[PUBLIC POST] Positive Feedback!

[ljwrites]

As promised, this week we discuss the flip side of last week's post, positive feedback about your writing. What are some memorable compliments you have received? How was it helpful? When is a compliment less helpful, though still no doubt appreciated? How do you give positive feedback? What effect does positive feedback have on you? Feel free to discuss these or related subjects in the comments.

Comments

[jazzyjj]

I always enjoy receiving positive feedback on my writing, and even negative feedback so long as it's constructive and done in a nice way. I haven't had time for much writing lately though, but that's hopefully about to change. What *really* bothers me however, is how a lot of people in the blindness community seem to only have negative things to say. They think they're right all the time, and that they're the only ones who matter in the world. A great example of this happened several years ago, when I posted a comment on someone else's blog about the movie made out of Jose Saramago's book "Blindness." I saw this movie several years ago with a group of friends and a sister, and while some people found it kind of disturbing my sister and I liked it. This sister and I are both visually impaired from birth. The next day I read a blog post which heavily criticized this movie and strongly urged people not to watch it. This was clearly an opinion piece, which is all well and good. So I commented that my sister and I happened to enjoy the movie. Next thing I knew, the blog author posted an entire entry directed at me. She ranted about how I "seemed" to be younger than the generation of blind people she knew and of which she was clearly a big part, and therefore I had no right even visiting her site. The site has since been shut down, but I was very taken aback by her attitude towards me. I have since read other things like this from seemingly disgruntled members of the blindness community, and it really bothers me. I'm wondering if this has to do with the fact that some people lose most if not all their eyesight later in life? But that's a topic for another time and place.

[ljwrites]

Ooh yeah, the cult of rage, I guess you might call it, seems to be big these days online. I guess some people confuse "disagreeing with me" or even "not having the same experience with me" with "dismissive/evil/wrong." It's pretty concerning that people think having a legitimate gripe gives them a license to demonize people who disagree with them.