![]() So, for your enjoyment and in an effort to poke fun at some of my own fumbles, I donned protective armor and bushwhacked my way through thorny online commentary in search of some prickly comments. …if you choose to open Pandora’s online forum. Just as you can’t toss data disproving your hypothesis, you can’t accept the positive comments and ignore the negative ones. ![]() Yes, it’s nice to know when you’ve done something well - especially after a performance! - but unless you strive for mediocrity, it’s even nicer when someone can help make improvements. In my dancing years, I found constructive feedback to be more useful than praise. Otherwise, what’s the point? Isn’t feedback important? If readers care enough to respond, shouldn’t their opinions matter? And don’t we, as writers, want to produce pieces readers will enjoy? What is a writer to do? After all, we are writing for our audience…our words don’t simply disappear into the ether (we hope). Commenting on the issues presented in a story is one thing, but personally responding to or ridiculing the writer on a newspaper’s website is…troubling. I think the only forum for some folks’ frustration is online - and off they go. Forums aren’t really a cross-section at all - they’re more like using a magnifying glass when an x-ray is needed. I’m not sure comments are helpful or representative. I was entertained.īut now, I might disagree with myself. In the days before my forays into journalism, I viewed online comments as a sort of cross-section of reader opinion, and I was interested in what people had to say, the arguments they’d get into and what they wanted to know more about. ![]() Sometimes, it’s encouraging.Īnd sometimes it makes me want to throw down my pen computer in disgrace, hide under the covers, and emerge in 20 years. I’ve heard various incarnations of this statement, and yet…and yet, I do view online feedback. But I did not heed the warning: do not look at comments posted about your news stories.
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