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The Cotton Candy Effect
Cotton candy is delicious. Hell, it's spun sugar just shy or caramelising, what's not to love?
But it provides nearly no nutrition and if is eaten too often causes harm.
It's the same thing with random praise.
We all must decide our level of participation at Neopoet.com. My interests and expectations may not match yours and that is fine. Where there is some perceived overlap, we can interact. where there is none we can politely ignore each other.
Random praise or criticism is valueless to me. If all folks can do is offer random praise or criticism, I will thank them for their time and effort but I will get nothing from it.
Telling me I am wonderful or horrible without telling me specifically why has zero effect. Fro some people it is exactly what they seek and while I do not judge their need, I have no wish to participate in it.
And yes, this is a softening of my positions in the past. At a time I wanted to force everyone to participate in the workshop if only through providing honest critique even when they did not request it. Now I realise this is a waste of my time. If folks want to slavishly praise what I consider to be drivel, that's fine, I just need not to be involved.
And yet, this decision not to be involved is considered by some to be an insult.
The words "tough shit" come to mind.
For all the folks wondering why your work is not getting comments, ask yourself the following question:
"What do I want out of Neopoet?"
And then start providing what you want others to provide to you.
Some folks will reciprocate and others will not and you can make a determination from there as to with whom you desire to interact.
Past experience has taught me that someone will decide this blog is a personal attack on them. If these people can PM me I promise it will save them public embarrassment and humiliation.
But it provides nearly no nutrition and if is eaten too often causes harm.
It's the same thing with random praise.
We all must decide our level of participation at Neopoet.com. My interests and expectations may not match yours and that is fine. Where there is some perceived overlap, we can interact. where there is none we can politely ignore each other.
Random praise or criticism is valueless to me. If all folks can do is offer random praise or criticism, I will thank them for their time and effort but I will get nothing from it.
Telling me I am wonderful or horrible without telling me specifically why has zero effect. Fro some people it is exactly what they seek and while I do not judge their need, I have no wish to participate in it.
And yes, this is a softening of my positions in the past. At a time I wanted to force everyone to participate in the workshop if only through providing honest critique even when they did not request it. Now I realise this is a waste of my time. If folks want to slavishly praise what I consider to be drivel, that's fine, I just need not to be involved.
And yet, this decision not to be involved is considered by some to be an insult.
The words "tough shit" come to mind.
For all the folks wondering why your work is not getting comments, ask yourself the following question:
"What do I want out of Neopoet?"
And then start providing what you want others to provide to you.
Some folks will reciprocate and others will not and you can make a determination from there as to with whom you desire to interact.
Past experience has taught me that someone will decide this blog is a personal attack on them. If these people can PM me I promise it will save them public embarrassment and humiliation.