As Pam mentioned, many of us take help where ever we can get it.
When I started MB writing I generally posted as I wrote, and didn't use a beta reader. I sort of depended on the commentors to be my stable of beta readers. And as such there comments could easily affect how the story was going to go from that point on.
But what I found often was, that it affected the story that had come before. I've related this story before, but during the posting of one particular story, I got an unexpected reaction. Several posters came down quite vehemently against some characterization that I had utilized. Upon reflection, I saw their point, and agreed with it. That necessitated rewriting a significant portion of what had come before and what I had written that hadn't been posted yet. But it did make the story better.
Now I find that I need to have a reasonable buffer before I start posting a story. This is because I don't want to get caught in a RL situation that forces me to have a long lag between parts. I know how frustrating that can be for the gentle readers so I try to avoid it. Toward that end I began to incorporate a super secret mystery beta reader to help me with, not only the grammar (which I stink at), but any major flubs and goofs that I may have used. In recent times, more than once has 'stuff' been pointed out that doesn't quite make sense, and I've been able to 'fix' it before it's posted to the boards.
Still the boards serve a good purpose. The comments not only tell you if you succeeded or failed in what you were trying to convey, but they can still help you hone the work that much more before allowing it to see its final resting place.
Tank (who finds that the one thing that the boards seem to promote is... sequels)
