User blog comment:Princess Callie/Why you shouldn't feel bad about criticism/@comment-25052433-20140726180927/@comment-25148755-20140727072401

To be completely honest, I sort of wish a mod had deleted JtK when it first came around...it's really not a good story. You're right to say it is cliched as hell, because it is; it's derivative of a ton of other, better work some of which you've pointed out. Popular? Sure, absolutely. Tons of people love it, emulate it, think it's the best thing since sliced bread. But it's the Transformers: The Movie of creepypasta. The style is average, some of the grammar is questionable, and the plot holes are gaping. Does this matter? Well....yes and no.  Yes in that it's never going to be something you look at and say "this is a perfectly constructed piece of work that should be used as the basis for everything" but no in that its popcorn, its fun, and apparently a hell of a lot of people can relate to it on some level (and that is definitely something to aspire to.)

There's an absolutely fine line between giving constructive criticism and just being an unhelpful troll. Sometimes that line gets blurred...I find it's very easy to accidentally fall from one side to the other on the internet, most of the time because you can't anticipate how your reader will interpret the inflection of your writing.

End of the day, when I give feedback I certainly include whether or not I liked the story (because, again using Jeff as an example, if you liked it even a technically bad story can be worthwhile and, vice versa, a technically good story can be a flop) but I try not to focus on if I was a particular fan of the topic. Rather, I  give feedback on the grammar, style/flow,  if the story works/makes sense and specific areas I thought were done well or could use improvement.

The story that prompted this thread was just bad. And while saying that makes me look like one of your tactless insulters, dang it, sometimes you've gotta call a dog a dog.