Hi None,
I recently had an email conversation with an artist who had just been through battle on her blog. After years of extensive blogging, she received her first negative comment, an inflammatory comment about a post she had written with some derogatory comments about her art thrown in for good measure. The level of vitriol in the comment was a bit dumbfounding, especially since it didn't seem to be coming from a dissatisfied customer, rather from a random visitor to the site who wouldn't seem to have any good reason to be so . . . blunt.
After the shock and pain wore off, they were replaced by outrage. The artist dashed off a heartfelt response, countering point by point each of the charges in the comment. And thus began an epic battle in the comments section of her blog, with fiery comments flying back and forth over several days. I'm not going to post the comments here -- I don't wish to draw any more attention to them, but I'm sure that many of you who blog, have a website with a guest book, or participate in social media can sympathize with this situation. There's nothing more disheartening than a brutal criticism of you or your work.
I've been blogging for about five years now, and I've certainly run into my share of negativity online. Really, this kind of behavior can happen anywhere -- on a blog, on a third-party website, via email, and even in person. There are people out there who have a chip on their shoulder and like nothing more than to stir up a fight.
In the online world, this kind of person is called a "troll", and they pop up all over the web. Rarely do they add anything of value to a conversation; they are usually composing their comments with the sole intent of stirring up an argument.
To read more on "Responding to Negative Feedback About Your Art", continue to the original full article on RedDotBlog, where Jason covers these topics:
- Dealing with Trolls
- Responding to Dissatisfied Customer
- Responding to Critics in Public Forums
- Responding to Critics in Person
