In the past week, I've seen 4 comments on stories that have been quite negative, directly putting down the author. All from different people too. Now I'm not saying helpful criticism is a bad thing, but if we're going to start resorting to things like "This story is bad, don't continue," it will make writing for this board less appealing.
A side note, another comment I don't really like to see, but isn't really a hindrance, is telling someone what to write in their story. It's not really a bad thing though, but I just feel that it's bossy.
Just because we like to tie people up, doesn't mean we have to be hostile about it. If you don't have anything nice or helpful to say, don't say anything.