I'm not in the habit of giving bad news for the sake of it, but sometimes people need to be told no, and occasionally the first time doesn't take. Like Sedri, I try to be respectful about it--but all the same, if the original members had wanted anyone to be allowed to write stories and call them part of the PPC, they wouldn't have started the Permission-Givers.

I think I understand that your issue was mainly with SttQ jumping on the bandwagon after the fact, but if you have a concern in the future, it would actually be more helpful to immediately state clearly who and what you're referring to so the addressee (and anyone else) can review what they said and decide whether they agree with you or not. It's hard to agree or disagree with you, let alone make improvements, without knowing exactly what you're talking about.

~Neshomeh

Tactful, always, and polite. However, there's no point giving criticism if it's so carefully couched so as not to hurt feelings that it never gets the message across. It's a hard balance to strike, but if we didn't keep firmly on our line of standards, we'd be letting the PPC itself fall, and we care too much about this community as a whole to do that. It's still tough. I never like telling people there's something wrong with their story, and I hate denying Permission.

Around here, I generally work from the assumption that everyone cares about their writing enough to get it right, even if that means swallowing some unpleasant criticism, or even starting again from scratch. If it's any help with perspective, I've often been told that I'm being too nice.

Neshomeh and Sedri have the right of it, Aeidhryn, as Permission Givers. They are trying to explain what is wanted and desired for permission.

Sister-to-the-Queen doesn't have the right to be so critical, however, especially without any constructive commentary to help whatsoever.

Sister-to-the-Queen, you shouldn't be poking holes in other people's writings so much after others have already addressed it.

You are coming off as rude and condescending, as well as a tagalong. No one likes an unhelpful critic.