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Well guys, I was in the mood to write an essay, and here's what I came up with! A little something on commenting, flaming and critiquing.
Some of the tips and stuff are from when I went to Otakuthon and went to this pannel called "All About Fanfiction", and we all discussed some topics such as comments and stuff.
All right, so here we go! Also, some of the stuff is Fanfiction.net and deviantART-related stuff, but you'll understand the general idea. ^^
Commenting: Ok, so we all know what a comment is, right? We all have our ways of making comments on an artwork or fanfiction or whatever. No right or wrong way to do it. However, there are some things to some comments that really just annoy us or make us wonder if the person is paying any attention.
Example, comments that have either maybe a "lol" or "nice" or a smiley face....come on, that's just dumb. It makes you look like a poorly schooled moron. It's not that hard to put together a good sentence or two in getting your comment across. Even just a simple "That's really nice." or whatever suffices just fine. It's rocket science people. And don't come out with the "I'm lazy" stuff. Come on. How hard is it to compose a simple sentence?
Also the comments on where the person asks something...that's already explained or something like that. Those people are annoying. Like on deviantART for example, there's a box where the artist comments of their work and talk about how they did it and stuff, the description. (Although sometimes it just has a "...", I really hate that DX) But anyway, I get so annoyed when the people don't read the artist's description and ask a question that's already there. HELLO? It's not hard to read it, people! I always read them, always. And if there is a question that doesn't state an answer, THEN that's the time to ask.
And on dA also, there are the annoying people who put in the "First comment!" thing. That is so annoying. I can't count how many times I've gone to see a nice artwork (usually done by a popular artist) and the first comment I see is "OMG! First comment!" or something. It just ruins it for me. And then sometimes they break out in a war about who got the first comment. Come on, what is the big deal?! So you got the first comment, good for you. Woohoo. I have a news flash for you people: NO. ONE. CARES. No one is going to cheer you on when you come to them and say "I GOT FIRST COMMENT ON SO-AND-SO's ARTWORK!", the artist themselves are not going "Awww, this person got first comment! That's great!". And it's especially annoying when it's ALL they say in their comment. Nothing whatsoever about the artwork, just the fact they got the first comment. That's really disrespectful and are not motivating to the artist. So you got first comment, big fucking deal. I wonder if they realize that the artist is rolling their eyes at this comment and not congratulating them.
It's also really just absurd when someone comments on something that has nothing to do with the artwork or whatever. Yeah...you idiots can go and talk about whatever the heck it is where it's redeemed appropriate.
I know sometimes we all may not comment or review because either some others have said what we wanted and stuff, you know? I watch a few popular artists, but I rarely comment on their work. A)They almost never respond. B)Others have said what I wanted. And there's really nothing wrong with that. I'd love to get to know them as the people they are, but they're always way too busy and everything, so it's hard. But oh well.
And there's flaming, but I'll get to that later. There's also the kind of commen that is "I don't like such-and-such, but the art is really nicely done" or whatever. That's all nice and all I guess, I can live with that.
Another thing about commenting, it's good to get in your opinion of the artwork, not your personal feelings. Of course there's nothing wrong with saying something like "This is well done! I love that character!" or something. I'm only saying that the artist wants feedback on the art itself, not necessarily what's in it.
On deviantART, or any site in general that you can somehow Favourite someone's work that they post, there really is nothing wrong with a "Fave and Run". As I said before, sometimes we all don't comment because either people have said what we wanted and because usually the artist won't respond, but yet we love the work and so we favourite it. There's really nothing wrong with that. Sure I love a comment, but I won't whine if someone faves my work and doesn't say anything. There are sometimes the artists who put a "Please comment if you fave" or whatever....yeah, um, that's a bit of pressure put on us, eh? Especially if they're the kind of artists that get like, over a hundred comments a day, and most likely never respond. Yeah...um...why should we do that when you don't respond? Whether we decide to comment or not is up to US, not YOU.
There's also something called spam, and chain letters. Those things are annoying, concocted and posted by people who have no life. I mean come on, how the hell am I "Going to die 15 minutes in my bed" if I break the chain? Seriously. Guys, don't listen to these, they're a waste of your time. I once fell into a scam due to a spam message on dA. Prior and post to that, I never listen. So if you get something in your e-mail inbox that says something like "Please help this little girl in Africa, send 5000$" or whatever, don't do it. It's just some company or person trying to scam us.
Also, there are comments that have mispelled words or grammatical errors. I understand if the person doesn't speak English or doesn't speak it very well, but when it's not the case....it just makes us all look dumb. And I especially get irritated when it looks like the CAPS lock was broken. I know sometimes when you type on a computer, it's a time to be free and let loose, but sometimes it's just better to be appropriate. After all, your teacher is not going to accept an essay that was written like this: "and then i went to the bathroom. it was very clean and nice. jessica was there too." So come on, it's not hard to put the capitals where they belong. And the punctuation marks, I'm so sick when people don't put them. So if I see a comment that says "what are you talking about" and have no question mark...that just looks dumb to me. I'm sorry if I sound like a Nazi about all this, but it's not that hard to compose words the correct way.
Anyway guys, all in all, make your comments get your opinion of the work itself across. And on flaming before we get to that, don't flame. The artist doesn't care how much their work "burns your eyes". And be respectful also, that's the key.
Flaming: Flaming. It basically means a hate comment. These are the worst. And 9 times out of 10, they're just a bunch of attention-whores, who write all these flames to get a reaction. So responding to them is really the worst we can do. I know it's tempting, and trust me, it makes me angered and want to yell at the person, but nowadays I'm realizing that they're the ones at fault here. Not us.
We've all gotten the standard "omg it sux" or "Your art is the worst", or something. They're hurtful and I've had my share of them.
But what's worse about flames is when it's someone's personal opinion of the artwork or whatever. Uh...yeah, listen buddy, the artist is looking for FEEDBACK ON THE ARTWORK, he or she does not give a damn if you hate so-and-so or whatever. They DON'T CARE. It's not their problem, it's yours. If you don't have anything nice to say, then back off. The artist doesn't want to hear about it. They don't care if you don't like the character they drew, or like that you drew them in an anti or pro way. It's so sad there are some people like that.
A bit of an example on that is a friend of mine who used to be a hardcore defender of a character on an anime, because she's hated a lot. She'd go all hate bitch on those who were anti-fans (myself included, but it wasn't so bitchy) and flame artworks that were anti that character, and then going on a campaign to protect her and blow off some steam at the haters. She would hate anyone who bashed her and block them. That to me was just childish and immature, and I was rolling my eyes the entire time. I didn't say anything of course, I wanted to avoid confrontation and be on her good side about it. But trust me, I just wanted to go in there and tell her just how annoying and immature it was, not to mention hurting people's feelings for things they didn't even do wrong. Luckily, she doesn't do that anymore, she's resolved her ways on that and some other things, so that's good. The point is, we should keep our personal opinions to ourselves and share them when redeemed appropriate.
I've had flamers, in which I replied back, they just come out with more flames. Jeez.
But one thing I can't stand, are the flamers who flame the artist for putting their OC into a series or pair them with a canon character. That just hurts them personally since they created the character. That's a stupid reason to flame, really. There's no justification. It's a touchy subject to me because really, what is the big fucking deal? If you don't like it, TOO FUCKING BAD. Just click the "Back" button and be on your merry little way. It's not that hard, people. Use your brains. Or lack a thereof. I don't care if the OC is a "Mary-Sue" (I don't even like to use that word if they are, I don't care) and it "burns your eyes"...no one cares. We have bigger problems to worry about.
So guys, if you don't like an artwork or a character or pairing or fanfiction...don't comment on it. They don't care. Just ignore it instead of flaming. You'll feel a lot better.
I myself have read some fanfictions I didn't really like, but I didn't comment on them, I just simply ignored and moved on, nothing happened to me. I've seen artwork I wasn't into, I didn't flame. I just ignored. IGNORE INSTEAD OF FLAMING, PEOPLE. IT'S A LOT EASIER, AND MORE POLITE.
Don't flame.
Critiquing: Well I personally don't critique really, because everyone has their own style, and we all make mistakes. I'd probably just critique on spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, but that's it.
While at the "All About Fanfiction" panel at the con, the girls holding the panel had a really good idea of how to critique on someone's work. It goes like this:
Compliment the person's work, let them know it was good and all.
Suggest a few things that could help. Do it nicely and politely, they'll respond better. Generalize, that's the key.
Encourage the author or artist.
That to me is good constructive criticism. I know some people are more harsh than that, and personally I feel that we have to fix our mistakes to please them. That's why I don't like harsh critiques, I feel like they're saying "I won't be happy unless you fix this"...that's just not right to me.
I do think that critiquing does help, if you do it right. By following the steps I listed there, you can provide a good way to get your helpful hints across, and make the person feel they did a good job none the less. Trust me, you'll really get a better response that way.
I think harsh critiquing is intimidating and puts us down a bit, and like I said, makes us feel like we're fixing stuff to please them. So I just think that it gets them nowhere and makes the person feel put down and low and not motivated to fix it.
So guys, if you do critiqute, follow along the little list of good ways to do it. Trust me on this, if I was critiqued like that, I'd be more motivated to fix my mistakes. Think about it, wuoldn't you rather that as opposed to harsh criticism? Thought so.
And so anyway, that about closes this essay for now. ^^ Hope I got some points across!
Some of the tips and stuff are from when I went to Otakuthon and went to this pannel called "All About Fanfiction", and we all discussed some topics such as comments and stuff.
All right, so here we go! Also, some of the stuff is Fanfiction.net and deviantART-related stuff, but you'll understand the general idea. ^^
Commenting: Ok, so we all know what a comment is, right? We all have our ways of making comments on an artwork or fanfiction or whatever. No right or wrong way to do it. However, there are some things to some comments that really just annoy us or make us wonder if the person is paying any attention.
Example, comments that have either maybe a "lol" or "nice" or a smiley face....come on, that's just dumb. It makes you look like a poorly schooled moron. It's not that hard to put together a good sentence or two in getting your comment across. Even just a simple "That's really nice." or whatever suffices just fine. It's rocket science people. And don't come out with the "I'm lazy" stuff. Come on. How hard is it to compose a simple sentence?
Also the comments on where the person asks something...that's already explained or something like that. Those people are annoying. Like on deviantART for example, there's a box where the artist comments of their work and talk about how they did it and stuff, the description. (Although sometimes it just has a "...", I really hate that DX) But anyway, I get so annoyed when the people don't read the artist's description and ask a question that's already there. HELLO? It's not hard to read it, people! I always read them, always. And if there is a question that doesn't state an answer, THEN that's the time to ask.
And on dA also, there are the annoying people who put in the "First comment!" thing. That is so annoying. I can't count how many times I've gone to see a nice artwork (usually done by a popular artist) and the first comment I see is "OMG! First comment!" or something. It just ruins it for me. And then sometimes they break out in a war about who got the first comment. Come on, what is the big deal?! So you got the first comment, good for you. Woohoo. I have a news flash for you people: NO. ONE. CARES. No one is going to cheer you on when you come to them and say "I GOT FIRST COMMENT ON SO-AND-SO's ARTWORK!", the artist themselves are not going "Awww, this person got first comment! That's great!". And it's especially annoying when it's ALL they say in their comment. Nothing whatsoever about the artwork, just the fact they got the first comment. That's really disrespectful and are not motivating to the artist. So you got first comment, big fucking deal. I wonder if they realize that the artist is rolling their eyes at this comment and not congratulating them.
It's also really just absurd when someone comments on something that has nothing to do with the artwork or whatever. Yeah...you idiots can go and talk about whatever the heck it is where it's redeemed appropriate.
I know sometimes we all may not comment or review because either some others have said what we wanted and stuff, you know? I watch a few popular artists, but I rarely comment on their work. A)They almost never respond. B)Others have said what I wanted. And there's really nothing wrong with that. I'd love to get to know them as the people they are, but they're always way too busy and everything, so it's hard. But oh well.
And there's flaming, but I'll get to that later. There's also the kind of commen that is "I don't like such-and-such, but the art is really nicely done" or whatever. That's all nice and all I guess, I can live with that.
Another thing about commenting, it's good to get in your opinion of the artwork, not your personal feelings. Of course there's nothing wrong with saying something like "This is well done! I love that character!" or something. I'm only saying that the artist wants feedback on the art itself, not necessarily what's in it.
On deviantART, or any site in general that you can somehow Favourite someone's work that they post, there really is nothing wrong with a "Fave and Run". As I said before, sometimes we all don't comment because either people have said what we wanted and because usually the artist won't respond, but yet we love the work and so we favourite it. There's really nothing wrong with that. Sure I love a comment, but I won't whine if someone faves my work and doesn't say anything. There are sometimes the artists who put a "Please comment if you fave" or whatever....yeah, um, that's a bit of pressure put on us, eh? Especially if they're the kind of artists that get like, over a hundred comments a day, and most likely never respond. Yeah...um...why should we do that when you don't respond? Whether we decide to comment or not is up to US, not YOU.
There's also something called spam, and chain letters. Those things are annoying, concocted and posted by people who have no life. I mean come on, how the hell am I "Going to die 15 minutes in my bed" if I break the chain? Seriously. Guys, don't listen to these, they're a waste of your time. I once fell into a scam due to a spam message on dA. Prior and post to that, I never listen. So if you get something in your e-mail inbox that says something like "Please help this little girl in Africa, send 5000$" or whatever, don't do it. It's just some company or person trying to scam us.
Also, there are comments that have mispelled words or grammatical errors. I understand if the person doesn't speak English or doesn't speak it very well, but when it's not the case....it just makes us all look dumb. And I especially get irritated when it looks like the CAPS lock was broken. I know sometimes when you type on a computer, it's a time to be free and let loose, but sometimes it's just better to be appropriate. After all, your teacher is not going to accept an essay that was written like this: "and then i went to the bathroom. it was very clean and nice. jessica was there too." So come on, it's not hard to put the capitals where they belong. And the punctuation marks, I'm so sick when people don't put them. So if I see a comment that says "what are you talking about" and have no question mark...that just looks dumb to me. I'm sorry if I sound like a Nazi about all this, but it's not that hard to compose words the correct way.
Anyway guys, all in all, make your comments get your opinion of the work itself across. And on flaming before we get to that, don't flame. The artist doesn't care how much their work "burns your eyes". And be respectful also, that's the key.
Flaming: Flaming. It basically means a hate comment. These are the worst. And 9 times out of 10, they're just a bunch of attention-whores, who write all these flames to get a reaction. So responding to them is really the worst we can do. I know it's tempting, and trust me, it makes me angered and want to yell at the person, but nowadays I'm realizing that they're the ones at fault here. Not us.
We've all gotten the standard "omg it sux" or "Your art is the worst", or something. They're hurtful and I've had my share of them.
But what's worse about flames is when it's someone's personal opinion of the artwork or whatever. Uh...yeah, listen buddy, the artist is looking for FEEDBACK ON THE ARTWORK, he or she does not give a damn if you hate so-and-so or whatever. They DON'T CARE. It's not their problem, it's yours. If you don't have anything nice to say, then back off. The artist doesn't want to hear about it. They don't care if you don't like the character they drew, or like that you drew them in an anti or pro way. It's so sad there are some people like that.
A bit of an example on that is a friend of mine who used to be a hardcore defender of a character on an anime, because she's hated a lot. She'd go all hate bitch on those who were anti-fans (myself included, but it wasn't so bitchy) and flame artworks that were anti that character, and then going on a campaign to protect her and blow off some steam at the haters. She would hate anyone who bashed her and block them. That to me was just childish and immature, and I was rolling my eyes the entire time. I didn't say anything of course, I wanted to avoid confrontation and be on her good side about it. But trust me, I just wanted to go in there and tell her just how annoying and immature it was, not to mention hurting people's feelings for things they didn't even do wrong. Luckily, she doesn't do that anymore, she's resolved her ways on that and some other things, so that's good. The point is, we should keep our personal opinions to ourselves and share them when redeemed appropriate.
I've had flamers, in which I replied back, they just come out with more flames. Jeez.
But one thing I can't stand, are the flamers who flame the artist for putting their OC into a series or pair them with a canon character. That just hurts them personally since they created the character. That's a stupid reason to flame, really. There's no justification. It's a touchy subject to me because really, what is the big fucking deal? If you don't like it, TOO FUCKING BAD. Just click the "Back" button and be on your merry little way. It's not that hard, people. Use your brains. Or lack a thereof. I don't care if the OC is a "Mary-Sue" (I don't even like to use that word if they are, I don't care) and it "burns your eyes"...no one cares. We have bigger problems to worry about.
So guys, if you don't like an artwork or a character or pairing or fanfiction...don't comment on it. They don't care. Just ignore it instead of flaming. You'll feel a lot better.
I myself have read some fanfictions I didn't really like, but I didn't comment on them, I just simply ignored and moved on, nothing happened to me. I've seen artwork I wasn't into, I didn't flame. I just ignored. IGNORE INSTEAD OF FLAMING, PEOPLE. IT'S A LOT EASIER, AND MORE POLITE.
Don't flame.
Critiquing: Well I personally don't critique really, because everyone has their own style, and we all make mistakes. I'd probably just critique on spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, but that's it.
While at the "All About Fanfiction" panel at the con, the girls holding the panel had a really good idea of how to critique on someone's work. It goes like this:
Compliment the person's work, let them know it was good and all.
Suggest a few things that could help. Do it nicely and politely, they'll respond better. Generalize, that's the key.
Encourage the author or artist.
That to me is good constructive criticism. I know some people are more harsh than that, and personally I feel that we have to fix our mistakes to please them. That's why I don't like harsh critiques, I feel like they're saying "I won't be happy unless you fix this"...that's just not right to me.
I do think that critiquing does help, if you do it right. By following the steps I listed there, you can provide a good way to get your helpful hints across, and make the person feel they did a good job none the less. Trust me, you'll really get a better response that way.
I think harsh critiquing is intimidating and puts us down a bit, and like I said, makes us feel like we're fixing stuff to please them. So I just think that it gets them nowhere and makes the person feel put down and low and not motivated to fix it.
So guys, if you do critiqute, follow along the little list of good ways to do it. Trust me on this, if I was critiqued like that, I'd be more motivated to fix my mistakes. Think about it, wuoldn't you rather that as opposed to harsh criticism? Thought so.
And so anyway, that about closes this essay for now. ^^ Hope I got some points across!
mellow
lolwut, was that just a ref to me? lolololzers
But hey, it's in the past and those days are over. So yay! 8D