Or even as unconstructive criticism. I suppose people are upset because readers not getting the piece does sometimes indicate a kind of failure, but geez, as we can see from fandom, even the pros get misread and it's often more about the reader. (What I don't get about this debate is that fandom is a radical (sometimes *too radical* for my tastes) privileging of the reader... surely one must certainly *expect* exactly this of such readers!)