ci5hq | Sep. 7th, 2015

Just before I announce this week's story for discussion, comments to last week's suggest that a few reminders about what

ci5hq and the Reading Room are might be useful.

Here's what the comm's User Info page says, written when it was first set up in 2006 (not by me, by the way, though I was involved):
"CI5 Headquarters is a slash-oriented (but gen/het friendly) rec, discussion and news community for The Professionals. Whether it's a rec for an online or zine story, an essay on anything Pros-related, or news about the actors or the show itself, we want to see it here.

"Since CI5 Headquarters is a space for free and open discussion ( about all things related to our favourite lads... )

From the blurb on the Sticky Post to the comm about the Reading Room (this was written by me):
"The Reading Room began way back in 2009, and ( despite the odd pause it's still running... )

I'm really pleased to say that every post and comment in the Reading Room (including last week's) has followed the comm's request for respect and courtesy and thoughtfulness, just as I'd expect from Pros readers! People don't always agree with each other, but they've always done this in the spirit of discussion - which is the whole point of it.

Discussions are fun and interesting and sometimes (quite often, in Pros, it seems) people learn from them. We have them because we have opinions about things, and we want to hear what other people's opinions are, and to work out how those opinions match and gel - or not. We don't all have the same opinions, and a discussion where people are only expected to express certain opinions isn't a discussion.

There are other forums for feedback to authors, and as an author myself I know it's lovely to receive comments on those forums - please do go forth and comment! *g* But that's not what the Reading Room is. It's a place for readers to talk about things. If authors want to join in, then that's absolutely encouraged - but they (we as authors) need to bear in mind that not everyone is going to like or agree with everything we've written - and the Reading Room is a place where you might find some of those dissenting opinions. The only thing we ask about negative comments or critique is that it's constructive in that a reason is given for it. For example:

I don't like that story, it's stupid. - not really okay. As discussion it doesn't go anywhere, no one's going to learn from it, except about the commenter. Why do you think it's stupid?

I don't like that story, I couldn't understand why the characters acted the way they did. - is part of discussion. It gives people an opportunity to respond by saying "I agree, they didn't..." or I don't agree, I thought that..."

It can be hard to find out that other people don't like your story, or part of your story, or even a single specific word choice that you made. It can stab you to your heart, and hurt (again, personal experience *g*) - and this happens no matter how polite or thoughtful or carefully worded a comment is. Alot of professional authors (and actors, for that matter) have policies about not reading people's reviews of their work, or going to places where they might come across such reviews. I'd suggest that in fandom too, we need to decide as authors whether we personally feel up to reading people's honest opinions. We don't often see the critical side of honest opinions in feedback to stories, but that doesn't mean they're not out there, and that doesn't mean people don't have the right to express those opinions.

ci5hq, and the Reading Room feature, are places where readers are allowed to have opinions about stories and to express them. We ask people to be polite and thoughtful about it - and people are, and have been, and thank you for that.

Now - on to the next Reading Room...!