Constructive criticism, and a lack thereof.

[davywavy]

I had two conversations this weekend, on much the same thing. It’s amazing how two different strings of dialogue can go in such different ways with different people. I’ll paraphrase my experiences of them here, as I think it’ll make a valid point on how to approach people when criticising their work…

Conversation 1:

Them: I read your work, David, and it’s crap.
Me (Taken rather by surprise): Er, gosh, what didn’t you like about it?
Them: Well, what’s to like? It’s all crap.
Me: Okay, you don’t like it. What parts of it need work?
Them: All of it. The best thing you could do is highlight, delete all, and start again.
Me: Right. I understand that you don’t like it. Assume that I’m not deliberately submitting second-rate work, and could you give me specifics? It’s difficult to take criticism when it isn’t constructive.
Them: I read it all, judged each part on its merits, and I’ve come to the logical conclusion that it’s all crap.

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I had two conversations this weekend, on much the same thing. It’s amazing how two different strings of dialogue can go in such different ways with different people. I’ll paraphrase my experiences of them here, as I think it’ll make a valid point on how to approach people when criticising their work…

Conversation 1:

<b>Them:</b> I read your work, David, and it’s crap.
<b>Me (Taken rather by surprise):</b> Er, gosh, what didn’t you like about it?
<b>Them:</b> Well, what’s to like? It’s all crap.
<b>Me:</b> Okay, you don’t like it. What parts of it need work?
<b>Them:</b> All of it. The best thing you could do is highlight, delete all, and start again.
<b>Me:</b> Right. I understand that you don’t like it. Assume that I’m not deliberately submitting second-rate work, and could you give me specifics? It’s difficult to take criticism when it isn’t constructive.
<b>Them:</b> I read it all, judged each part on its merits, and I’ve come to the logical conclusion that it’s all crap.
<b.>Me:</b> This is getting a bit repetitive, and also doesn’t help me make improvements if they need to be made.
<b>Them:</b> Ah! You should have asked me before you even started writing!
<b>Me:</b> I didn’t know you existed before five minutes ago. And when I asked for help in writing, nobody replied.
<b>Them:</b> Well, you should have asked harder. It wasn’t very nice of you to ignore me.
<b>Me:</b> I had no idea you even existed!
<b>Them:</b> Don’t be so defensive. I’m helping you here.
<b>Me (taking a very deep breath and counting to ten):</b> You aren’t helping. You’re saying my work is crap. Now I’ve previously said that it probably needs work to make it fine, so I’m prepared to accept criticism if it’s helpful, but so far you aren’t. Could you, please, give specific instances of where the errors are and how, in your opinion, they could be improved.
<b>Them:</b>Well, it’s all crap, and it could have been improved by asking me to write it in the first place. You wasted your time.
<b>Me:</b> That’s not a specific.
<b>Them:</b> Stop being so defensive. You need people like me to point out your failings.
<b>Me:</b> Well, I wouldn’t be getting so irritated if you’d just do so, rather than just sitting there saying “it’s crap”.
<b>Them:</b> Well, I’ve got to go now. Great talking to you! Bye!

Conversation 2:

<b>Them:</b> okay David, we’ve read through your work, and it does need work.
<b>Me (Uh-oh, here we go again):</b> In what way?
<b>Them:</b> Well, to start with there’s such-and-such. It doesn’t take into account points A, B, and C, which could change a lot of things.
<b>Me (Long pause, as my expectations shift):</b> Um. Er. Yeah. You’re right. I didn’t think of that. Arse.
<b>Them:</b> Cool, there’s a couple of other points I’ve got listed. Do you want me to send them to you?
<b>Me:</b> Please. Thanks.
<b>Them:</b> How about I give you a ring tomorrow?
<b>Me:</b> Oh, okay.

Now. What does this tell us about constructive criticism?

Comments

[crag-du.livejournal.com]

Now. What does this tell us about constructive criticism?
That it's crap. ;op

Seems like the first person has interpreted 'constructive criticism' to mean 'criticism that makes me feel better' rather than helps someone improve and develop their work.

[blue-cat.livejournal.com]

The first is only vaugely constructive if your work really was that crap - and even then some indication of why the whole of it was crap would be useful, like e.g. you forgot the spaces, there is no punctuation, paragraphing or spelling, or your computer trashed the lot and looks like j;oiuerq83941387#'J£097423.

the term Constructive Critisism is oft misunderstood to mean 'point out that there is a problem in a friendly manner' rather than 'point out the exact problem (with detailed examples) and maybe even suggest an answer'.

Did the first person walk away with his/her essential sexual extras? :)

Constructive

[fire-kitten.livejournal.com]

Probably the only constructive thing person A said was 'you should have got me to write it'

perhaps you should take them up on their advice next time you have something really tedious and horrible that needs writing.... since you obviously value their time and opinions.
:-)

[eddyfate.livejournal.com]

Conversation A is crap. You should highlight all, press delete, and start over. :-)

[kathminchin.livejournal.com]

bites lip and tries not to comment.

Falls off chair in giggles instead.

Hey at least you didn't get 40 pages to plow through in order to attpemt to work out the differences