I cruise the web a lot. When I used to work for Earthlink Network, I used to cruise the net a LOT during the day. While taking calls, sometimes it got pretty boring waiting for a computer to restart. Or during a long ass call, waiting for windows to reinstall. I think the longest call I ever took was about 6 hours long. But I digress.
During all the web surfing, I’ve found sites that were interesting, thought provoking, funny, hilarious, dumb, and incredibly boring. One thing that I did notice (especially now) is the ability for a visitor to leave comments. Be it in the form of a guestbook, a forum, or just comments on a blog, they’re all the same. People who visit your site can speak their mind. But what do they say?
I’ve found in general, that when people post photos, art, or anything artistic really, the comments are always generally good. I’m of the opinion that not all comments should be positive. I mean seriously. If I post say a photo of mine to my photolog, while I do appreciate great feedback, I also want to know how I did. Was the picture too dark for you? Was it too bright? Did you “get” the picture? Did the picture say something to you?
These are things that would be great to see in a comments box. Criticism. Because you know, everyone is a critic. Everyone. Everyone has an opinion, and they’re not always the same. They can’t be, otherwise we wouldn’t be the individuals that we are.
Yes, there are such things as “trolls”. Most people don’t want them, and I’m no real exception. But if the “troll” had something valid to say, then let them have their words. If you think an entry or a picture, or an opinion is crap, then I think you should express it. Of course, you do have to have some tact. I’m imagining that no one is going to appreciate the “Dude, your writing sucks like shit” or “Don’t quit your day job because you suck at this.” Tact is important. Be a critic. Not an ass. (of course, there are many of you out there who would say it’s the same thing!)
I guess my point is simple: there are way too many “that’s great!” comments. There should be comments that point out how to improve said article. Because no one is perfect. There’s always room for improvement. Right?
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I, personally, am hesitant to leave anything even constructively critical, because 1) I’m not sure how the person will take it (maybe they have a super fragile ego or something?) and 2) I don’t consider myself the greatest, so I’m generally not completely comfortable critiquing someone unless they specifically ask. On the other hand, I do understand what you’re saying – I like it when people give specific feedback (ie: colours are a little washed out, or hey, the shadows are great, etc…) No one likes werking in a vacuum. (It gets uncomfortable in there!)
I understand exactly what you mean zannah. There are some sites where I visit frequently, but rarely comment, only because I’m not sure how that person will take things. That makes me sound rather hypocrytical, but hey, I like to call it tact. ;)
I myself don’t mind comments at all. I think sometimes, just the idea that they took the time to make a comment boosts my ego a little. :)
Ok, you want criticism? Here you go.
If there’s an error submitting a comment (such as forgetting to complete the email field) when you go back, your comment is gone and you have to start over.
I suspect this is an EE issue, not yours. But I thought I’d toss it out there.
As far as comments go, I’m always hesitant to leave non-positive comments unless there are other people doing the same thing. A lot of personal blogs are just “agree with me and tell me I’m great” forums, and if you post anything remotely non-positive, no matter how tactfully and diplomatically you word it, you will be ganged up on by friends of the site’s owner and called every nasty name in the book, and a few that aren’t in the book too. I’ve had that experience one too many times.
But since you opened the door, I’ll start telling you your stuff sucks. :)
Actually, with the submission thing, that’s only something I’ve seen with IE. That happens on almost any site really. It’s the way IE handles cache and history. Unfortunately, there’s no real fix for that if you just hit the back button or use the history.back function. If you’re getting the same issue with any other browser, it could be the case. I’m using firefox and it works fine.
Well, with the commenting thing, I’m not talking about just blogs. I’m talking in general. If I put something out there for critique, I expect critiques. Comments are good. Without comments, good and bad, we would get stuck in a vacuum, just like Zannah mentioned.
But I don’t think you have to say that everything I do sucks. LOL
Actually thinking about it, I think it depends on the site too. Blogs actually aren’t even blogs out there. There are few “blogs” that are actually “weblogs”. I’d almost say 95% of them out there are Journals. Definitely not blogs. But that’s a whole other story and I’ll stop now. hehe. :)
Yes, the meaning of the term has definitely morphed irreversibly.
Well, join the crowd! I post on a couple of other spots and I may as well fart into a hurricane. Though I don’t like it, I post when I have something to offer out. It’s not for me to determin what comes back.