3 ms·
One thing that comes to mind about comments. I think writing blog posts may be hard, but writing a constructive comment is hard also. People are not good at it
by mbwgh 3y ago
One thing that comes to mind about comments.
I think writing blog posts may be hard, but writing a constructive comment is hard also. People are not good at it, and I often find myself writing something and then just give up in the middle and deleting it again. Not just because finding the right words is hard (especially if you're not a native speaker), but some of the same questions go through my head as well (Who is the intended reader? Hasn't someone commented on this before? ...).
Thus I would suggest assuming the commenter has spent more time thinking about what to write than you might expect. And even if not, someone else may get some value out of their comment, so even if it isn't you, give them the benefit of the doubt. The point about assuming they're confused, not angry, is spot on I think.
There is probably a connection to the point about writing becoming harder with more experience. Each sentence you write will trigger more warnings in your head, or it might become harder to put yourself in someone else's shoes. To keep going, you probably have to learn to just accept and expect imperfection and just keep going, cut the editorial phase short at some point and just publish or you'll never get done.
The next presumably angry/ignorant/dumb commenter you encounter may have just done that, and by necessity. You never know.