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TheBurningOfSodom
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2015 9:28 am
Posts: 595
Location: Italy
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 9:59 am 
 

Okay, so...

You probably know said user and all the discussion in the main thread about his reviews. Recently he asked for some help in a new thread and got a lot of helpful advices from seasoned users.

Yet, shortly after he wrote a post about himself in the Reviewers to avoid thread, basically mortifying himself because he acknowledged that he got several reviewing aspects wrong (which is perfectly natural since he's very young and he started only recently). Being not much older than him, I was a bit heartbroken about it and feared he'd take that constructive criticism in the wrong way and basically throw everything up out of sudden "depression". So I tried to reach out to him with a PM, but it never got sent, and now his profile has disappeared.

As I said, deleting everything about you (especially 60 reviews which still took a lot of time to write) probably was not the most appropriate reaction, but being a little oversensitive I can't help but feel a part of guilt about a young user leaving the site so early. It didn't have to end this way.

Thoughts about that? Additional details I may not be aware of by the mods?
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Last edited by TheBurningOfSodom on Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Derigin
The Mountain Man

Joined: Sun Jan 01, 2006 6:25 am
Posts: 5997
Location: Canada
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:05 am 
 

No additional details. He terminated his own account.

He posted the following on his profile, so perhaps in a few months he'll be back, better than ever:
Quote:
Since March 10, I haven’t felt like writing reviews for metal albums. I recognize that the quality of my reviews has been shitty, so I want to take more time to improve the quality of my reviews so that I don’t end up continuing to write in the same, predictable, formulaic way. Even if it means putting out only a few reviews a month, it would be better to put out a fewer, high quality reviews than a sea of shitty quality reviews that my readers will (and currently do) hate. Because I have been falling into a formula, I have felt rather stagnant, so for that reason also, I am taking a break from writing reviews.

Until I return to writing reviews, I am going to explore the hell out of so many different genres and scenes, as suggested by some of the more experienced reviewers on this site, including Petrus_Steele, gasmask_colostomy, and BastardHead. I will also completely rethink my approach to a metal album and to the overall genre as a whole. I will likely spend several weeks or even months exploring different bands and come to know each one of them intimately, and then I will return to writing reviews.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:58 pm
Posts: 35139
Location: Where the dead rule the night
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:11 am 
 

There was a pretty insane pile-on on that kid when his reviews, from what I read, were no different than your average new user just starting to write for the site. Probably didn't do him any favors for sticking around.
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TheBurningOfSodom
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2015 9:28 am
Posts: 595
Location: Italy
PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2021 10:17 am 
 

Empyreal wrote:
There was a pretty insane pile-on on that kid when his reviews, from what I read, were no different than your average new user just starting to write for the site. Probably didn't do him any favors for sticking around.

Definitely. I, for one, went to that thread to namedrop some actually worse reviewers.

Derigin wrote:
He posted the following on his profile, so perhaps in a few months he'll be back, better than ever

Okay, I missed out on that and it gives some hope, at least if compared to his blunt statement in the forums. Thanks Derigin.
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A very promising new reviewer wrote:
Big, juicy, veiny, throbbing hard riffs. Big heavy knuckle dragging, cock swaddling compositions for those in fear of soap/bathing. Listen at your own risk. No signs of intelligent life.

It's the dawn of descending...

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gasmask_colostomy
Metalhead

Joined: Thu May 27, 2010 5:38 am
Posts: 1639
Location: China
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 8:04 am 
 

Anus_Canis wrote:
Since March 10, I haven’t felt like writing reviews for metal albums. I recognize that the quality of my reviews has been shitty, so I want to take more time to improve the quality of my reviews so that I don’t end up continuing to write in the same, predictable, formulaic way. Even if it means putting out only a few reviews a month, it would be better to put out a fewer, high quality reviews than a sea of shitty quality reviews that my readers will (and currently do) hate. Because I have been falling into a formula, I have felt rather stagnant, so for that reason also, I am taking a break from writing reviews.

Until I return to writing reviews, I am going to explore the hell out of so many different genres and scenes, as suggested by some of the more experienced reviewers on this site, including Petrus_Steele, gasmask_colostomy, and BastardHead. I will also completely rethink my approach to a metal album and to the overall genre as a whole. I will likely spend several weeks or even months exploring different bands and come to know each one of them intimately, and then I will return to writing reviews.

Why does this sound like the beginning of an epic quest to become a famous scribe by an old Roman poet? Happy travels bro, enjoy the music for a while.
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lord_ghengis
Still Standing After 38 Beers... hic

Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2006 8:31 pm
Posts: 5950
Location: Australia
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 8:56 am 
 

Man he wasn't bad enough to cop the amount of attention he got, not like he was doing track by track or instrument by instrument reviews. Mostly just limited in vocabulary. Drama queen reaction to it all though, I mean he asked and the main point was "stick to it".
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Sweetie
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2014 1:19 am
Posts: 1091
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 9:57 am 
 

lord_ghengis wrote:
I mean he asked and the main point was "stick to it".


Yeah really, I even made sure to mention that in the Reviewers To Avoid thread, and even mentioned how bad I was. This sorta sucks.
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TheBurningOfSodom
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2015 9:28 am
Posts: 595
Location: Italy
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:16 pm 
 

I agree with it being a tad excessive but I kinda understand it.

I started reviewing here approximately at his age, and if several people were to call me out publicly like it happened (with more or less constructive comments), I would have probably been way less mature than I'm now. Not saying that I'd have deleted my profile, but I sure would have felt rather bummed out and would've spent a lot of time overthinking about my wrong choices. You know, that kind of epiphany where you question everything you did in your life :lol:

Luckily my first reviews were for (still now) virgin releases and nobody ever cared about those lol. Being in the shadows sometimes has its advantages :lol:
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A very promising new reviewer wrote:
Big, juicy, veiny, throbbing hard riffs. Big heavy knuckle dragging, cock swaddling compositions for those in fear of soap/bathing. Listen at your own risk. No signs of intelligent life.

It's the dawn of descending...

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Slater922
Metalhead

Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2020 6:24 pm
Posts: 2338
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 12:49 pm 
 

Dang. Didn’t think it would get that bad :(

Well it sucks to see a user like AC go away, I think we should take this as a lesson to not be so harsh to new reviewers. I mean, even I can acknowledge that some of the stuff I said was kinda a bit much.
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hells_unicorn
Veteran

Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:32 pm
Posts: 3053
Location: United States
PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2021 4:49 pm 
 

I didn't really involve myself in this one because I hadn't really read much of his material, but after all the complaints started appearing on this forum I perused a couple of his most recent works, and the guy did have some potential. I usually stay out of these pile-ons unless it's because somebody did a terrible writeup of one of my favorite albums and if the opinion is of an openly contrarian or willfully ignorant character. I don't remember the hazing process here being as brutal back when I first started in 2005, but then again, I didn't really use the forum much the first couple years I was here. Hopefully he won't give up on writing completely.
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Sean16
Moody Tabulator of Torn Hymens

Joined: Sat May 07, 2005 11:03 am
Posts: 394
Location: France
PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:22 pm 
 

hells_unicorn wrote:
I don't remember the hazing process here being as brutal back when I first started in 2005

Hmm, that's disputable. Remember we're talking about the times when the likes of Ultraboris, Speedemon86 or Christkiller were in charge, so the general atmosphere wasn't really... newcomers-friendly ;) The important difference would have been that, compared to the standards of the day, AC's reviews would have actually looked above-average.

Nevertheless, it seems like I'm not the only one the end of the story leaves with a bitter taste. I won't go as far as saying we've been trolled, but some things in it just don't sound... right. Not talking about the reviews themselves, but the general attitude. So the man comes for feedback. Not in the dedicated thread, mind you, but he creates his own. Usually, a mod would have kindly redirected him to the Workshop, but, as he had already become some kind of celebrity here, he's allowed to go on, and by Derigin no less. So he got feedback. Constructive feedback. Lots of it. Then, just when you thought the initial misunderstanding was over, and that he finally would become a regular and respected reviewer here (as many said, it looked like he had potential), he doesn't even thank anyone, but deletes everything, including his account.

Yes, a strange story indeed.
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King_of_Arnor
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2020 12:35 pm
Posts: 771
Location: United Kingdom
PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 2:47 pm 
 

I don't think he was an elaborate troll - maybe he thought his current account had too much dirt on it so he could just be starting over again on a blank slate. I wish him well if he endeavours to write on here again with a different name (and hopefully, style as well).
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BastardHead
Worse than Stalin

Joined: Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:53 pm
Posts: 10857
Location: Oswego, Illinois
PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:52 pm 
 

Honestly I think it's as simple as: he's a kid and didn't take criticism well. He started up this new hobby and obviously had a bunch of fun with it, only to discover that he was getting clowned on behind the scenes, and when he asked for advice on how to improve he got bombarded with tips from like a dozen different people. Now, he could've seen it as "a dozen experienced reviewers giving good faith advice, the biggest one being 'don't worry about it and just keep at it'", but it seems he took it more like "a dozen experienced reviewers all told me I sucked at once and therefore everybody hates me here". Some of the zoomers latched on to him really hard and couldn't seem to stop themselves from bringing him up fucking constantly but most people thought he had potential and would certainly get better over time. Seems like he didn't really get that last part but really internalized the first part. Shame, hopefully he comes back, but if he doesn't then oh well I guess.
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Empyreal
The Final Frontier

Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 6:58 pm
Posts: 35139
Location: Where the dead rule the night
PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 7:22 pm 
 

A bunch of the newer reviewers just dogpiled on him for several posts straight in both the 'reviewers to avoid' and the Review Discussion threads. He came here and saw that and figured it wasn't a place he wanted to stay, most likely. Not that weird to me.
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hells_unicorn
Veteran

Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2005 8:32 pm
Posts: 3053
Location: United States
PostPosted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 9:06 pm 
 

Sean16 wrote:
hells_unicorn wrote:
I don't remember the hazing process here being as brutal back when I first started in 2005

Hmm, that's disputable. Remember we're talking about the times when the likes of Ultraboris, Speedemon86 or Christkiller were in charge, so the general atmosphere wasn't really... newcomers-friendly ;) The important difference would have been that, compared to the standards of the day, AC's reviews would have actually looked above-average.


Honestly, when I first started I did notice a number of my review rejection notices were of a heavily snarky character, but I guess it just didn't phase me because of the thick skin I developed being mercilessly ridiculed in high school for listening to Dio and Manowar back when everyone was pushing Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins on each other. Naturally I didn't really use the forums much in the beginning, and only ever had any direct dealings with Speedemon86, who didn't seem to care for me due to my European power metal fixation, he probably approved a lot of my earlier material begrudgingly given I was giving high marks to bands like Freedom Call and Rhapsody during that period. Ultraboris was on his way out and I didn't write my first Overkill review until about a year after he'd left so I wasn't really on his radar, ditto Christkiller given that apart from a handful of Darkthrone and Mayhem reviews I didn't really dabble in any truly extreme metal reviewing until 2009.
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ᴎostalgiʞK
Metal newbie

Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:27 pm
Posts: 335
Location: Argentina
PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 7:32 am 
 

BastardHead wrote:
Honestly I think it's as simple a he's a kid and didn't take criticism well. He started up this new hobby and obviously had a bunch of fun with it, only to discover that he was getting clowned on behind the scenes, and when he asked for advice on how to improve he got bombarded with tips from like a dozen different people. Now, he could've seen it as "a dozen experienced reviewers giving good faith advice, the biggest one being 'don't worry about it and just keep at it'", but it seems he took it more like "a dozen experienced reviewers all told me I sucked at once and therefore everybody hates me here". Some of the zoomers latched on to him really hard and couldn't seem to stop themselves from bringing him up fucking constantly but most people thought he had potential and would certainly get better over time. Seems like he didn't really get that last part but really internalized the first part. Shame, hopefully he comes back, but if he doesn't then oh well I guess.

This...

Anyways, at the end there weren't harmful intentions coming from the users, most of them were very kind and contemplative, and to be honest, the only user I felt that had intentions to roast the kid sucks in everything he does, so why trying to be malicious with him?? Is not the first time of trash talk from him .. Hope Anus come back with more maturity and criticism acceptance tho.
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Sean16
Moody Tabulator of Torn Hymens

Joined: Sat May 07, 2005 11:03 am
Posts: 394
Location: France
PostPosted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 12:29 pm 
 

hells_unicorn wrote:
Honestly, when I first started I did notice a number of my review rejection notices were of a heavily snarky character, but I guess it just didn't phase me because of the thick skin I developed being mercilessly ridiculed in high school for listening to Dio and Manowar back when everyone was pushing Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins on each other. Naturally I didn't really use the forums much in the beginning, and only ever had any direct dealings with Speedemon86, who didn't seem to care for me due to my European power metal fixation, he probably approved a lot of my earlier material begrudgingly given I was giving high marks to bands like Freedom Call and Rhapsody during that period. Ultraboris was on his way out and I didn't write my first Overkill review until about a year after he'd left so I wasn't really on his radar, ditto Christkiller given that apart from a handful of Darkthrone and Mayhem reviews I didn't really dabble in any truly extreme metal reviewing until 2009.

I wasn't particularly singling out any of these former mods, but rather used their names as the embodiment of the good ol' Web 1.0 spirit, where often the only option left to a newcomer was "grow a spine or die". Glad it changed, but it seems to be punctually resurfacing, alas.

Empyreal wrote:
A bunch of the newer reviewers just dogpiled on him for several posts straight in both the 'reviewers to avoid' and the Review Discussion threads. He came here and saw that and figured it wasn't a place he wanted to stay, most likely. Not that weird to me.

I agree the mention in the "Reviewers to avoid" thread was just too much, and may indeed have been the straw that broke the camel's back. That whole thread in itself was never a good idea, to begin with.

I myself made a rather derogatory comment about AC's nasty habit of recycling whole paragraphs of his reviews. Not that it wasn't totally unwarranted, but I should have known better, I guess. Hadn't checked his profile until late, and didn't realize he was so young.
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The_Doo_Over
Mallcore Kid

Joined: Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:29 pm
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Fri Apr 16, 2021 11:02 pm 
 

I should have thanked all of you for your feedback back when I still had my Anus_Canis profile. But anyways, thank you all for the feedback! I will be sure to take everything that was said to heart.

As with the deletion of my original profile, I agree it was a little superfluous, but because I felt so humiliated with the writing style I am still developing, and because I felt that my whole little world flipped itself upside down (the same feeling I felt when I first left Christianity), I felt that it was best to temporarily remove myself from the Metal Archives.

Fortunately, I preserved 57 out of the 60 reviews I wrote via screenshots, so I can still see my progress from when I first started out on this site. I will also be sure to not take any criticisms directed at me too personally when I continue to write reviews under my current username.

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colin040
Metal freak

Joined: Sat Dec 08, 2007 6:00 pm
Posts: 7599
Location: Netherlands
PostPosted: Sat Apr 17, 2021 10:44 am 
 

The_Doo_Over wrote:
I should have thanked all of you for your feedback back when I still had my Anus_Canis profile. But anyways, thank you all for the feedback! I will be sure to take everything that was said to heart.

As with the deletion of my original profile, I agree it was a little superfluous, but because I felt so humiliated with the writing style I am still developing, and because I felt that my whole little world flipped itself upside down (the same feeling I felt when I first left Christianity), I felt that it was best to temporarily remove myself from the Metal Archives.

Fortunately, I preserved 57 out of the 60 reviews I wrote via screenshots, so I can still see my progress from when I first started out on this site. I will also be sure to not take any criticisms directed at me too personally when I continue to write reviews under my current username.


Welcome back! Here's to solid writing! :metal:

Also, one last tip: Save your reviews on Word somewhere...could always be useful for later. :)

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TheBurningOfSodom
Metalhead

Joined: Sat Jun 27, 2015 9:28 am
Posts: 595
Location: Italy
PostPosted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:25 am 
 

The_Doo_Over wrote:
As with the deletion of my original profile, I agree it was a little superfluous, but because I felt so humiliated with the writing style I am still developing, and because I felt that my whole little world flipped itself upside down (the same feeling I felt when I first left Christianity), I felt that it was best to temporarily remove myself from the Metal Archives.

Don't worry dude, as I said (and BH expressed way better lol) I was really understanding you. Around 18 I remember being a little oversensitive about this kind of things as well. It's probably natural and you'll be surprised by how much one can grow in the years that follow.

By the way, I read your new review when it came out and something in my mind kept telling that it was actually you lol. Improvements are definitely there. So, what else can I say? Glad to have you back and, if I'm allowed to speak on behalf of everyone for a moment, you're also more than welcome to the Official Review Discussion Thread just for a quick chat or comment sometime, if you feel like it.

See ya! :metal:
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Big, juicy, veiny, throbbing hard riffs. Big heavy knuckle dragging, cock swaddling compositions for those in fear of soap/bathing. Listen at your own risk. No signs of intelligent life.

It's the dawn of descending...

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