Today I received this message, and I thought it important to share with all of you. I won't mention the name of this blogger because it wouldn't be very fair to the writer. This message was sent because of some constructive criticism I gave when I commented on this persons' blog.
"ok i dont need people to criticize me"
My reply was:
"It's meant to be constructive critisism. In other words: I'm trying to help. Most people on the site ask for it so sometimes I just give it.
You have the potential for some very good posts. If you just take a minute to look over what you've written I think you can greatly improve. That's what "progress" is all about."
Now why would I bring this up for own of my own blog entries? I think it's important to point out the DO's and DON'T's of constructive criticism as well as elaborate on the importance of it in the first place.
Why give "constructive criticism"? According to Dictionary.com and Webster's New Millenium Dictionary of English Main it is "criticism or advice that is useful and intended to help or improve something, often with an offer of possible solutions". Not a bad concept in my opinion. Who here doesn't want a little advice that can improve their blog entries on ProgU?
There ARE some who don't want it. Believe me, there are some people who just can't give constructive criticism, and their comments may come out as mean and picking on the author. That does happen.
But I see constructive criticism in the dictionary sense of the word. It can be helpful. While I work on this blog at Progressive U I check often to see whether I have any comments. I want to know what others think of my blog entries but also I want to know how I can improve on those blog entries. Like I said in my message to the disgruntled blogger, "That's what progress is all about". If we can all listen to and help each other, the world (or at least the ProgU community) can be a much better place.
Now, what have you learned?
-Constructive criticism can help by offering insightful advice
-criticism can sometimes be too harsh
-not everybody likes this advice.
-don't PM me like that and expect me to NOT make a blog entry out of it. :) (just kidding. This is the first time).
A message to Disgruntled Blogger: I'm sorry it came to this, but I thought it important to point out to others that constructive criticism is not always appreciated. You'll notice that I did not mention your name, make fun of you, or do anything more than try to help.
So.....anyone have anything else to add?
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Good thread.
Often times people think that ANY criticism is negative, and the term 'criticism' takes on a negative tone.... so much so that we HAVE to place the word "Constructive" before it.
Actually, yes. I did feel obligated to put "constructive" before it each time because "criticism" had the wrong connotations to it. It was getting a little annoying, honestly, but I thought I should keep the meaning clear.
Great! :)
Thanks Bridge; I'm often dumbfounded by the number of people who cannot accept constructive criticism or who get constructive criticism confused with negativity or even personal attacks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
It's unfortunate that some people have to think that way. Maybe if more people were helpful, rather than hurtful with their comments, that fear of being personally attacked wouldn't exist.
And.....Fwonk (what a great word! I have no idea where this quote is from...)
LOL, my siganature started out as a joke between Fallon and I. Someone had a post not long ago about the word "fwonk" here (if I can find it, I'll try to post a link) which started a very weird conversation between the two of us, and Fallon tried to look up "fwonk" but the only definition she found was this one out of the "Urban Dictionary".
So I added it to my signature (which was in dire need of an update, anyway) and here it is; it seems to fit well with most posts here :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"when you have nothing else to say, "Fwonk" is always the perfect thing."
"yeah well, fwonk"
--Devon
Fanaile Essence,
A-Team Member
I actually requested in my introduction post constructive criticism for any and all of my blog posts. I'm assuming that most of the people o this site are college students...you know, people working on bettering themselves? Even if not trying to improve so we can make better blogs, then trying to improve our overall writing skills for future composition classes, and reports, and learning to communicate effectively is a good goal. It's ridiculous that someone would want to stifle someone who wants t help them to acheive their potential.
"I will greet this day with love, and I will succeed!"--Og Mandino