User blog comment:Memai/Why I cannot take your OC seriously./@comment-1824274-20120208192811/@comment-4675595-20120209000758

I lurked on and off during that time period, and in my 7-8 years of online writing workshopping, it was the biggest overraction I'd ever seen, ever. That particular person was a rare case, and didn't sound very emotionally OK to begin with. (On a side note, I hope she finds some kind of help for that.)

There is definitely a difference between critiquing and bullying. Bullying is being rude for no reason, but critique entails pointing out flaws, giving the reasons behind these flaws, and possibly advice on how to fix them. Those who are sensitive about their work often assume that all critisism is trolling, but that's not true. Memai worded things bluntly here, but she isn't bullying. She backed up her critisisms with reasoning, and I know that she has nothing but good intentions with this post. She wants to help this community, and she's not the only one.

Also, everyone creates awful characters at 13. EVERYONE. God knows the early version of Stevie was a nightmare. But characters can be reworked, developed further. Not that there's anything wrong with dicking around with old, not-so-great stories for fun, of course. That's called masterbatory writing - writing purely for your own enjoyment. This post was directed at those who want their fanfictions to appeal to an audience, which is another matter.