The Review Fuse Writers’ Forum is a privately owned forum created to facilitate open discussion about writing. Content posted to the Writers’ Forum should be adhere to the Review Fuse content policy. Advertisements are not permitted.

Forum postings represent the individual opinions of participants. The forum is monitored by Review Fuse staff members. We reserve the right to remove any postings that we deem inappropriate, profane, harassing, defamatory, or malicious.

All posts are published and public information. Use extreme caution when posting personal information.

Forum postings, including mentions of specific Web sites, products, services, etc., are the individual opinions of participants, who are solely responsible for the content they post. Review Fuse maintains no obligation for comments posted by participants.

Review Fuse Team

We recently revamped our private groups to meet the needs of writing classes and traditional writing groups. The private groups are essentially a miniature version of Review Fuse. We think the changes we have made to the navigation and structure of the private groups should be incorporated into the general community. Please experiment freely with the beta group and let us know what you think.

1. Go to the Beta group homepage
2. Log in in as either beta1, beta2, beta3, beta4, or beta5
3. Password for all beta users is letmein

All work will be removed from the beta group weekly, so please don’t upload anything you care about to this group.

If you are interested in using a private group to streamline the critique process for a course you teach or for your traditional writing group please contact us to arrange a trial or for more details.

Jacob

You can update your work anytime on Review Fuse. You can even update your work after you have submitted it for critique. If you receive your first critique and want to make changes before you receive your next critique, go ahead. When we assign your work for the next critique we will assign the newest version.

Jacob

The first quarter of 2009 has been busy at Review Fuse as we have continued to grow and develop as a writing community. Here are our community growth stats for the first quarter of 2009. You can view last year’s stats in the Year End Review 2008

I am also including the average review feedback scores below. Feedback scores range from 1 (bad critique) to 5 (great critique). Overall members seem happy with our community. In order to continue improving the quality of the critiques given we are going to implement a 300 word minimum count for critiques in the near future.

We appreciate the feedback you give us and suggestions you make that help us improve the community. Based on your feedback we are currently developing improved editing tools for reviewers and forums for our general writing community and private writing groups.

Please continue to share your thoughts about how we can improve Review Fuse

Jacob

Two months ago we asked you which new features you wanted. It was a bit of a slug fest, but in the end writing lessons came out on top. We are pleased to announce the release of writing lessons.

For those who have not already noticed, writing lessons can be found in the blue box on the right hand side of the My Account page. We have also added writing prompts just below writing lessons on the My Account page. When you have a chance, please read a lesson or prompt, perform the assignment, submit it for critique, and let us know what you think.

If you are not already a member please join our writing group to access these features.

Jacob

Our goal is to get authors critiqued within 72 hours of completing their assigned reviews. We give priority to members with high review quality scores and who have completed their assigned critiques. If you want to get critiqued as fast as possible, then give high quality critiques and maintain a strong review quality score.

If it ever takes longer than 72 hours to receive your critiques please let us know. If you have writing you would like to get critiqued please join our writing community.


Jacob

The results of the bug I reported Monday have largely been erased. When I reported the delay there were over 100 stories, poems, and essays that should have been critiqued, but had not been as a result of this bug. As of Wednesday morning only 23 stories and poems were still suffering from the side effects of this bug. These works should receive their critiques by Friday.

I would like to thank Jobaby for reporting this bug to us and again apologize for the delay we caused. Our goal is to get members critiqued within 72 hours of completing their assigned reviews. If you notice delays in getting critiqued, encounter issues with our site, or find a bug please let us know.

Jacob

Two weeks ago a bug wormed its way into our review assignment process. By wormed its way in, I mean we messed up. We found this bug a week ago and squished it. However, this bug has put us behind on getting everyone in our writing community critiqued.

By the end of this week the lingering results of this bug will be erased and people we will receive their critiques 2 or 3 days after finishing their assigned critiques rather than a week after.

We apologize for the delays we have caused and are prepared for any berating you have for us.

Jacob

Review Fuse is a meritocracy where those who give the highest quality peer critiques receive the highest quality critiques. You can probably guess the quality of critiques lousy reviewers receive.

The quality of the critiques you provide is the basis of your Review Quality Score. Review Quality scores range from 1 to 5, where 1 equals a terrible reviewer and 5 equals an amazing reviewer. You can find your approximate Review Quality Score on the My Account page under the “How am I doing?” section, as shown below.

If your Review Quality Score is high, congratulations, keep up the good work. If you score it low then repent and start giving higher quality critiques, this will improve your score and the quality of the critiques you receive. If you want to remove a blemishe from your review record then go to the My Account page, clicking the View icon under the “Latest Reviews Given” section, and choose to “redo” a low quality review you gave.

Our goal is to get everyone high quality critiques, but we really can only help those who help themselves. Find out more about how Review Fuse works.

Jacob

We had over 1,200 critiques performed last month, about 50 of these critiques where lousy. How should the unfortunate recipients of a rude or hasty feedback react? They could curse the universe, but that really won’t help. They can curse me for helping conceive the idea of Review Fuse, but with the host of curses already trying to do me in their curse will have to wait its turn. Or they could give the reviewer a low feedback score, tell them why they did so, and move on to the next critique.

WHAT? No retaliation! No counterstrike! No retribution!

We are trying to build a community where we help each other improve. Think neighbors not enemies. Helping the bozo who tried to assault your honor understand why they stink, helps cleanse the community of their foul stench. Don’t augment the stench and waste your time by striking back. If you get rude feedback, in any form, then pity the fool who spent part of their life trying unsuccessfully to attack you and move to the next review.

Jacob