Vic, I await your return with bated breath. 
Diane, thanks for the link. Too bad I already screwed myself, but it will certainly help untarnish my future. 
Yes. That is how it worked for our (non-anonymous) crit group. I’m happy to report we managed to boost each other’s oh-so-important self-regard for our own work, by paying attention to the good, the bad, and the incomprehensible/badly-expressed in our writing – and all electronically. No cringing. Just aim to be editable. In the end it’s your work, you do the heavy lifting. (I’ve never met the others in my group, we lost touch after CompuServe drifted away … but I still happily reflect on the experience.)
It’s one thing to practise slash-and-burn editing (which I do these days) but another thing completely to unnecessarily eviscerate a novice writer’s ego when ‘helping’ them.
That said, my own ego re my writing being edited was comprehensively pummelled working in a newsroom when day after day even the simplest, shortest things I wrote were routinely improved, sharpened and made more succinct by various experienced sub-editors. After a while you get the message that your work can always be improved, by someone who has the skills. The sooner you get to ‘So what?’ and let go of ‘It has to be perfect before I hand it in’, the better. It can ALWAYS be improved. (I know I said that already. It’s important.)
But back to the point: There’s enough internal struggle in creative endeavours without malice. Steer clear of it. Don’t participate. - P
PS Vic-k: I too greatly look forward to you strolling ‘the boards’ with us again. (No pressure.)
A point already raised by Jaysen, in this thread, is the possible creation of a thread devoted to Critique. We already have the, Scrivenings Forum, located on the deck below Writers Block, but it isnt extensively used for the purpose of critiquing.
Yesterday, I read all forty five threads, dating back to mid 2006 ( surely, time travel in its simplest form), seeking evidence of crew members, looking to have their literary endeavours critiqued by other members of Scriv`s crew. There are, not surprisingly, I suppose, very few. However, pre-eminent amongst those who did, is Natalie, with her thread, Day Day
I strongly recommend that you read, Day. I suspect that the sensible and sensitive way it was responded to, is typical of the response you could expect from the majority of the Scrivenerati.
Also worth mentioning is Phil Sheenans thread: https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/maybe-god-smiles-on-you/2739/1 John Dodds Free crime ebook
Andrés: https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/some-of-my-writings/4067/1 Bruces: Most of chapter 1!
Yall know what Col. Jessup said about truth. So! If you cant handle it, dont go looking for it. Simple as that. That said, I think Scrivs beam is wide enough, and her superstructure sturdy enough to carry a dedicated crit forum, and In the event that snide does rear its ugly head, I suspect itll be blasted to buggry in no time at all, by other Scrivenerati.
As Ive mentioned to Jaysen elsewhere, I seem to be encountering an exponentially increasing number of very long, steep, learning curves. Im finding them just too much for my ME addled brain to cope with. I seriously doubt Ill ever be in the position of being able to say to the rest of the crew, “Heres a big chunk of my first draft, what do think?” It just wont happen.
Apart from some spare time, I do have, languishing in the bowels of, ‘And Now For That Latte’, my shameful/shameless hijacking of, loft`s thread, ‘Anyone from London? I’m looking for a good coffee house…’ @ Anyone from London? I'm looking for a good coffee house...
In spite of intermittent postings from others, it morphed into an unfinished tale, of a delusional old duffer (me), and the events and characters he encounters on his quest for a Wi-Fi hotspot in his village. If I can get the old brain to function properly, for long enough, Im minded to finish it, and offer it up as the first sack of grist for our (maybe), new crit mill. What says ysall
Vic
I would LOVE to read it, vic, as I adore reading all your posts here. And Scriv has always been a wonderful and caring community, to me anyway, so I think the idea of a critique board is a fine one, if Keith agrees.
Diane–here’s a giggle for you: I went to Query Tracker and tried to register and discovered I had already done so, quite some time ago, in a previous life I have no recollection of (you and me both, vic. 
). So I watched the videos and was enchanted, immediately paid for premium membership, whereupon I got a notice that the board was shutting down for 2 hours for a major upgrade. Who knew I would have such profound influence from the get-go? 
Deeply indebted to you, many thanks again. It looks like a super site. Or will, I suppose, in a couple of hours.
ooh, do take screenshots of the new red carpet that they rolled out for you!
I think that critiquing other’s work is also a learning curve for many, and can improve the perception of your own work too.
The biggest turn on for me, where a woman is concerned, is intellect 
[size=150]GGRRRRRR!!![/size]
Oh God, I’m toast. 
worram sayin ere, is: giventake! Know worra mean? 
Ohhhhh, yes.
I was a member of an online critique group for a while (critters.org), and even though I never sent one of my own stories through I learned a lot. You see things in other people’s work that you don’t see in your own, but once you’re used to spotting, identifying, and describing various problems, then you start to gain the ability to see those same problems in your own work. It’s an eye-opener…
Hiya janra,
Whilst you seem to concur with the sentiments expressed by pink, You havent actually said whether or not you are, '[i]for[/i]' or [i]'against[/i]', my proposal. However jocularly presented, it is a serious proposal, and Im sure, if handled properly, would prove to be a beneficial exercise for all of us.
Take care
Vic
I think KB is the one who needs to approve. Considering it is his forum and all…
Go on then! Don`t be shy. Ask him 
The good, the bad and the ugly, not necessarily in that order:
My A-1 choice of agent, that I started this tale of woe about, sent me a very nice email on Monday as soon as she got my truncated snail mail, thanking me and wishing me luck and explaining she was completely overextended with fiction, yadda yadda. Let taps begin.
Still, it was a strange relief in a way.
So over I bustled to QueryTracker (thanks again Diane) and spent 18 hours researching, assembling, inputting, adding little colored flags and folders, till I had a wonderfully impressive, personalized, annotated, cross-referenced list of agents to approach. Then I saw I could “Name my project.” 
I clicked over happily to the Naming Page, pulled down the little Naming Block, saw a blank space, pressed the little + sign to “add a project,” typed in the title of my magnum opus–and there was still that annoying blank space on top of it in the “List of Projects” box. 
I found I could highlight it, and so of course because it was in the way and annoying me, I deleted it.
Poof. 
Everything I had done for the past 18 hours gone into the vapors. Because when I called up my newly named project, expecting everything to be there, there was NADA. Not a single entry.
Ka-THUNK.
Following my minor meltdown, a frantic email to the board’s manager, many condolences and sympathies on his part (lovely man, Patrick, isn’t he Diane?) but no ability to retrieve my own stupidly erased data, I went back bleary eyed and filled everything back in as best my sotted little brain could remember.
And got around yesterday, finally, to snail and emailing out about 10 queries.
Within an hour and a half I had a request for the full ms.
It’s only a start, but we’ll see where it goes. So far the week is ending on an up note…
EXCELLENT news!
(Not the lost 18 hours worth of work, that really bites!)
Hang on in there Babe! 
PUT THAT CORK BACK IN THE BOTTLE!!
You are going to jinx me.
careful, he might put the cork somewhere else!
I was kind of hoping he would. It might keep him busy for a while.
That`s what the actress said to the bishop!
Got another request for the first three chapters.
This is the fun part, before the actual rejections start rolling in. Lalalalalalala…I can’t hear you…
The roller coaster life. Just what I’ve always wanted.