Very much agree with your suggestions for healthy engagement with posts, thanks for writing them.
Also, FWIW, Iâve seen a lot less of a worrying trend towards criticism than I expected before joining the Forum team 4 months ago. Before joining, I had the idea that Forum users would tear ideas apart, sometimes in kind of harsh ways. Iâd also internalised the meme that this was a reason for people not to post.
Iâve been pleasantly surprised by what Iâve seen. Specifically, if a post seems unsuitable for the Forum, or particularly ill-conceived, it is generally quietly downvoted rather than openly critiqued. In many cases, posts that I thought might be particularly open to criticism were given very helpful, good faith comments.
The more critical comments Iâve seen have been on the work of organisations rather than individuals. Although that might be difficult for the organisations, it also seems more fairâorgs are being funded for the content they produce, so it matters to all of us that it is as good and correct as it can be.
If anyone reading has the opposite impression, Iâd love to hear about it (here or in DM).
Note: I am the content manager on the Forum, but these are my personal impressions, not those of the team.
it is generally quietly downvoted rather than openly critiqued
Iâm not sure if this is better or worse. People often get confused and frustrated by downvotes without explanation (cf. the âWhy am I being downvoted?â comments in response to oneâs own comments, sometimes from fairly experienced users). And newer users are less likely to intuit the probable reason for the downvotes.
Is there a âWhy might my post/âcomment be getting downvotes and/âor little engagementâ writeup somewhere? If not, maybe I should sketch that at some point as it might give people some general understanding to those users (and/âor allow those offering feedback to do so more efficientlyââmuch of it relates to reason 3 in the writeupâ rather than writing reason 3 out themselves).
Very much agree with your suggestions for healthy engagement with posts, thanks for writing them.
Also, FWIW, Iâve seen a lot less of a worrying trend towards criticism than I expected before joining the Forum team 4 months ago. Before joining, I had the idea that Forum users would tear ideas apart, sometimes in kind of harsh ways. Iâd also internalised the meme that this was a reason for people not to post.
Iâve been pleasantly surprised by what Iâve seen. Specifically, if a post seems unsuitable for the Forum, or particularly ill-conceived, it is generally quietly downvoted rather than openly critiqued. In many cases, posts that I thought might be particularly open to criticism were given very helpful, good faith comments.
The more critical comments Iâve seen have been on the work of organisations rather than individuals. Although that might be difficult for the organisations, it also seems more fairâorgs are being funded for the content they produce, so it matters to all of us that it is as good and correct as it can be.
If anyone reading has the opposite impression, Iâd love to hear about it (here or in DM).
Note: I am the content manager on the Forum, but these are my personal impressions, not those of the team.
Iâm not sure if this is better or worse. People often get confused and frustrated by downvotes without explanation (cf. the âWhy am I being downvoted?â comments in response to oneâs own comments, sometimes from fairly experienced users). And newer users are less likely to intuit the probable reason for the downvotes.
Is there a âWhy might my post/âcomment be getting downvotes and/âor little engagementâ writeup somewhere? If not, maybe I should sketch that at some point as it might give people some general understanding to those users (and/âor allow those offering feedback to do so more efficientlyââmuch of it relates to reason 3 in the writeupâ rather than writing reason 3 out themselves).