Criticism

[DossarLX ODI]

Criticism can provide insight on how something can be improved. However, there seems to be a very big problem in terms of how this kind of feedback can be expressed.

One of the big questions I pose is: What criticism should matter? Of course one would need to consider the context of the situation, so I'll illustrate a few examples.

Scenario I: Car Music
Bad criticism: Good music doesn't sound like garbage.
Good criticism: The songs are too complex, unpredictable, and distracting for a car ride. They might be interesting and make good rhythm game songs, but for most people the changes are jarring.

Scenario II: Wallet Problem
Bad criticism: You lost the wallet you moron. Be careful, pay attention, and don't be a dumbass.
Good criticism: Next time what you should do is inform people that you have the wallet so someone else could offer to put it in their bag or whatnot and it has less of a chance of being lost.

I would like some more thoughts on this subject matter because I have seen plenty of insults trashing other people that are completely tasteless, disgusting, and thoughtless which don't add helpful information. Along with that, "Be Careful" is used way too often and fits into the "don't add helpful information" category.

[Dynam0]

I think the big thing is to not be over-sensitive to the feedback (good or bad) and to translate it into what it's true meaning is. My biggest problem is taking criticism too personally to the point where I feel that the critic is attacking my character when 9 times out of 10 it's not that at all. I have a hard time with it actually lol. If the bad criticism is used, it might be okay to address that the harshness was unnecessary but you respect their opinions.

ps. did you lose a wallet on your trip?

[Xiz]

Everyone takes criticism differently. It's up to you to figure out how to not piss off the other person through your style of critique.

[DossarLX ODI]

Originally Posted by Dynam0

ps. did you lose a wallet on your trip?

One of my brothers did, but it was found again. It turned out nobody else knew he was carrying the wallet so I suggested to let the others know who has what to prevent something like that being lost again. Then he tried shifting blame on me when I can't even offer to help to do something if I don't know about it.

But yeah I don't see the point in putting insults into criticism. Someone can say that a piece of work is poorly done due to such and such, but I feel like a lot of this feedback is purposely worded to provoke.

[Charu]

Pretty much what Dynamo said in my opinion.

Ultimately, it's up to the person who's being critiqued how they handle the response. Sure, good critiques in every day life is a very positive exchange (most of the time). But people simply won't have the composure to give or take good critiques. Sometimes, it just comes out bad.

Now bad critiques on purpose? Usually... it's because they don't know you or it's just not in their nature OR they know you and hate you.

[Pseudo Enigma]

It [insert verb] like shit.
eg. It sounds like shit
It looks like shit

[g3rmayne]

I think is something good to bring up. I feel like people want to put their opinion in but lack the ability to articulate themselves and leave their emotion out of it. I feel like that's the biggest downfall for people with giving any kind of criticism. They let their emotions take control of what their words say thinking they will be received by the other person when it's the opposite.

[Arkuski]

Should I feel badly that you respond in a negative way to something I say? I don't think so, personally

[Xayphon]

The way how someone criticizes is dependant on way too many aspects such as personality, morality (i.e. deciding on what is good and helpful criticism and what is not) expressional motivation, intelligence and in information societies even time, hence why more and more younger people don't even appear to have enough time to develop and express an adequate opinion or critique.

In terms of taking it, I personally tend to ignore stuff that you have listed as "bad", since they are usually only stating what's obvious in those situations you have described. Saying "Be careful" in other contexts can be better than saying "Be careful you ludicrous piece of worthless shit", though.
As for good criticism, I'm gonna be honest and say that as a perfectionist I actually love to read constructive criticism that is directed towards me, because it helps me to work out mistakes that I have done and make something better out of it. Having the mindset "wow, they actually took their time to contribute something good in order to help me" helps a lot, lawl

[xxXitsunexx]

Xayphon and Dynamo have really good points which I can agree on. It's actually the way the criticism that's being said that's more of an issue. Some people say stuff like "this stuff shit" and such and they call that criticism. More and more people nowadays are giving bad criticism to the point where it feels like it's offensive, insulting, and too personal. People need to work on their wording and how they say things to create effective criticism. With that said, good constrictive criticism is always good since it opens doors for future improvement. However, there's always people who take criticism the wrong way. People have different "tolerances" for constructive criticism, so to say, because some people really are sensitive to criticism, like me and Dynamo. The real difference between good and bad criticism is use of proper language, and brainstorming areas that need improvement.

Good constructive criticism is always good for improvement, but also too much criticism could also potentially pressure the person. In saying that, bad criticism will always be tasteless, useless and offensive; good constructive criticism allows improvement but too much of it can be overwhelming and stressful sometimes.

[Cavernio]

This thread is bad, there's hardly anything to discuss.


Oh very well, there's hardly anything to discuss about criticism. But it'd be great for someone to prove me wrong, bring in some sort of other factor to mention that greatly affects how criticism is perceived, something knew and unknown that people generally wouldn't think about. Actually, I'm absolutely sure that the social situation would affect how positive or negative the exact same comment would be construed. It'd be neat to try to untangle all the different social factors that would cause criticism to be construed more positively, negatively, or just plain ignored, etc. But googlescholar's coming up negative for such studies, although I suspect that's probably because "criticism" is far too common of a word and so this topic is hard to find information about because search engines aren't smart enough. Or I just fail at playing search engine. Wouldn't a discussion on how to improve search engines be more interesting anyways?

[Charu]

Was that a criticism to this thread?

[SCWolf]

Originally Posted by Cavernio

This thread is bad, there's hardly anything to discuss.


Oh very well, there's hardly anything to discuss about criticism. But it'd be great for someone to prove me wrong, bring in some sort of other factor to mention that greatly affects how criticism is perceived, something knew and unknown that people generally wouldn't think about. Actually, I'm absolutely sure that the social situation would affect how positive or negative the exact same comment would be construed. It'd be neat to try to untangle all the different social factors that would cause criticism to be construed more positively, negatively, or just plain ignored, etc. But googlescholar's coming up negative for such studies, although I suspect that's probably because "criticism" is far too common of a word and so this topic is hard to find information about because search engines aren't smart enough. Or I just fail at playing search engine. Wouldn't a discussion on how to improve search engines be more interesting anyways?

What the fuck did I just read.

As for criticism, it's usefulness is dependent on the situation, and most critique is subjective. How you structure and word your criticism is the difference between you being taken seriously and looking like an idiot.

[Cavernio]

ct troll, carry on or rise to the challenge

[Cavernio]

Originally Posted by Charu

Was that a criticism to this thread?

Was that a criticism to my post?

[Charu]

Maybe.

[SM MaxX]

5 am and tired but hey I can throw in some thoughts I guess.

Good or bad, I try and take any criticism I get and learn whatever I can from it.

While I definitely don't condone nonconstructive criticism as the "this shit sucks" category, some people react negatively to almost any criticism thrown their way and ignore any advice given even when it's constructive. I guess in this sense I would prefer detailed criticism as well as the person receiving said criticism to have a level head about it even if it may seem to come off as negative (for all you know it might just be you taking it the wrong way than the criticizer meant). Work together and all that.

[stargroup100]

I thought the point of constructive criticism was to offer insight. If there's nothing to gain then it's not constructive.

I also think how insightful a criticism is is also a gradient. A particular critique is neither insightful nor not insightful (absolutely speaking), but there is a measure of how insightful it is.