- May 27, 2017
- 687
- 7,673
Greetings fellow travelers!
I have spent a fair bit of time around this forum. I am a former moderator and currently am a writer of fine smut. In my time here I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in how people take criticism of their work here. I thought it would be helpful to throw a little guide together to hopefully help ease the pain of throwing your work out to the masses. This is going to be a work in progress guide and I will update it with more thoughts as they come to me.
A little background:
I thought it would be good to give a little more background on me before going forward. Hopefully this will make me seem at least semi-qualified on the subject of criticism. I have been writing porn for four or five years now. I have posted work on several websites and forums. It was honestly super tough when I first started. Every little comment about every little error hit me hard. I would obsess over every little detail. The earliest stages of my writing almost made me want to quit. But I was able to eventually find a happy medium where I could read the comments without wanting to puke.
I eventually landed here after trying to find a download for a lewd game. After becoming a Jr Uploader, I worked my way up the ranks. Being a moderator I saw this place a lot. You go through tons of posts and reports. This gave me a pretty good idea on what works and what REALLY doesn't work when taking criticism from a large audience.
The Good:
You maybe wondering what "The good" means in this context. I would have to reply "Wow! What a wonderfully timed question". In this context the good is taking criticism from users and processing it in a healthy way. While also being able to identify posts that should and shouldn't be answered.
Lets talk about processing criticism in a healthy way. This is something that can be very hard at first. You are going to run into a lot of people that are lets say...rather blunt. They are going to use the harshest words imaginable to bring you down a notch. As harsh as It may be there might actually be nuggets of truth in there. My best advice to give with these comments is to read them, but don't dwell. Try to find something in there that might be useful but if it doesn't have substance move on. You've got a bad ass game to make after all.
What types of criticism should you answer though? Should you engage with low effort comments? For the most part, no. Think of your posts here as your brand, you game/media being your product. I know the first thing I do when approached about work is look at the devs post history. People will take note of what you're posting. The more professional and clear headed you are in your games thread the more confident people will be in supporting you.
The best criticism to answer are from users who clearly have put the time into forming their opinion. These comments don't even really need to be well written or long. I've seen comments that were poorly formatted but brought some useful critique. Answering them clearly and addressing each point made will win you a lot of good energy from people. These comments are even better if you can plug content that is going to be in your next update. Have confidence in your answer and people will take notice!
To wrap up The Good I will give a little tip that I think can help anyone looking to get into the business. A weekly/update self critique is very helpful and totally healthy. Ask yourself what you did good this week/update and what you could do better. This is a great way to take stock of how you're feeling going forward and gives you somethings to work on.
The Bad and The Ugly:
Wait...Each of these don't get a separate section? Nope, and here is why!
I honestly don't want to dwell on this section too long. This section is pretty easy to sum up with bullet points but I will elaborate a little more then that.
There is a happy medium in regards to how much criticism you actually answer. I have witnessed devs drive themselves crazy trying to reply to everyone. It also doesn't look all that great to users. It implies that you are always on the defensive. Remember you are building a brand here and confidence is key. The more comments you can knock out in a single reply then better.
Don't private message/profile post a user who posted criticism. This almost always looks bad and in the case of private messages can cause a whole bunch of drama.
I can't stress this next point enough. Sometimes it is just better to take a break and clear your head. Your mental health is going to be important to keep yourself going. So it might be better to just walk away for a bit.
Conclusion:
There are going to be a lot of opinions out there , especially with such a large audience. It is important to take in all type of critique but it is important to keep your vision of your product intact. Make what makes you happy and people will see your passion and reward you.
Hopefully this guide helps a bit! Like I said It is very much a work in progress and I appreciate any feedback.
-Thrownaway13-
I have spent a fair bit of time around this forum. I am a former moderator and currently am a writer of fine smut. In my time here I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in how people take criticism of their work here. I thought it would be helpful to throw a little guide together to hopefully help ease the pain of throwing your work out to the masses. This is going to be a work in progress guide and I will update it with more thoughts as they come to me.
A little background:
I thought it would be good to give a little more background on me before going forward. Hopefully this will make me seem at least semi-qualified on the subject of criticism. I have been writing porn for four or five years now. I have posted work on several websites and forums. It was honestly super tough when I first started. Every little comment about every little error hit me hard. I would obsess over every little detail. The earliest stages of my writing almost made me want to quit. But I was able to eventually find a happy medium where I could read the comments without wanting to puke.
I eventually landed here after trying to find a download for a lewd game. After becoming a Jr Uploader, I worked my way up the ranks. Being a moderator I saw this place a lot. You go through tons of posts and reports. This gave me a pretty good idea on what works and what REALLY doesn't work when taking criticism from a large audience.
The Good:
You maybe wondering what "The good" means in this context. I would have to reply "Wow! What a wonderfully timed question". In this context the good is taking criticism from users and processing it in a healthy way. While also being able to identify posts that should and shouldn't be answered.
Lets talk about processing criticism in a healthy way. This is something that can be very hard at first. You are going to run into a lot of people that are lets say...rather blunt. They are going to use the harshest words imaginable to bring you down a notch. As harsh as It may be there might actually be nuggets of truth in there. My best advice to give with these comments is to read them, but don't dwell. Try to find something in there that might be useful but if it doesn't have substance move on. You've got a bad ass game to make after all.
What types of criticism should you answer though? Should you engage with low effort comments? For the most part, no. Think of your posts here as your brand, you game/media being your product. I know the first thing I do when approached about work is look at the devs post history. People will take note of what you're posting. The more professional and clear headed you are in your games thread the more confident people will be in supporting you.
The best criticism to answer are from users who clearly have put the time into forming their opinion. These comments don't even really need to be well written or long. I've seen comments that were poorly formatted but brought some useful critique. Answering them clearly and addressing each point made will win you a lot of good energy from people. These comments are even better if you can plug content that is going to be in your next update. Have confidence in your answer and people will take notice!
To wrap up The Good I will give a little tip that I think can help anyone looking to get into the business. A weekly/update self critique is very helpful and totally healthy. Ask yourself what you did good this week/update and what you could do better. This is a great way to take stock of how you're feeling going forward and gives you somethings to work on.
The Bad and The Ugly:
Wait...Each of these don't get a separate section? Nope, and here is why!
I honestly don't want to dwell on this section too long. This section is pretty easy to sum up with bullet points but I will elaborate a little more then that.
There is a happy medium in regards to how much criticism you actually answer. I have witnessed devs drive themselves crazy trying to reply to everyone. It also doesn't look all that great to users. It implies that you are always on the defensive. Remember you are building a brand here and confidence is key. The more comments you can knock out in a single reply then better.
Don't private message/profile post a user who posted criticism. This almost always looks bad and in the case of private messages can cause a whole bunch of drama.
I can't stress this next point enough. Sometimes it is just better to take a break and clear your head. Your mental health is going to be important to keep yourself going. So it might be better to just walk away for a bit.
Conclusion:
There are going to be a lot of opinions out there , especially with such a large audience. It is important to take in all type of critique but it is important to keep your vision of your product intact. Make what makes you happy and people will see your passion and reward you.
Hopefully this guide helps a bit! Like I said It is very much a work in progress and I appreciate any feedback.
-Thrownaway13-
