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.
It is just really hard to write comments that challenge without seeming to attack people. Anyone got any tips?
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.