r/DestructiveReaders

28K archived posts · Nov 2013 – Sep 2026

DestructiveReaders

Writing Feedback: we will tell you the good, the bad, the ugly, and the horrible of your writing. RDR ~ Colorfully Destructive.

Created Nov 8, 2013

49KMembers (last snapshot)

28KArchived posts

##Click To Hide Leeches

Raison d'être

The goal: to improve writing and maintain the highest standard of critique excellence anywhere on Reddit.

DestructiveReaders isn't about writers being nice to writers; it's about readers being honest with writers. We deconstruct writing to construct better writers.

Getting Started

Please read the rules below, and take a look at the FAQ and New User thread.

Assuring Quality & Rules

###▼ Rules & Guidelines ▼

PLEASE VIEW OUR SUB ON OLD.REDDIT.com/r/DestructiveReaders ON DESKTOP
This sub is dedicated to the blunt assessment of writing. Do not submit a story if you react poorly to potentially harsh feedback.
Before submitting work, please read the welcome sticky and provide at least one ‘high effort’ critique of a story that has (in total) the same word count as the piece you submit. Failure to do so will result in the application of a leech tag, and in 12 hours, the post will be removed. NOTE: Critiques can be banked, but expire after 3 months. Google Doc comments are not considered part of a high effort critique. Please read the ENTIRE sidebar section on "leeching" before submission.
SUBMISSION RULES: The title of posts must begin with the word count in square brackets: [Word count] Insert title here. No rough drafts or unedited work.
When critiquing, do not engage in personal attacks or leave criticism without merit. Keep it explicitly about the writing. Please read our guidelines for critiquing on Google docs, and leave the doc readable for other members.
A human must write the critique. If an AI-algorithm has assisted, it can only be for the organizing of a finished critique, or punctuation. This is highly unnecessary usually. ChatGPT spam accounts will be banned 100% of the time–permanently.
Submitting? Please link your critique(s) so the mods and community can judge the merit. If you don't, the community may assume you are a leech.
All top-level (non-critique) comments on submissions will be removed. Don't speak for the community. Use the report button instead of telling someone to critique--it is not even against the rules to submit as a leech.
You must wait at least two days between submissions, and we suggest limiting your word count to ~2500. Do not post already published work.
While not a rule, we prefer Google Docs submissions. Privacy Alert: Google attaches your G+ account to your submissions. If you value privacy, use a throwaway email.

###▼ What is the red leech mark? ▼

A leech is someone who takes without giving. The community would fall apart if everyone just dumped their writing and left. Most users here ignore leeches entirely. It is against the rules to tell leeches to critique. Users are both allowed to critique leeches, and/or submit as a leech without it being against the rules.
Marked a leech? Consider submitting less words—almost always that will get the mods off your back.
A leech post will appear faded with CSS enabled. The button on the sidebar [HIDE LEECH] does exactly that.
If users are concerned about not critiquing a leech, we recommend they only critique submissions over 5 hours old. It is also recommended to focus critiques on posts no older than ~3 days (often abandoned/rewritten).
Once marked, you have 12 hours to meet the 1:1 ratio. If you submit a 1000 word story, critique a 1000 word story. (Or two 500 word stories.) For larger word counts, we require sometimes 2:1 or even 3:1. After 12 hours, the post is removed and you will be unable to resubmit for 2 days.
Effort goes further than experience here. "I'm new!" isn't an excuse.
"High effort" is a dynamic/scaling concept. The critique standards for a 3.5k submission are much higher than a 1k submission. Mods will probably demand multiple critiques to approve higher word counts.
Example: five 1k critiques doesn't earn a large 5k submission. Mods rarely want to combine your critiques for full value above 2.5k. We prefer you split your submissions up under 3.5k maximum (and wait 48 hours to submit in pieces). For higher counts, ALL of your chosen critiques will need to be extremely quality and of similar word counts to your submission. 4k is a cultural soft cap, but not a rule. We judge under increasing pressure, like water VS aluminum cans.
Line edits are very welcome in Google docs, but do not count towards the 1:1 ratio. Critiques that copy-paste large sections of writing just to make trivial edits will be regarded as low quality.

Submission & Critique Tutorial

Special Threads & Resources

Educational Glossary	Why Critique First?
"Special Threads"	Writing Resources & Tutorials
Official Feedback Survey	Hall of Fame

^^^Layout ^^^March-1st ^^^design ^^^by ^^^Mindy ^^^Coding ^^^by ^^^/u/Rachel-B

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