especially if they’re brand new to writing fics or original stories. And if they do, they don’t want to put themselves out there and bluntly ask for someone to help them fix their . I know of a few people - with the little time they have - who would like to help others - whether they are n0obs, users who’s first language isn’t English, or even older users like myself, learn how to improve their writing.

No matter how good you think you are, there is always room to better yourself.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think the par of stories is down in the basement somewhere. The standard for the storyline character development, spelling and grammar, and even delivery is awfully low these days. Over time, users have gotten used to it and settled for ‘An easily understandable plot with their favourite characters having ’.

I’m not saying straightforward plots and are bad, but should they be the standard? I don’t think so. But why do people feel the need to re-do the same things over and over again? The point of fanfics is to be creative with existing characters. I remembered when I joined, there was two users [Kimi] who wrote a dark, violent fic and it wasn’t super popular because the “theme of the month” was cutesy. And a handful of others I’ve known since my n0ob days. Mashi [mashimarofan], Karlo [DarkHybridx], Andi [Chunlocked], Alex [staticdream] and Lee [p3acexl0vexsuju] all write heavier stuff that is so good that I cling onto the days when they update.

I had a thing to help others posted as a story but I hid it because I took a break. I’m thinking of re-opening it with the help of a few friends - if they’re interested. I can not do it by myself.

Anyway, after the ramble, my point was: Be nice to your neighbours, kids. It only takes a few seconds to leave a comment and the good feeling an author gets [even if it’s criticism] lasts a whole lot longer.