A Quickie! What THEM Anime Does With Flame Mail!

April 27, 2007

We read every single piece of flame mail we get.

THEM Anime reviewers get approximately one flame mail for about every 4-5 complimentary or neutral letters. It's easy to tag us -- our emails, by and large are right there on the review.

Honestly, we like the feedback, especially when people articulate their opinions in a calm, polite manner and try to understand where a particular reviewer is coming from.

Sometimes, though, people get unduly frazzled because THEM Anime doesn't like their favorite show. Now, aside from the usual old spiel about reviews being opinions (and yes, just because your opinion may be different doesn't invalidate any critic's ability to state their own, thanks!), we do have some things we feel you ought to know.

We're a lot nicer than the "professional" magazines. Why? Well, think about it. Have you ever picked up a GamePro, or something similar? When they get flame mail, it gets put in the special "mail section", and usually the editors absolutely savage the letter, tearing it to shreds, generally make a great mockery of the flamer, and do so, yes, in public. Other anime review sites also do this, and more power to them.

But here at THEM, we do flame-mailers a massive favor:

No matter how incomprehensible their arguments, how much they fail to spell words correctly, how they seem utterly unable to use the caps lock key, no matter how ardently they defend shows we find reprehensible, we don't personally mock them in public by name.

We simply pass them along the review staff and mock them mercilessly in private, and sometimes, we let them know of our derision in private. After all, emails are a private thing and aren't necessarily meant for public knowledge, especially if we theoretically decided that maybe your girlfriend and parents really ought to know you thought Countdown to Delight really deserved five stars. Or that you can't spell "you" correctly, or that you threatened a reviewer's life because "OMG ODIN CHANGED MY LIFE!"

("Searching for Odin my love!")

If we are often cynical and sarcastic when dealing with anime we don't like, then understand that this can also be brought to bear upon the blithering idiots who think it is important that our opinions be brought in line with theirs. If you can't turn off the "otaku instinct" and be rational about your opinions on Japanese cartoons, then maybe you should reconsider writing us.

But if you do "flame us in anger", be aware that you are far less likely to change our minds and get us riled up ... and far more likely to earn a huge collective laugh around the virtual office water cooler.

Seriously, would you dream of sending flame mail to professional, paid movie critics? Those of you who do would likely get no reply at all, and rightfully so.

You know what?

They laugh at flame mail too ... and they get paid for it. We provide this at our own expense, as a free service.

If you don't like it: tough cookies. Besides, they're just anime reviews! It's not like us rating Naruto as an average show ever killed anyone. :D

"All this bitchin’ and moanin’ and pitchin’ a fit
Get over it, get over it" -- The Eagles

- Carlos/Giancarla Ross

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