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Line 1: {{trope}} {{quote\|''"I am sorry you seem so unhappy. If you are truly that unhappy with the direction the series has taken, then stop reading it. Stop reading what I write. There, simply, fixed. If you don't like it, don't buy it, don't read it."''~~\|'''[[Anita Blake\|Laurell K.]] [[Dear Negative Reader\|Hamilton]]'''}}~~ \|'''[[Anita Blake\|Laurell K.]] [[Dear Negative Reader\|Hamilton]]'''}} A storied phrase that's become popular with Internet fandoms. It appears most popularly as a generic way to bash those who start [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like\|complaining about shows they don't like]]. Sometimes the author will say this in response to criticism in order to avoid even the most polite form of criticism, even when it's perfectly correct. Line 16 ⟶ 17: Which is happening in any given conversation? It depends, and on the net, [[Black and Grey Morality\|sometimes it's a little of both]]. In the case of fanfiction, if the writer gives their readers warning in the summary of interesting things like the pairings, any slash, rape or mass murdering, they have a fair defense with "Don't Like, Don't Read". If however their summaries consist of such gems as "[[I Suck At Summaries\|I suck at summaries]]", they generally don't have any right to complain and this argument is completely invalid. See [[Let's See You Do Better]] and [[You're Just Jealous]] for the complete trifecta of stock generic excuses to [[Bad Writing Index\|bad writing]]. '''Note:''' Like any other example list, try to avoid [[Take That]]s and [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like]]. Also, please keep in mind this is about ''fiction'', not ''any'' rebuff of criticism. {{examples}}▼ ▲{{examples}} == Anime and Manga == * ''[[Bungaku Shoujo]]''; As an in-universe example of sorts, in the animated short (based on a series of light novels about a girl who literally eats books and the boy she makes write for her), the eponymous "literature girl" complains about the out-of-nowhere ending of a story the boy has written for her, leading him to reply "Hey, if you don't like it, don't eat it." Line 33 ⟶ 34: == Fan ~~Fiction~~Works == * Fanfic authors and artists/writers will use this as their defense on occasion, even when they're responding to mockery from websites specifically dedicated to seeking out and mocking the "worst examples" of both. * [[Hans Von Hozel]] used this in his ''[[Numb3rs]]'' fic when he rehosted it (it had been reported and deleted). * On [[Fanfiction.net]] and other sites, pairing are often labeled. So if you're, say, a ''[[Kim Possible]]'' fan who is enraged by the thought of the teen heroine in [[Les Yay\|a lesbian relationship]] with her [[Foe Yay\|nemesis]], then why are you leaving a review on a fic clearly labelled that way? ** [[Archive of Our Own]] included a Tagging System (which not only allows standard pairing and character labeling, also has several standard sets of tags to cover most common content complaints) and basically encourages overtagging specifically to deal with this kind of situations. Basically, their instance is "if you got in a fic with a [[Wall of Text]] on the tags that practically spoils the story and you still complains about stuff that was clearly tagged by the author, ''you'' are the one with the problem". * After the advent of the seventh ''[[Harry Potter]]'' book, any author ~~that~~who did not follow canon couples ( {{spoiler\|notably Harry/Hermione shippers}}) were almost forced to put this at the head of every fanfic to ward off the "But it ended {{spoiler\|Ron/Hermione and Harry/Ginny}}" comments. * ''[[My Inner Life]]''- oh, dear God, ''[[My Inner Life]]''. The [[Authors Note]] was basically a long-winded [[Author Tract]] all about this point that went on for ''pages upon pages.'' * [[Cori Falls]] had these disclaimers in the form of long-winded rants on both her ''[[Pokémon (anime)\|Pokémon]]'' and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' pages. Line 52 ⟶ 54: * [[Terry Goodkind]], when talking about people who didn't enjoy [[Sword of Truth\|his books]] but still read them (they might have started out as fans, for example), said that their complaining was like someone slamming their hand in a car door, screaming about how much it hurts, and then doing it over and over again, saying how much they didn't like it all the while. Which is to say, even Terry Goodkind thinks ''Naked Empire'' is like slamming your hand in a car door. * ''[[Twilight (novel)\|Twilight]]'' fans tend to use this excuse when dealing with the series' [[Hatedom]]. It never works. Partially because [[Hatedom\|antis]] want to know what they're talking about. It really doesn't help the fans case when they ''also'' use the polar opposite excuse: "You can't hate it unless you've read it." * [[Anti-Shurtugal]] (an [[Hatedom\|anti-fansite]] for ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'', now defunct) was founded reportedly because certain individuals received this (and the other two [[Stock Phrases]] in the Holy Trinity along with forum bans and [[Disproportionate Retribution\|death threats]]) every time they'd post something critical on an ''Inheritance'' fansite. ** Its [[Spiritual Successor]], [http://www.impishidea.com Impishidea], has also received a number of ugly comments along the lines of this trope when it was critical of ''[[Twilight (novel)\|Twilight]]'' or ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]''. It also accidentally attracted the author of ''Bitterwood''. * [[J. K. Rowling]] explained in an interview that she has told at least one person, who did not react well to a certain character's death in ''[[Harry Potter and ~~The~~the Goblet of Fire (novel)\|Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'', not to read the rest of the books. Given the [[Anyone Can Die\|direction]] the series took after that, it was probably for the best. Line 63 ⟶ 65: * ''[[iCarly]]'': Seddie is Seddie, Creddie is Creddie, and [[Ship-to-Ship Combat\|never the twain shall meet]]. This also applies to the [[Fanfic]]. You could tell everyone straight up from word 1, shouting up and down your story will end as Creddie, the readers would happily read 50 chapters of Carly/OC, Freddie/Wendy or Carly/Griffin until they finally get together, but you put Freddie with Sam for a couple chapters, and you'll get complaints. * Co-creator of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' Larry David would often state "If you don't like it, please don't watch" in response to various criticisms of the show * In a press conference before the rebooted ''[[Battlestar Galactica ~~Reimagined~~(2004 TV series)\|Battlestar Galactica]]'' series premiere, Edward Olmos was asked about the reaction by fans of ''[[Battlestar Galactica ~~Classic]]~~(1978 TV series)\|the original ''Battlestar ~~fans~~Galactica'']] to the reimagining. He said, flatly, "if you're a fan of the original, don't watch the new one. You won't like it, turn it off." This made some minor entertainment headlines ("Eddie Olmos ''doesn't'' want you to watch his new show!") and was probably the result of Olmos seeing one too many [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks\|complaints]] from the original show's fans about the new show just existing. Ron Moore would later admit that it turned into better publicity than they could've paid for with people tuning in just to see why Olmos thought they would hate it. * In a pre-series [https://web.archive.org/web/20141216221910/http://www.scifijapan.com/articles/2009/02/22/kamen-rider-returns-to-us-television/ interview], ''[[Kamen Rider Dragon Knight]]'''s producer Steve Wang commented on [[Fan Dumb\|fans]] who [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks\|automatically hate any US adaptation without giving it a fair shot]], saying (in so many words) that ''Dragon Knight'' wasn't for them, and that he'd be the first to suggest they just not bother watching the show at all to save themselves the trouble of going to the fan forums and [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like\|bitching about it]]. Line 79 ⟶ 81: And Nintendo even put the Super guide in ''New Super Mario Brothers Wii'' and ''Super Mario Galaxy 2''. Even when it was announced, the forums were ''full'' of screaming that it's being dumbed down and that gamers wouldn't even have to look up at [[GameFAQs]]. But guess what? Five of us were pointing out that the use of this technology is completely ''optional'' - And even using it becomes an [[Easy Mode Mockery]] and blocks one hundred percent completion. Naturally, they are just complaining that it ''EXISTS'' - It's ''less'' tedious to ''not'' use it because you have to die ''eight times'' before it's offered. Most of the time; you'd run out of lives. * There's even an apparent super guide in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time\|Ocarina of Time 3D]]'' offering solutions to puzzles for people who have not played the game or any of its hundreds of rereleases and remakes before (all sixteen of us). According to reviewers; in order to view these videos, you have to go back to Kokori village. It's actually ''less'' tedious to just figure the puzzle out yourself or, since it's for a portable system, go to [[GameFAQs]] or load up a video on [[YouTube]] showinghow it's done. * Or you can just hit the HOME button, which freezes the game at where you are at, open the built in web browser go to the guide on the internet and then look up how its done. The web browser even keeps your spot so if you want to look at the next thing you can just repeat these actions.! ''[[Fire Emblem: Awakening]]'' has a "Casual mode" in which character death isn't permanent. Cue the complaints of dumbing down the series or how it's ''the easiest fire emblem game'' [[What an Idiot!\|Despite announcements that the game has a "Classic mode" which Character Death IS permanent, and the fact that the game is going to have difficulty settings.]] * Many people seem to hate the [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game\|MMORPG]] genre as a whole, and then complain on the [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game\|MMORPG]] forums that it's not enough like single-player RPGs, FPSes, platformers, puzzles, multiplayer FPSes, MMOFPSes, etc...Meanwhile here come games like ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' and ''[[Guild Wars]]'' and guess what they get criticized about? That's right...for being like an [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game\|MMORPG]], whereas ironically, the fans of [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game\|MMORPG]]s (yes, they exist) often sneer at games like those for ''not'' being [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game\|MMORPG]] ''enough''. * The people who've been saying the game was [[Ruined FOREVER]] since ''Day two'' of games like ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'', ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', ''[[City of Heroes]]'', ''[[Guild Wars]]'', and ''[[EverQuest]]'' fit this trope. For some odd reason, many of them will complain how it was ruined for ''awhile'', yet have obviously not quit yet - especially when they claim they have found better games. * While ''[[Sonic Chronicles]]'' got some positive reviews and people who actually liked it, there were people who, for some ''incredibly odd'' reason, said that the game sucked because it wasn't a platformer. They didn't seem to have been informed that an RPG is ''not'' a platformer, which seemed odd as nearly ''every single'' advertisement was saying, "It's a Sonic RPG" or "It's not a platformer!" ** Similar complaints were given to ''Super Paper Mario'' (people expecting an RPG, and getting a platformer) and ''[[Rabbids Go Home]]'' (people expecting a mini-game fest and getting a...well...whatever Rabbids Go Home is). You'd think people would research the game a little before buying. * Targeted at reviewing websites and magazines who ask reviewers who hate entire genres to review games in that genre. Naturally, some immediately complain in their reviews how it's "just another RPG/FPS/Platformer/Sports game, can I ''please'' play the games in the genre I like NOW?!" Justified with ''Game Pro'' given that they were an utter factory of misinformation due to their lack of caring towards RPGs, to the level where they would not even do the research and wind up printing stuff of the [[~~Cowboy~~Media ~~Bebop~~Research ~~at His Computer~~Failure]] variety. Also targeted (And often justified) at user-reviews in places like [[GameFAQs]]. Granted, these are treated as incredibly amateur reviews; especially since one will probably see someone complaining at a game for simply being made by one company in at least one review; or reviews that are probably bordering on the lines of [[Flame Bait]] or [[Troll]]ing. * A bizzare twist on this has cropped up among [[MUGEN]] players. As you can add characters to the game's roster, some people have taken to complaining about certain characters. The response has been, to a word, "If you don't like the character, ''don't download it!''" Line 107 ⟶ 109: * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiEIc-U13pE This] episode of ''[[Mr. Deity]]'' ends with a [[Please Subscribe to Our Channel\|begging segment]] explaining that if you hate the show, loathe the begging segments and are still watching anyway, there are trained psychiatric professionals who can help you. * On [[The Angry Video Game Nerd]] website, people frequently come into unrelated videos (such as "Board James") and bash them because they aren't AVGN. This usually has at least one or two comments saying "Just don't watch the non AVGN-videos." ** James Rolfe then went and did a reverse of this trope with his video about how he wasn't going to watch the [[Ghostbusters (2016 film)\|2016 ''Ghostbusters'' reboot]]. He said that, as a long time fan of the ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' franchise, after seeing the trailer he realized that he probably wouldn't like the completed film, so he preemptively decided to announce his "not watching" intention as a way to avoid people asking his opinion on the film. * Likewise, [[Jimquisition\|Jim Sterling]] tells the [[Unpleasable Fanbase]] of ''[[The Legend of Zelda (Franchise)\|Zelda]]'' to can it, due to complaints of ''[[The Legend of Zelda: ~~Skyward Sword\|The Legend of Zelda~~ Skyward Sword]]'' [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch\|being shit despite not even being out yet at the time of the video]], and more complaints about how [[That One Level]] from ''Ocarina of time'' was ''FIXED'' in the 3DS version. He says that if you really did like the Water Temple level from Ocarina of time so much, that you should just get a gamecube with Master Quest, download it off the virtual console, break out your n64, ''play THAT'' since the Water Temple fix was not being forced on the consumers at all. And he also says that if they thought Skyward Sword was shit before even knowing about it, ''just don't buy it''. == Web Comics == * ~~Webcomic~~Web comic creators in general are the writers most able to justify this response, due to two things - their works being incremental, so you can simply stop reading at any point, and their being completely free so that you haven't actually wasted any money on something you don't like.▼ ~~== Webcomics ==~~ * The ~~Webcomic~~web comic ''[[Concerned]]'' lampshades the second case. Gordon Frohman is in the world of ''[[Counter-Strike]]'', and the players complain about all sorts of stuff promised to them.▼ ▲* Webcomic creators in general are the writers most able to justify this response, due to two things - their works being incremental, so you can simply stop reading at any point, and their being completely free so that you haven't actually wasted any money on something you don't like. ▲* The Webcomic ''[[Concerned]]'' lampshades the second case. Gordon Frohman is in the world of ''[[Counter-Strike]]'', and the players complain about all sorts of stuff promised to them. {{quote\|'''Frohman''': So lemme get this straight... you guys complain about every aspect of this game, yet you've been playing every day since 1999? '''Fans''': Yep - pretty much. }} * A mild example: Jeffrey Darlington, creator of ''[[General Protection Fault]]'', has been known to advise complainers to take a vacation from the comic until after however many months. Basically, don't read the current arc, but come back when it's over. * There is a comic drawing contest called the [[Daily Grind]]. The rules are simple. Post a 2+ panel comic each day, Mon-Fri and never miss a day. Each person put in twenty bucks when the contest started and the artist who goes the longest without missing an update wins. The winner takes the entire pot. The basic concept behind this contest was to provide an incentive for people to post regularly, and thus draw more frequently and improve their skills. Despite "improving your skills!" being the primary purpose of the contest, many of the lower quality comic strips were blatantly attacked for being low quality by people attempting to shame them into dropping out and letting somebody who "deserves" to win continue. The entire Daily Grind community would invariably all join forces to yell this trope at them. * [[Andrew Hussie]] of ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'' has responded to people not liking ''[[Homestuck]]'' [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks\|because it is not like]] ''[[Problem Sleuth]]'' [http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/781027547 with]{{Dead link}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110908084146/http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?32178-Anyone-else-think-Hussie-should-cut-down-on-the-Pesterlogs-a-bit&p=4125631&viewfull=1#post4125631 several] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110901071458/http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?29915-Pester-Chum-s-are-too-long!!&p=3857423&viewfull=1#post3857423 essays'] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110909062508/http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?29915-Pester-Chum-s-are-too-long!!&p=3859169&viewfull=1#post3859169 worth] [http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/750738682 of]{{Dead link}} [http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/780995992 rant]{{Dead link}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20110901035533/http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?29915-Pester-Chum-s-are-too-long!!&p=3859225&viewfull=1#post3859225 that] [https://web.archive.org/web/20101209175525/http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/1158778979 all] [http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/1093953142 boil]{{Dead link}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20101017000159/http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/1093935286 down] [http://www.formspring.me/andrewhussie/q/1001292582 to]{{Dead link}} "I'm doing it the way I want. If you don't like Homestuck, don't read it." "Go read Problem Sleuth" has become a stock fan response to complaints, which apparently implies that [[Double Standard\|the fans are all incredibly dogmatic]]. * Gets said almost daily to one ''[[~~Xkcd~~xkcd]]'' troll/hater or another on the [[Insistent Terminology\|fora]]. * In the first ''[[Megatokyo]]'' compilation book, one of Piro's commentaries mentions that after an early strip that broke away from the gag-a-day norm for the sake of the story, a reader said that he would stop reading if Piro did something like that again. The author's response was basically, "go ahead, I'm not forcing you to read it." == Western Animation == * One episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'' ends with Peter Griffin giving a [[Take That]] to [[Moral Guardians]] which takes this form. {{reflist}} Line 129 ⟶ 130: [[Category:Criticism Tropes]] [[Category:Fanfic Tropes]] [[Category:~~Don't Like, Don't Read~~{{PAGENAME}}]]