If you’re commenting on a post, it helps to start off with points of agreement and genuine compliments about things you liked. Try to be honest and non-patronizing: a comment where the only good thing you say is “your english is very good” will not be taken well, or a statement that “we both agree that murder is bad”. And don’t overthink it, a simple “great post” (if honest) is never unappreciated.
Another point is that the forum tends to have a problem with “nitpicking”, where the core points of a post are ignored in favor of pointing out minor, unimportant errors. Try to engage with the core points of an argument, or if you are pointing out a small error, preface it with “this is a minor nitpick”, and put it at the end of your comment.
So a criticism would look like:
“Very interesting post! I think X is a great point that more people should be talking about. However, I strongly disagree with core point Y, for [reasons]. Also, a minor nitpick: statement Z is wrong because [reasons]”
I think the above is way less likely to feel like an “attack”, even though the strong disagreements and critiques are still in there.
If you’re commenting on a post, it helps to start off with points of agreement and genuine compliments about things you liked. Try to be honest and non-patronizing: a comment where the only good thing you say is “your english is very good” will not be taken well, or a statement that “we both agree that murder is bad”. And don’t overthink it, a simple “great post” (if honest) is never unappreciated.
Another point is that the forum tends to have a problem with “nitpicking”, where the core points of a post are ignored in favor of pointing out minor, unimportant errors. Try to engage with the core points of an argument, or if you are pointing out a small error, preface it with “this is a minor nitpick”, and put it at the end of your comment.
So a criticism would look like:
“Very interesting post! I think X is a great point that more people should be talking about. However, I strongly disagree with core point Y, for [reasons]. Also, a minor nitpick: statement Z is wrong because [reasons]”
I think the above is way less likely to feel like an “attack”, even though the strong disagreements and critiques are still in there.