In-line vs Regular Review

They both receive the same amount of points. Can't speak for everyone, but I like to receive in-line reviews. It helps me with the technicalities. There are no protocols for responding to in-line remarks.  I do, in order to be polite.  If the person took the time to write them, it's the least I can do to answer them, if only with a one-word response.  If x-line refers to regular review, the benefits are only there if the person is talking about the big issues you're copy has raised--theme, characterization, setting, etc.

What I like best are responses to my in-line comments in addition to a closing response. Only a few authors do that, and unless they specifically respond to my in-line comments in their closing response, I have no idea if my comments were worthwhile. A "Thanks for the review, I appreciate your comments" is pretty worthless to me as a reviewer. Accordingly, I try to respond to in-line comments of my own work when appropriate.

Yes, when I disagree (not just with a wording alternative suggestion), I will often express that. Likewise, if the author disagrees with my comment, I'll DM him/her if it's an important issue. That's the only way to extend the dialogue process, and it's a limitation of the system. At times I've had to establish a "connection" with the author (the only way you can send them a DM) just to do that.

A inline reply to an inline comment is ostensibly a private message.  Who (in their right mind) bothers reading the individual comments (much less the replies) on someone else’s work?  That’d be pretty pathetic.  And while I’m at it—if you are going to the pedantic effort of making inline replies to inline comments, why would you care if someone else reads them?  What are you ashamed of?  I suggest taking that time and applying it to writing or reading—the return is far better than that wasted on being defensive and pedantic.

The points are same-o, same-o, despite the much more in depth (at least most of time) analysis which correspondingly requires much more time (again at least most of time) with the in-line.

Unless it is a very short piece, I'm not sure why anyone would "prefer" the regular review over the in-line. That is not to say that the regular is not valid and useful, just that you can put/receive much more with the in-line. And you could put everything you might say in a regular review in the final comment box for the in-line.

It is common courtesy to respond to at least some of the in text remarks within an in-line review, especially when beginning a relationship with the reviewer. It lets them know that you have indeed read their remarks and gives you the opportunity to fine tune the type response you are looking for as well as explain any misconceptions which the reviewer may have gotten from your work as written. Sometimes "mistakes" or differences of opinion are on purpose. The in-line remarks provides a great opportunity to expand the discussion.

The x-line gives you the ability to see all the comments at once and respond to them accordingly. You can scan through the remarks before making your reply to see if the same things show up more than once so you don't necessarily have to respond to each individually. The x-line also makes it easy to copy all the reviewer's comments to transfer them to Word or wherever you wish to make all the needed revisions to your master draft. A feature which is seldom used is that other people can enter the x-line and make comments regarding what the reviewer has written to allow a feedback loop between many different people. This is a great way to get various opinions on the same aspect of the story and allow the author to pick and choose from the menu so to speak. In short, the x-line gives you more bang for your buck.

A good three cents worth regular or in-line. Take care. Vern

Exactly.

In-lines over Regular in almost every case. The one exception to this is whenever I review poetry—which I do rarely.

I much prefer an in-line because it will often target grammatical errors or plot errors. Comments can be added at the end to cover the section as a whole if needed.

Aptly said, Vern.

Again, you can go back into the same in-line review and add to any comment or make new ones. You don't have to start over with a regular review and doing so within the same in-line keeps everything together which should be more convenient for the author to keep track of. There is nothing you can do in a regular review which can't be done with an in-line, but there is a tremendous amount you can do with an in-line that you can't do with a regular review. Still, everyone has the option to choose. Take care. Vern

Thank you, Temple. :-)