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It is so easy to be a snarky Internet bully until something like this happens to restore your sense of shame. It reminds me a bit of a situation that happened

It is so easy to be a snarky Internet bully until something like this happens to restore your sense of shame. It reminds me a bit of a situation that happened back when I was blogging instead of doing, when I wrote some rather unkind things about the design and aesthetics of Wesabe. I didn't really have anything to contribute - I was just being critical for the sake of being critical. The next day, the CEO of the company wrote a long comment on my blog defending his employee's tastes and (rather politely) pointing out what a dick I was being. Reading that comment made me feel like I was three inches tall. Since then, while I don't always succeed, I try to think before I type.

zach 16y ago
Congratulations on having a sense of shame in the first place. That's the difference between you and someone who reacts by being excited that their "mixing it up" got the attention of the CEO. However, I think many folks, myself included, who have a keen sense of shame then overreact in these situations. It threatens our identity, in some way. If we can pull back a little from that, maybe a situation like that could totally end up as a "that's the crazy way I got to know this guy" story you can both laugh about now. They would be the one who convinced the tough critic, and you could be the one who's never shy with their opinion.
sudont 16y ago
We shouldn't discount criticism entirely, lest we give the world to the Uwe Bolls out there. Your post would have gone from being "critical" to being a critique if you had provided both: an explanation of why it's bad, and insight into how it could be better. Consider the art crit. I've seen a full range of reaction: some students would completely qualify why they did everything, and be able to either discard useless criticism and incorporate the good; others would completely reject it: combativeness was either anger or sadness. Once, a girl cried because the professor (very politely) said that she needed to increase the contrast in her photos. The explanation, much like Knight's, was "well, I tried hard, isn't that good enough?" And the answer is no, unfortunately. You can't just hide the work in a shoebox under the bed to shield it from criticism. From what you said, though, earnestness is not opposite from politeness. It's possible to be critical without being a dick.

zach 16y ago

Congratulations on having a sense of shame in the first place. That's the difference between you and someone who reacts by being excited that their "mixing it up" got the attention of the CEO. However, I think many folks, myself included, who have a keen sense of shame then overreact in these situations. It threatens our identity, in some way. If we can pull back a little from that, maybe a situation like that could totally end up as a "that's the crazy way I got to know this guy" story you can both laugh about now. They would be the one who convinced the tough critic, and you could be the one who's never shy with their opinion.

sudont 16y ago

We shouldn't discount criticism entirely, lest we give the world to the Uwe Bolls out there. Your post would have gone from being "critical" to being a critique if you had provided both: an explanation of why it's bad, and insight into how it could be better. Consider the art crit. I've seen a full range of reaction: some students would completely qualify why they did everything, and be able to either discard useless criticism and incorporate the good; others would completely reject it: combativeness was either anger or sadness. Once, a girl cried because the professor (very politely) said that she needed to increase the contrast in her photos. The explanation, much like Knight's, was "well, I tried hard, isn't that good enough?" And the answer is no, unfortunately. You can't just hide the work in a shoebox under the bed to shield it from criticism. From what you said, though, earnestness is not opposite from politeness. It's possible to be critical without being a dick.