Giving and receiving feedback question

[bOBaN]

Context: I’ve seen a thread recently that (arguably not asked for) feedback was given and arguably not well received. I don’t want to discuss the validity of this or who was involved.

All I know, that after reading that thread is that I feel afraid to comment on other people’s work here. I’m a simple engineer*, and I have a very simple rule in such situation: when in doubt: ask. I’ve looked at FAQ and terms of service of this forums - didn’t see anything directly about feedback.

So my question is simple (even if the answer probably isn’t): what are the rules about giving feedback to others on this forum?

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Couple of my personal thoughts on this:

• honest positive feedback encourages sharing and future effort
• constructive feedback sometimes makes me angry or sad, but ultimately helps me improve, so I’m grateful for all forms of feedback
• positive, generic feedback (which I sometimes see here, like 50 generic ‘looking good’ comments made in 15 minutes) - is making me feel angry and disgusted (like a bot giving feedback). I throw stone also in my direction as I did it in the past -> I try very hard not to do it anymore after I analyzed my feelings after receiving such generic feedback.
• If someone gives me hard, constructive feedback, I live by simple rule now: even if my work is being trashed, it’s all great if the intention of person giving the feedback were honest.
• If I post something, it’s out of my control - I am ready and willing to receive likes, but also the harshest of criticism

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*not 100% accurate, but works in this context

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edit: syntax

[Munsa]

My thoughts:

Constructive feedback is always appreciate (for me). Even a hard, constructive one can and will help improve. A pat on the back with a “good work” encourages, but a suggestion or a correction helps always, if you post something “to learn”, even when you disagree with it. And that is the question I think we have to ask: Are we posting to learn or to hear how well we do something?

The rule in this forum… I simply don’t know what it is. If there is an official answer, I will stick to it. If not, I will try to do what I would like to see in my posts, a true and constructive feedback that helps me learn how to do it better.

[NP5]

There are no rules as such as I understand it. Bar the usual politeness, bad language, spamming adverts, etc.
Overwhelming comments here are perfectly fine.

From a totally personal point of view. ( See, why should it be necessary these days to say what I say is my personal opinion!)

I am of an older generation, basically, I can not be insulted or upset. Other people are free to have wrong opinions! AND express them. They can hate, trash, and say so, whatever I choose to show. I will not cry.

I quite agree too much syrupy Love it, fantastic, etc. only is to my mind utterly meaningless. But very modern youth it seems. Every, even great artist, throughout time has had lovers and haters of what they do. All have been copied and reused, adapted, like painting a mustache on the Mona Lisa.

My own feeling is if you post your work you want a reaction. Otherwise, why bother? If you only want praise, only show your parents, family etc.

There is one major parameter on this site and similar that should be taken into account.
The level of the learning of the poster. When starting out, and we are blessed here that various course items shown give us all an idea of how far along they are, in comments I try to be mostly encouraging and soft. With level relevant suggestions, or tips. It is the equivalent of not trashing a child’s first attempt at drawing Mummy, which looks like a blob with sticks for limbs. It serves no purpose to criticise the lack of perspective and shading in the drawing!

I have always regarded posting your work in itself an invitation to comment on it, which will include criticism and suggestions from other’s own perceptions, interests, knowledge, culture, etc. etc.

If you do not want to hear that perhaps it is the original poster’s job to say, no comments wanted. Why should everyone tiptoe about as they have not specifically asked for it. Why else did they ever post it?

[Josa_Booba]

Hmmm… I wonder which thread we might be referring to?

Here’s my simple thoughts on it

• recognise the work for what it is
• don’t judge it for what it isn’t
• reworking something for 60 seconds that might have taken the author 10 hours, might come across as a little insensitive
• if you do repost, make it clear you’re reposting the authors work
• the guidelines say (don’t repost without permission) although with the right balance of good/ bad, I think most people would be open to the critique

Don’t be afraid to offer criticism, but personally I like the compliment sandwich approach, say something good (even just press the like), offer the suggestion, maybe finish with a good point.

I think almost everyone is open to critique, but there is the good helpful supportive way and bad negative demoralising way - most reasonable people find no difficulty striking this balance.

[Miss_B]

OK, as a forum moderator elsewhere, I see all kinds of comments in posts which make me want to rip the poster’s tongue out of her/his throat. The 3D community, as a whole, has too many folks who are only interested in anything relating to the software they use, and find it amusing to make posts about how awful another piece of similar software is, and how they would never use it. We call them trolls, because they go from 3D forum to 3D forum looking to make trouble. So it’s sad to say I’ve seen the best types of critiques, and the worst.

That said, I have to agree with everything @NP5 stated, and I also like @Josa_Booba’s comment about personally liking the compliment sandwich approach, as I’ve often used it myself. Now that’s not to say there aren’t some posts I’ve made that just stated how I liked something, but no comments or suggestions other than that. There are times where that’s all that’s necessary, because I feel that just “liking” it isn’t quite enough.

For the most part, I can’t say any of our regular posters have ever made a comment or critique that annoyed me, not that I’ve posted any of my work here in years, and I think for the most part, we have a great group of folks working in the Blender courses (and the new 2D Drawing course), which makes me look forward to seeing what folks have to post about what they’re working on, or comments on what other folks are working on. We DO learn from these critiques, and isn’t that what this forum is all about … learning from one another?

[Jaco_Pretorius]

Agree with everything said so far… praise and critique depend on context and often require you to adjust your judgement-bar depending on the perceived experience of the poster.

@bOBaN

I feel afraid to comment on other people’s work here.

As similar as we are, we are also different. Experience with one individual should not dictate how you treat others - it’s only when negative trends in interactions keep happening where you should maybe introspect and reformulate the way you interact with others.

Personally appreciate all feedback and once even tried (and failed) to be funny about it (Hoping no one was offended as it was meant with good intentions). When defending decisions acknowledge other’s input and be polite about it. Also, more likely to praise something I think took effort, or shows a marked improvement, but only tend to give critical feedback if it is explicitly asked.

[Josa_Booba]

@Jaco_Pretorius point about how their joke may have been perceived as failed, is also a good point which highlights how easy it can be to intend one thing (and in our own mind know our intention) - but have it be received completely differently (for whatever complex human reason/ past experience etc…) - which I think shows that a tiny bit of kid-gloves, in a friendly community like this, often helps to diminish from what might be seen as being overly and unnecessarily negative - even if that was never the intention.