Merry Crisis

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On the 7^th night of Hanukkah my vindictive author gave to me....

Madness Opens: Mon 26 Dec
Author Reveals: Sun Jan 1

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Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Did they thank you "in person" when getting your notes back? Is that not enough? Do you want to be in the fic notes so that other people will know you offer beta-service - is it advertising? Do you want them to publicly cite which aspects of the fic you had a hand in so you can take credit? Are you friends - have you credited them before?

[(Anonymous)]

DC

I don't use betas very often anymore, but when I still did, I always thanked them in my notes, no matter if I was friends with them or not, had already thanked them privately, etc. Like OP, I also see it as an act of basic courtesy, one I don't even think about. They helped me to improve the story, why would I NOT mention them? Guess it all comes down on how you were raised. Some people also need to make a conscious effort to have basic table manners.

[(Anonymous)]

And some people were raised not expecting their ass to be thoroughly licked in perpetuity for looking over a fic and saying "It looks good, you can post it."

[(Anonymous)]

"How you were raised" lol ok. I'm always happy to beta for my friends and never expect my name on their fic in return. They say "thanks so much, I appreciate it!" and I enjoy seeing them get comments from readers, the end. I can't imagine being salty that they didn't thank me ENOUGH, publicly.

And let's be real, sometimes you beta as best you can but don't WANT your name on the end product.

[(Anonymous)]

My friends usually got (when we shared fandoms and I got actual beta passes from them) "thanks to the usual suspects" or something similar in my notes rather than individual mentions, and they usually did the same kind of thing in their notes.

(Your last point is why I no longer do last-minute hippo SPAG passes for late pinch hits where you're told canon knowledge is not needed. "Fix that comma splice! Those four words aren't correctly spelled! You switched tense here!" might be all I signed up to tell a person, but having done that once on a story that then got wanked over as spitefic, I was glad my name was nowhere near it.)

(FWIW, from my limited interaction with the writer, it didn't seem to be actual spitefic. They just picked up a pinch hit at the 11th hour and, it turns out, genuinely misunderstood the prompts.)

[(Anonymous)]

DC

I stopped betaing for people because they insisted on mentioning me in their notes, even after I explicitly asked them not to. Mentioning me by full username, too, even after I said I would rather be identified by initial or just as "a beta", if the exchange required indicating that the work was beta-read.

[(Anonymous)]

This is where you beta with a sock, but it’s annoying they ignored your wishes.

[(Anonymous)]

This is why I always ask what name the beta wants to be credited by. Sometimes they'll tell me their ao3/discord name, sometimes they'll tell me a nickname or initial, and sometimes they'll say, "oh, you don't need to mention me." And then I follow their request. If they helped me with brainstorming instead of spag, I'll make sure to note that in my a/n, or if I went back and made massive changes after they saw it I'll do the "remaining mistakes are mine".

Like, a beta did you a solid favor by looking over your fic. How hard is it to thank them the way they want to be thanked?

[(Anonymous)]

I have never had a beta do anything worth crediting.

[(Anonymous)]

Well aren't you a special snowflake who's never made an error

[(Anonymous)]

NC

This has happened to me too, and I almost never offer to beta anymore unless I know the writer. I wish it was normal to NOT mention or thank your beta. If it was a major overhaul of the plot, OK, credit for that, but if I just pointed out a few SPAG issues I don't need my name on your story forever.

[(Anonymous)]

CYRT it's just a convention that I'm used to. If it were the norm to not do this, then I wouldn't have expected it and I wouldn't be disappointed.

[(Anonymous)]

You're being very weird about this.

[(Anonymous)]

The issue is that it feels like a snub.

[(Anonymous)]

It probably wasn't meant that way, though. Sometimes you gotta learn to manage your feelings.