Criticism and constructive feedback
I found this Twitter thread by Annalee Flower @leeflower to be completely fascinating.
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Jumping off this to talk about the difference between criticism and constructive feedback. https://twitter.com/ChuckWendig/status/989874696974946304 |
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Criticism, as @ChuckWendig says, is for the audience, not the creator. It's not about making the work better. By the time criticism comes into play, it's too late to change the work. |
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Criticism can help people decide if that finished work is their cup of tea--and it's also a valuable contribution to the larger conversation about art and culture. But it's not the same as *constructive feedback,* which exists to help improve the work in question. |
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The thing about feedback is, it can only be constructive if its consensual. Presuming to tell someone how to improve their work when they never asked you is presuming a position of authority. |
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And we hear a lot about how creators need to be "open to feedback," so when you give what you think is "feedback" to a creator and they get testy, it's easy to think they're being thin-skinned or dramatic--but they may just be enforcing boundaries. |
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One low-stakes example: I recently blocked a bot that butted into my mentions to tell me I'd used the wrong "your" when joking with a friend. Why? Because the programmer of that bot was presuming to tell me my damn business, that's why. |
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Yes, I had in fact used the wrong "your," just like I used the wrong "its" further up this thread. People whose feedback I value know that I know the difference and don't need a condescending lesson in grammar. Strangers trying to score points for trivia don't need to @ me in. |
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This standard does apply to talking about problematic work as well. I'm a critic. I regularly contextualize work within our cultural landscape. But my goal in doing so is to change the culture, not the work. The work is done. |
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I do sometimes give folks requsted feedback on their work, including problematic aspects of it. But when I do that, it looks different than when I'm writing criticism. I'm speaking to a different audience, and I have a different goal. |
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It's certainly possible for creators to take criticism as feedback--not generally for the work in question, but to improve future projects. And that's GREAT! But again, that's a consensual process. That's a creator choosing to use the criticism to improve their work. |
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Getting unsolicited feedback (or criticism masked as feedback) is a particular problem for marginalized people-- @mightymur likens it to street harassment, which is a simile that resonates with me. Because like street harassment, it's a power play. https://twitter.com/mightymur/status/989877131793575936 |
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