When to Respond to Criticism and When to Keep Quiet
I read a great article today by Jane Copeland titled, “When to Respond to Criticism and When to Keep Quiet“. While I’ve never had the problem on this website, I’ve often found myself facing situations where I must deal with criticisms on the BattleCity Classic forums, a game where I am an administrator and developer. Handling such situations properly can be crucial to the success of the project and to avoiding long and painful flame wars.
The greatest problem I have with respect to this is that I all too often would rather try to win an argument instead of walking away from it. At the same time, I want to please everyone, so that they are all happy and play my game! However, there are those times when someone is just being critical for the sake of causing trouble and arguing with the person is completely pointless. It is important to know when you should just keep quiet and ignore someone and when you should respond to what is being said.
Jane suggests only responding to criticism under the following circumstances:
- The criticism is founded on actual evidence
- The poster claims his comments (not posting anonymously)
- The commenter is not a troll
After recently being involved in a rather ugly argument with an individual regarding fact less claims and extreme generalizations, I only wish I had seen this post earlier! I often find myself entering arguments to clear up lies that people are spreading or to give the truth to a post that is a random criticism that contains no facts. As Jane suggests, this leaves me stuck in arguments, which I feel forced to continue in order to then win the point. What I should do instead is just ignore the post completely and perhaps make my own later on to provide my community with the information that is accurate. This way, the lies can be ignored and the truth made available without having to have an argument at all.
I do already avoid dealing with anonymous posters but sometimes let trolls get on my nerves which again is definitely a mistake. If someone has a reputation for stirring up trouble, posting lies, starting flames, just ignore them completely and spend your time discussing with those people who will appreciate it.
Following Jane’s advice is guaranteed to save me a lot of stress in the future! You should follow it to. Focus on making positive posts and try to stay away from the negativity! Most importantly, if a post upset you and you really want to reply, DO NOT do so right away. Wait a few hours or even sleep on it before posting. You’ll always be happier you did.
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