Well, I kind of feel I exploited a slight weakness in the setup of your poll. I ticked both "Liked it" and "Didn't like it". Not to screw with your mind, just because that's how I felt.

Don't know if you remember our little conversation in fandom_secrets, but I said I was going to comment on one of your stories - I went for your dandy little Artie/Rachel number, because that's the one I remember reading - and so I did... and it just felt so insubstantial ticking some ticky boxes compared to leaving even the most cursory of "I liked it!" comments. Though maybe it was because I genuinely enjoyed your story; I've read floods of other stories that were mildly diverting and enjoyable, and if they'd had polls I'd probably have gladly voted "Read it, liked it". (Hmmm... that's a thought. A ticky box saying "Liked it, but not enough to leave a comment. I just liked it, OK? It didn't change my life, it just made five minutes of my mortal shuffle through life fractionally less grim".) The problem I see with polls is that they will never be able to express what a comment can. It's the author's words, not the reader's. Then again, if you've got comments open, who cares? If someone feels that strongly about a story they can always comment... but they might be put off from explicitly commenting to say "I had issues with your work". So the author would have to offer that option in a poll, but how many authors are self-aware enough to think of specific problems that might be in their own work? Do you see where I'm going?

Incidentally, I'm pretty sure I first heard of that Peter Elbow book in a book I own titled "Bizarre Books". In the "Appropriate Author Names" section, there's "Writing with Power" by Peter Elbow.

The most awesome dinosaur is clearly Baryonyx. I saw a skeleton once in that Natural History Museum in London. It was like a religious experience. Almost as good as seeing an Archaeopteryx in Berlin, but that's not a dinosaur so it doesn't count.