As a long-time contest host who gets all the tea from participants expressing their grievances over certain judging practices, here are some common errors I notice from reviewers.

1) Taking off points for no reason

I cannot tell you how many times I've seen contest judges give participants a 9/10 in grammar only to say in their review that "The grammar was flawless."

Where did the point go?

Did it grow legs and run away?

If you say the grammar is flawless, then it is a 10/10. If there are errors, then deduct points. Don't deduct points if there are no errors.

I had someone give me I believe it was an 8/10 in grammar only to say "There wasn't a single error." I would have won with those two points. Where did the points go? Did they go take a vacation in Narnia?

So, yeah. Don't take off points unless you're willing to explain it. Even if it's just a small explanation, give it. Even if it's an explanation the author may not like, give it. Especially for things like grammar that are more objective and have clearer "rights" and "wrongs."

2) Taking off points for personal preference

I cannot tell you how many times I've seen contest judges take off points from a book's plot for the sole reason that they don't like the genre. By that I mean, taking off points from a sci-fi book for the sole reason that it is sci-fi.

Now, look, people are way too harsh on reviewers for subjectivity. Guys, art is mostly subjective, and while there are objective qualities to take away from it, a review is always going to be someone's personal opinion. So please stop bullying reviewers for these types of things.

But that aside, the point is, if you don't like a genre, don't take off points for that. It's not the author's fault you don't like comedies but are reviewing them. I personally don't like comedies at all, but I end up judging a lot of rom-coms. Plenty of them have been winners in my contests, too, because I judge based on the story, not personal preference.

There have been times people writing about topics that genuinely make me uncomfortable (not in a good way) have won in my contests because it's not about me, it's about the author and the story. I signed up to review it, so I review it fairly. That's the least I can do, considering my reviews take a while and people are... mostly... patiently waiting.

Please make sure to state what you don't want to review. Don't force yourself to review anything you don't want to review, otherwise that won't help the author, and it'll just make you feel like you're wasting your time.

Long story short, don't take off points because "I don't personally prefer sci-fi" or something of the sort. Try to be more analytical about it, because at that point it'll just feel like "I don't like giving perfect scores so I gotta bs an excuse to take off points" rather than an actual fair review.

3) AI... sigh

I am so. flipping. tired. of talking about AI. I work in AI for 10-40 hours a week, so I think it's safe to say when I clock out, I want to be done with it. So let's make this quick.

Most AI detectors (not all, but most) will tell you the percentage chance of AI influencing the work. So if you get a result that says 20% AI, then you're good! That's a low percentage, meaning a low chance AI impacted the work in any way. Though some people seem to think all AI detectors mean 20% of the text is AI written. While that may be true for some detectors, most go based on chance, not definitive this is 20% AI written.

I mean, just think of it this way: what if you run ten paragraphs through a detector and it comes back 20% AI-written? Seriously, why would someone use AI for two paragraphs but then not for the other eight. Doesn't make sense, right? Sure, it can happen, but at that point, it isn't even really an "AI-written" work and would be up for debate about if it's AI hybrid or just AI assisted, and you can debate that all day, but I have no interest getting into it. Let's just stay on the topic of detectors.

Think of it this way: if a plagiarism detector says your text has 20% plagiarism, but the things is flags are "I went to the grocery store" and other basic things like that, you wouldn't say it's actually plagiarism but rather a false flag, right? Same applies to low scores in AI detectors. Keep in mind humans, like myself, actually train these AI, so it's extremely possible for false positives, and they happen more than you think.

This isn't me saying this, by the way. My employers told me this (DataAnnotation), not to mention there are several AI detectors who have come out and said that their detection is based on likelihood, not "This is 20% AI written." Here is a screenshot from the Undetectable Blog, and Undetectable is a very popular AI detector:

The blog title is Can AI Detectors be Wrong? (Learn How To Avoid AI Detection). I would leave a link, but Wattpad links are about as reliable as AI detectors, so I will instead just leave the headline so you can direct yourselves there if interested.

The lower the percentage of AI is detected, the higher chance it is a false positive since it doesn't make sense for one or two lines to be AI written and the rest human written. 

Keep in mind AI detectors are only able to boast high accuracy percentages due to loopholes where the only time a detector can be "wrong" is if it scans 0% or 100%. If an AI detector flags a human-written work as 100% AI, then it's wrong. But if an AI detector flags a human-written work as 99% AI, then it's right because of the 1% chance it's human-written. It technically said there was a chance for it to be human-written, so it's not "wrong."

That's why AI detectors are able to boast high accuracy ratings: it's a percentage scale, so it's technically only "wrong" when it flags a human-written work as 100% AI, or an AI-written work as 0% AI.

So why am I mentioning this in a book about reviews? The reason is because mindfulness is important when you're reviewing books, and please don't spread misinformation about AI and become over-reliant on AI detectors.

Along with this, AI detectors can have a bias against non-native English speakers. Undetectable says this about the topic:

So please be mindful of this. It's a tough situation and hard to give advice for. For writers, make sure you are writing on a site with history, like Word (track changes) or Google Docs. Showing previous versions of the text can be good evidence that you did not use AI to write (besides, you shouldn't write right on Wattpad anyway due to the inconsistent saving system). 

Also keep in mind many AIs do not have access to recent information, like from 2024 and 2025. We are currently training the AIs to have an updated databank to include 2024 and 2025 events, so if you as a writer are referencing late 2024 or 2025 events, the likelihood of your work being flagged as AI can go down (that doesn't fully prevent it from being flagged as AI written, but it can be a further piece of proof to prove your innocence).

As for reviewers, it puts you in a tough spot since I'm sure you don't want to spend all your time reviewing an AI-written story. Many "authors" will submit AI-written stories to contests for prizes, though review shops aren't free from this either. These "authors" want an ego boost. This is what we call an "ego review." Many writers, AI or not, will submit to your shop because they want to be praised, not because they want an actual review.

I've unfortunately had to deal with ego reviews before, in which the authors were in for a rude awakening when they realized I give lots of critiques to everyone.

"But, Raven, how can it be an ego review if the writer didn't actually write it?"

You think they care about that? Nah. They delude themselves and just want to be praised under the guise of you thinking you're praising them, not a chatbot. It's the feeling that comes with praise, not if they actually earned it or not.

So please be wary of AI-written works, be wary of AI detectors and don't rely solely on them to find AI-written stories, and be wary of ego reviews.

There are countless ways to recognize the patterns of AI and detect them for yourselves. In my Candlelight Awards, I have a detailed breakdown on this topic, including tips for how to find AI-written works, so please check that out if you'd like to see more info on this topic (it's the chapter with "AI" in the title).

4) False Information

One of the things I appreciate most about being in the Ambassadors is how Wattpad truly does not care if I express a negative opinion about Wattpad. It's not like we're censored or something like that. Remember Ambassadors are people, and we were Wattpad users for likely a long time before ever becoming Ambassadors, so we understand. One of the most common misconceptions people make about Ambassadors (in my experience, anyway) is that we're like these super formal robots (and also making false assumptions about what we actually do, but that's a topic for another day).

Guys, a good chunk of us are BTS fans. If that doesn't tell you we can be wild, I don't know what will. 

Not kidding. You'd be surprised just how many Ambassadors are BTS fans. My pfp on Discord got me five friend requests on my first day alone.

All of this is to say that I, like many, have critiques of Wattpad and think the Wattpad guidelines should be clearer... however, if you haven't read the guidelines and get a story taken down because of that, then that's on you, not Wattpad.

I cannot tell you how many times I've seen people post smut-only oneshots on Wattpad and then have a shocked Pikachu face when it gets taken down.

This isn't ao3. Porn isn't allowed on Wattpad.

A smut-only oneshot is going to get your story taken down.

Another thing is people blaming Wattpad for things like copyright infringements. Guys, copyright infringement isn't just a Wattpad thing, y'know. That's like... a literal law 💀💀💀

I say this because recently I've been seeing a lot of people posting fanfictions that are basically just the same plot and word-for-word dialogue from the source material with the only difference being a new character or two, and also many people reposting published books on here for people to read for free.

Those are copyright violations.

And, just so you know, saying "*insert property here* doesn't belong to me" doesn't exempt you from plagiarism. Giving credit does NOT exempt you from plagiarism. Only if you are given explicit, proveable permission from the original owner of the copyright material can you repost their properties.

Now, why am I saying this under the false information section? This is because a lot, and I mean a lot, of people spread misinformation about Wattpad's guidelines and AI.

Please don't spread misinformation about the guidelines or AI. Ask an Ambassador about the guidelines, read the guidelines carefully for yourself, and don't rely on word of mouth.

For example, I'm sure everyone noticed the giant inactive account sweep that happened this year. Many other apps, like YouTube, do this as well.

A lot of misinformation about that situation arose. People kept spreading misinformation that all inactive accounts were being removed. No. That is incorrect. People were fearmongering and saying even accounts with stories on them were getting removed as long as they were inactive for over five years.

False.

If the account has published works on it, it doesn't matter how long it's been inactive for, it'll stay up. The account could still be removed for content violations, though, so if you noticed an inactive account with works on it get removed, the odds were it was for a content violation rather than the inactivity.

So please don't believe word of mouth and talk to Wattpad staff instead. Reach out to Ambassadors and Gavin (just look up the name Gavin and you'll find him). Read the guidelines for yourself. People on Wattpad love to talk, but keep in mind much of what is said may be incorrect. I myself never read the guidelines too closely upon joining Wattpad, though after becoming an Ambassador and reading them carefully and studying them, it really opened my eyes to just how much misinformation is out there, so please be careful.

5) Frequent spelling/grammar errors

Like I mentioned in the basics chapter, you don't need perfect grammar to be a reviewer, though be mindful of your sentences being hard to understand due to frequent grammar and spelling errors. If you are worried about your spelling and grammar, feel free to use a grammar checker or consult a native speaker of the language you are reviewing in to look at your sentences and help them sound natural.

If an author can't understand the review, it won't be helpful. I've received many reviews where I straight up did not understand them because there were so many spelling and grammar errors, I could barely put the sentences together. Reviewing is a great way to practice language skills since it helps you practice expressing your opinion in the language you're writing in, though just be mindful of grammar and spelling in your review and try to keep it as clean as possible. Obviously, mistakes are going to slip through. No one with any common sense is going to be mad about that since it happens. Though, the goal is to eliminate sentences that are unreadable, is my point.