Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 25, 2016 10:10:37 GMT -5
The various review threads that we have here at the CCF (a list of which can be found on the forum home page) have become one of the corner stones of our community, as well as arguably the most unique element of our forum. As such, I thought it might be useful to have a thread where those who are currently working on these types of thread or those who are avidly following them can come and talk shop. This is also a place where folks can ask for feedback on their review threads or solicit suggestions about which type of thread they should start next. It will hopefully also be a place where reviewers who have let their review threads fall dormant can be encouraged to restart them, by those that miss the regular updates. Hopefully some of those who have grown bored of writing reviews can find the spark to rekindle their interest in it and rediscover what spurred them to undertake a particular thread in the first place. Myself, I only have one thread currently -- my Star Wars at Marvel one -- but it can sometimes be hard to motivate myself to regularly update it, when there are so many other demands on my time, what with work and general living. That said, I'm pleased that I've managed to steadily contribute to it for about 18 months now. I'm about two thirds of the way through, with 57 more reviews to write, and I'm aiming to complete it by the end of this year. I used to have a Tintin review thread, back on the old Comic Book Resources site, and got about a third of the way through that before I lost everything I'd written, including an almost complete review of King Ottokar's Sceptre, in a hard drive crash. I couldn't be bothered to rewrite the King Ottokar's Sceptre review and so my enthusiasm for the thread waned and it ground to a hault. It was then deleted and lost forever in the great CBR reboot of 2014.  I do intend to re-start that review thread here at some point, but probably not until I finish my Star Wars one. So, to get the discussion started, what does everybody who writes reviews find the most difficult part of the process? Myself, I dislike having to write the plot summary for each review. After reading an issue, I just want to get on with writing what I thought of it, so the issue synopsis is always a part that really bores me and something I want to get out of the way as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, writing a succinct synopsis is sometimes harder and more time consuming than you might think. |
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Crimebuster
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Post by Crimebuster on May 25, 2016 12:24:40 GMT -5
So, to get the discussion started, what does everybody who writes reviews find the most difficult part of the process? Images. It's not that they're difficult, but adding them just takes a lot of time and effort. Writing is easy, it's what I do for a living, so I can bang them out really fast. But sometimes there are panels or pages that just need to be seen to be fully appreciated, and those quickly become a major drag to add. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on May 25, 2016 13:12:00 GMT -5
So, to get the discussion started, what does everybody who writes reviews find the most difficult part of the process? Images. It's not that they're difficult, but adding them just takes a lot of time and effort. Writing is easy, it's what I do for a living, so I can bang them out really fast. But sometimes there are panels or pages that just need to be seen to be fully appreciated, and those quickly become a major drag to add. Really? That's interesting because I find that to be one of the most fun parts. It is time consuming, I agree with you there, but I quite enjoy picking out certain panels or pages with which to illustrate what I'm saying. As for writing the reviews, I've always found that easy enough -- I used to work as a freelance music journo for a while -- but doing the story synopses just bores me silly. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 2, 2016 18:38:43 GMT -5
I agree with Crimebuster... I find it a huge pain to scan, upload and post pics, so I generally just use what I can find, which isn't always what I had in mind.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2016 20:42:55 GMT -5
I find pictures that I want to share on any thread quite easily and I have no problems doing the work necessary to make a valid point in my post. I'm totally opposite of wildfire2099.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 3, 2016 10:34:33 GMT -5
I agree with Crimebuster... I find it a huge pain to scan, upload and post pics, so I generally just use what I can find, which isn't always what I had in mind. Ah, maybe this is why our attitudes towards putting pictures into our reviews differs. I don't scan anything: I have a complete set of Star Wars comics in electronic form on my PC that I use to excerpt particular panels from. Any other images I need come from the web...usually via Google image search. I have an account at tinypic.com which I use for image hosting, so it's a relatively painless process for me. If I was having to fire up my scanner and fish out a particular issue from my collection in order to include pictures, I could quickly see that turning into a real nuisance. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jun 3, 2016 18:48:16 GMT -5
I find it pretty easy to find covers online.. but particular panels is a crap shoot. I also have yet to find a hosting site that's not a pain... I've tried tinypic, photobucket and Imgur.. just remember the login and such, uploading, getting the link, etc fills me with unreasonable dread.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Jun 4, 2016 15:38:40 GMT -5
I like using images and I hate using images. The part I like is that it makes it easier for me to organize my review. After I read the story, I snap pictures of the things I want to discuss, and bam, I have a visual roadmap to guide my writing.
What I hate, though, is that you can't take images just anywhere. It's got to be the right place with the right lighting. I used to love packing up my laptop, walking to a coffee shop on a day off, and just writing from there, but that's no longer possible now that there's an expectation for review threads to include images.
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 11, 2016 11:35:21 GMT -5
Another thing that annoys me, connected to my review thread, is when life and work get in the way of me having the time to write a review. The next issue up I plan to do is really fun and a big favourite of mine, but I've been so busy with work and other chores this week that I just haven't had time to even re-read the issue, let alone write anything meaningful about it.
Hopefully things will calm down a bit next week and I can get at least a couple more reviews done.
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Post by Prince Hal on Jun 11, 2016 22:19:47 GMT -5
Another thing that annoys me, connected to my review thread, is when life and work get in the way of me having the time to write a review. The next issue up I plan to do is really fun and a big favourite of mine, but I've been so busy with work and other chores this week that I just haven't had time to even re-read the issue, let alone write anything meaningful about it. Hopefully things will calm down a bit next week and I can get at least a couple more reviews done. So do we! |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 11, 2016 22:31:01 GMT -5
I mostly find that I get bored with whatever I'm doing the reviews of.
I have developed a short attention span as an adult.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Jun 11, 2016 22:53:09 GMT -5
I mostly find that I get bored with whatever I'm doing the reviews of.
I have developed a short attention span as an adult.
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 12, 2016 2:25:54 GMT -5
I share the general dislike of plot synopsis, particularly when you're reviewing, say, X-Men #1 and everyone and their grandmother already knows the plot.  If it's an unimportant issue, I'll slightly modify the CBD entries. I stop letting it bug me that I can't do a review a day. It's best to take a break if you're getting burned out, recharge, and come back to it when you're really into it. |
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Jun 12, 2016 9:47:31 GMT -5
I mostly find that I get bored with whatever I'm doing the reviews of. I have developed a short attention span as an adult. I stop letting it bug me that I can't do a review a day. It's best to take a break if you're getting burned out, recharge, and come back to it when you're really into it. There's an attendant point to what you guys are saying that I think anyone who decides to undertake a review thread needs to consider: how much do a really like the series? I've vaguely considered what series I might review next, after I'm done with Star Wars (no way am I going to have more than one review thread on the go - I just don't have the hours in the day for that and hats off to those brave souls who do juggle multiple review threads). Anyway, aside from finishing my old Tintin review thread from back in the CBR days, I'm hard pushed to think of another series that I'm so nuts about that I would happily embark on a review thread of it and not end up getting bored mid-way through. Maybe I could do a shorter Spider-Man review thread (like just doing the Gerry Conway issues of Amazing Spider-Man or something), but other than that, I can't really think of a series that I wouldn't eventually get bored of reviewing. But to do an entire review thread is quite a commitment, in terms of time and effort, I feel. |
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Post by Nowhere Man on Jun 12, 2016 10:08:46 GMT -5
Well, with The Marvel Age thread, there is a lot of stuff in the early part of the 60's that I don't particularly like, so I would never do a chronological Ant-Man or Human Torch thread given how mediocre most of their early adventures are. On the flip side, if I ever review something I really love like Gaiman's Sandman, Walt Simonson's Thor, Byrne's FF, the Claremont/Byrne Uncanny X-Men, etc, I'd be so engrossed in it I'd probably write far more detailed reviews.
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I do intend to re-start that review thread here at some point, but probably not until I finish my Star Wars one.
If it's an unimportant issue, I'll slightly modify the CBD entries. 