How to deal with Negative Comments
You’ve written something well. Thoughtful. Innovative. Or just plain cool. But to your surprise, nobody has anything positive to say. I recently experienced a similar fiasco from a digging however it was indeed not the first time I’ve be flogged for an idea. It is in the nature of the web for people to flame, rant, argue, even put other people down for the mere fact that something can be considered ‘popular’.
Yahoo! and criticism
Having been on the Yahoo! development team for a little over 6 months, I’ve seen and experienced first hand what it’s like to be on the front-line of criticism. The fact of the matter is, there is no pleasing everyone. There’s always something wrong with our product. There’s always something that can be improved. And the flamers keep ranting on.
Who are these people?
Most likely these folks have never put together a real product. They just ‘talk trash’ and say what’s wrong with whatever they’re ranting about. In fact, they get a kick out of it. It makes them feel better to put something down as if they’re better than it or too cool to ‘jump on that wagon’. Their ideaology is backwards. The mere fact that something is popular, it all the sudden becomes ‘uncool’. It’s a macho thing. A personal thing. An anti-conformity issue that they were never able to get over as a kid.
What’s a blogger to do?
Simple answer: Just keep blogging. As a personal blogger, I try to engage into the conversations of not only my own articles, but my colleagues as well. It is a great way to personalize the develosphere experience. If people have constructive things to say, then by all means I take it as a positive comment. Otherwise, there are quite a few ways I can pinpoint a negative comment, and I never take those too personal.
Identifying negative responses
Personally, I think negative comments are bad. Some would call them constructive, but I have a different definition of what a negative response means. First of all, negative comments are not that constructive at all. They come in many forms too. Open ended questions are rarely helpful. Why did you do this? Why did you do that? This is lame
. They are in no way helpful. They don’t propose a solution. And they don’t come back.
Others think something is bad just because ‘they’ can’t use it. Fine. I’m down with that. Either tell me why or don’t leave a comment. No reason to add to a stack of comments that isn’t going to help anyone.
Soft-Spammers
Some comments I like to call the result of someone who is a soft-spammer. They stop by once, leave a response like This is dumb. I’ve seen better then drop a link to their website. Thanks guys. We appreciate the insight. I’ll be sure to contact you later for more professional advice.
The Community is what matters
If you’ve stuck around my website for quite some time then you’ll know that I’m all about the community. I love returning readers, commenters, and other frequent lackeys who keep in touch through email. You should too. Those are the people that are honest and constructive. They help you improve your ideas which ultimately make us better developers.
Todays question and book information
The winner of today’s contest will receive a copy of Don’t make me think by Steve Krug.
Flinstones or the Jetsons. Why?
Please remember to put your answers encapsulated within a <blockquote> element, and the regular discussion as normal.
December 20th, 2005 at 4:11 pm
Oh wait, is this soft spam? ;)
About the article, I wouldnt worry about it. While I think Digg is awesome, the main problem is that there is quite a bit of immaturity in the readership.
When you’re 15, it’s cooler to look like you’re a snob, and it’s easier than thinking!
December 20th, 2005 at 6:19 pm
Amen to that Dustin. This makes me think of the very new addition of FACE to the world. He seems to be getting a surprising amount of flak right now. In his case, of course people will whine and complain about FACE being abused. That’s true for every new technology.
A friend of mine got back from the Iraq and mentioned how Terrorists are using Google Earth and Google Maps to plot their terrorist attacks. It’s true with all new technology: somebody will find a way to abuse it. And in the same spirit, somebody will find their own reason to flame and rant about it no matter if it’s good or not.
I didn’t know about Diggs until now, but I’m sure that most of the criticism is just from a few whiny kids who are tying to appear as if they know everything. And I’m quite sure they’ve never done their own appliaction ;-).
Stay the course and keep on rockin’!
December 20th, 2005 at 7:07 pm
I was thinking about this the other day. Not to put down Jason Santa Maria, but on his blog, he expressed a certain amount of disappointment when Del.icio.us was bought by Yahoo, citing that he doesn’t like to see big businesses triumph over grassroots efforts.
That type of attitude is all well and good for what it’s worth. However, it made me wonder, how can people bash Yahoo while still continuing to support companies like Adobe and Apple? Now, you might say - Hold on there, nothing is wrong with Adobe or Apple! My point exactly, and neither is there anything intrinsically evil about Yahoo, or at least not moreso than other big businesses.
I’ll admit, I’m not a big fan of Microsoft. This is not necessarily because they are a large corporation (heck, I work for a Fortune 50 company), but because MS products lack innovation, and their browser is holding back the industry.
Sure, I have a Windows computer, but I vote my dollar by using OpenOffice and Firefox. My point is this: If you’re going to hate “big business,” do it consistently: Don’t use OSX or Photoshop. If you really want to hate on Yahoo just because they’re big, then don’t let me see you using anything other than Linux and Gimp. Thanks. //end_rant
Re: Flinstones or Jetsons: Jetsons, because at least their dog can talk.
December 20th, 2005 at 8:53 pm
When dealing with comments of ANY type, the ruler I use is “consider the source”.
Whiney comments are usually from people who whine a lot. This is over-simplified of course, but the concept holds.
December 20th, 2005 at 9:00 pm
As you say, it’s far easier to complain than to actually prove your point by making something better. I can sit here and say “x software sucks”, but it doesn’t really mean anything unless I’ve made at least some sort of attempt at improving that software, or making my own.
When I do make a complaint, I try to point out the problem and suggest what I think would fix it.
In the end, though, most complaints just come down to personal preference, which is good reason for ignoring them.
December 20th, 2005 at 9:45 pm
Hey guys,
You’re all great! I feel just like Molly in that it takes about 5 positive comments just to overcome the negative ones. But you know, just reviewing some of the comments that go on at digg, it appears to be pretty obvious that anything and everything that hits the front page will get slammed by more than a handful of ruthless and obnoxious teenagers. And I know I mean that as a stereotype since I personally know quite a few successful teenagers (closer to 18 & 19) that act mature and put out positive criticism.
Nathan, your thoughts on Yahoo! seem very well thought out. You know it’s surprising that Jason Santa Maria would say something like that without even knowing the details. I have a lot of respect for him, but a post like he wrote isn’t worth trying to convince someone who had appeared to have made his mind up. As he stated at the end of his article . Yes…maybe. Joshua (inventor of del.icio.us) was quite happy about the aquisition and Yahoo! is only going to improve the del.icio.us services. All sides win! Yahoo! obtains a fantastic piece of software and user-base. Joshua landed a fantastic opportunity to work with some world class developers and made some fat cash. And all the del.icio.us users will end up with a better product.
@Edward: I hear ya and understand. That FACE technique was quite cool and don’t understand how someone can put down something like a “CSS technique” - it really is ridiculous.
@Nate:
Exactly man.
December 20th, 2005 at 11:40 pm
One thing I’d like to particularly note about the comments at digg about my recent release of UDASSS, a few of them are saying that this is ‘nothing new’, ‘been done before’, and “Don’t see a use for Ajax for this”.
What I’d like to see is an example from anyone of these guys proving that it’s not new - where it’s been done before - And show me where and how I’m not using Ajax…
It’s folks like that - that don’t even read the articles before they leave a comment.
December 20th, 2005 at 11:43 pm
December 21st, 2005 at 12:17 am
[...] ly participating in the fun questions, but also learning a thing or two along the way How to deal with Negative Comments Styling Inputs Uno [...]
December 21st, 2005 at 5:01 am
The other thing you have to remember when dealing with negative comments on the web, is that english is not everyones first language, sometimes comments that come accross as being abrubt or curt, can just be down to the commentors lack of english.
December 21st, 2005 at 8:31 am
I wouldn’t worry too much about any of the comments on Digg. While it’s definitely a cool and innovative site, it’s quickly becoming overrun by little 15 year old losers that put down anything and everything because they get made fun of at school all day.
December 21st, 2005 at 1:12 pm
There really is nothing else I hate more than negative comments, if i disagree with something then I will at least put across my opinion and have a discussion about it, and then I may actually find that I am wrong and learn something! And someone else could learn something, it really is all about building community. And yeah, I agree with the comment made by Nathan, I personally don’t mind that yahoo have bought del.icio.us, as that is just the way of things, busisness is busisness.
To give an example of something I saw/was involved in recently, I was looking at the del.icio.us blog the other day, during the time it was down for a while, and there were alot of people saying how disgraceful it was that it had been down for 24 hours. All some people were doing was flaming and saying how it was a terrible service and things like this, while some people, myself included, were actually being helpful and posting messages of support to the del.icio.us team as they were having a hard time. I was having a discussion in the comments about the attidude of some of these people, and they did not even try and listen to what I was saying, they were just set in their ways. In my opinion, everyone who uses the del.icio.us site is getting a top class service for free, so a) who cares if they have sold out to yahoo, anyone angry about this is just jelous, and b) people cannot be angry for a FREE service to be offline for one of the first times in nearly 3 years. But that is just my two cents, as they say!
anyway, back to the matter at hand!
December 21st, 2005 at 2:57 pm
How to deal with Negative Comments?
Take a minute and think about what is written in the comment.
If the comment hits a spot - fix. Else - ignore (they will go away).
December 21st, 2005 at 4:30 pm
From Yahoo! Search results
Flintstones–Results 1 - 10 of about 2,790,000 for Flintstones
Jetsons–Results 1 - 10 of about 1,750,000 for Jetsons
and from Google
Jetsons–Results 1 - 10 of about 2,630,000 for Jetsons
Flintstones–Results 1 - 10 of about 1,750,000 for Flintstones
Winner–Flintstones by 160,000
December 21st, 2005 at 5:13 pm
That sucks about the whole digg thing, bummer. I’ve never used digg or anything, so I don’t know much about how things work over there, but the comments were harsh. It almost seems like people were being rude just for the heck of it, not really understanding the whole UDASSS thing at all.
Just forget about it, it’s a battle that cannot be won. Don’t even try responding, it just gives an instigator more reason bitch (as you found out).
December 21st, 2005 at 6:00 pm
Paul: If the Jetsons had a vitamin named after them, they’d be kicking Bedrock all over the map.
December 22nd, 2005 at 9:27 pm
That’s amazing. I read this tonight after digging something of yours. Someone commented on your design (http://digg.com/design/Dustin_Diaz_on_Styling_Inputs), but even a comment about a design is irrelevant to the thing being digged. I’ve seen the same immaturity over there and it’s sad because Digg has the potential. I posted a quick note on a particular comment spammer.
Something I’ve talked about to my friends in the past is that comments on blogs are not the same thing as a discussion board. People are getting confused, thinking it’s okay to just talk about anything they want on any blog they want to, as if it’s open discussion. I’ve had some terrible people on my blogs and have had to lay out ‘rules‘ for them. I get fewer commenters now, but hallelujah, they’re now far more constructive.
Thanks for writing this. I’ve saved it for posterity. ;)
December 23rd, 2005 at 6:38 pm
January 1st, 2006 at 11:27 am
You gotta see the positive in the negative! Otherwise it holds you back.
January 1st, 2006 at 1:01 pm
The Jetsons by a mile or lightyears ? . It looks more like home. Blenders in tha dangerous kitchen etc …
January 1st, 2006 at 2:33 pm
Sorry for those 2 previous comments: wanted to use comment breaks
January 7th, 2006 at 8:36 am
This it a good perspective and I agree with you all the way. I have found that Digg is very immature and working in a corporate environment that fall in the technology realm is as you said a field day for some people. Keep your chin up…. you are a great guy!
January 13th, 2006 at 12:23 am
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