My first experience with Comment Swap!

So as I'm back and trying to find my way around the maze that was once straight-forward Mibba and has now turned into New Mibba, I decided to try learn about everything new.

So first off was even learning how to roll with getting onto My Mibba, learning that we no longer went straight into our profiles...all that jazz. I'm sure everyone's had the initial, oh god...what is this. It's a bit like coming home to a freshly painted house and knowing you're at home but being taken aback and overwhelmed by the smell of such newness. Ya know?

Anyways, I'm getting away from the point. One of the first things I saw was Comment Swap. My initial reaction was whhhat? And then the brain clicked into action and put the words 'comment' and 'swap' together. Wholla, we understand!

I think it's a really clever idea. I don't know how many times with old Mibba, I waited and waited desperately after updates, between writing chapters...just waiting for comments, from old readers or new. A comment is always special.

So I immediately decided I would take part in it, and after I got my first update in almost nine months out of the way, I went through the paces and was already reading my first story (Which was a really good one about a zombie apocalypse!). I commented and went to bed.

Today, I signed on and was super happy to see I had alerts! I had one comment, a nice one.. and though some punctuation and grammatical errors were marked upon, the reader also stressed how she had enjoyed my description of my character.

I had gotten another comment swap for a different story. I don't know if it was intentional or not but it came across as just mean. Even if I was stressing some helpful criticism, I would still point out other parts of the story that I enjoyed, which I think most people would do.

No, all I got was...a certain line stuck in her head, which I wasn't sure was a bad thing or not? And then 5 minutes of attention to my grammar would sort the story out.

There are many people on Mibba, Quizilla...even on Tumblr who are grammar nazis. People love to jump down your throat about it. I know that sometimes my punctuation isn't great but it is, for sure, better than some peoples. Sometimes I'm typing so fast, I don't notice some spelling errors and I think everyone can get confused sometimes as to grammar.

But hey, it would be nice if people also looked at your characters, the plot of your story and the imagination that has been put into it instead of, 'you forgot a punctuation mark.' I'm not saying that grammar and punctuation aren't important because they are but lets not forget the other things that make a story...

So yes, I finally experienced comment swap....and I think I might hesitate before doing it again or perhaps put up a bigger shield around myself when I click onto Alerts again.
Does anyone else agree with me? I also don't mean to attack anyone or insult people, I just feel a bit hurt that someone couldn't look past the mistakes. And I'm sure there's others who have felt the same.

Also, my first blog layout. You like? :)