My best advice when it comes to debating with your fellow users is to stick to sports. Think of it as B/R’s new acronym: “STS.” You can’t go wrong.
If you have an opinion about a team, player, game, match, or league, it belongs on B/R. As long as you can express that opinion without making it personal or dropping any profanity, that makes not only your comment valid, but your point as well.
An example of what you can say:
“The Lakers are a horrible team with horrible coaching and Kobe Bryant will never win another MVP and Phil Jackson is the most over hyped coach ever!! THEY SUCK!”
An example of what you cannot say:
“The Lakers suck just like you! You are probably as retarded as Phil Jackson and he is REALLY retarded. How do you lose a championship to the Pistons when you have Kobe AND Shaq douche bag!”
If anyone does personally attack you, please flag the comment as offensive. This will automatically notify me and I will take proper action. Do not respond to personal attacks—there are no winners in a comment thread profanity war.
Critical Feedback versus Writer Bashing
One of the bigger problems in comment threads around B/R is writer bashing.
Comments like the following:
“This article is horrible you should never write again”
“You should probably learn English before you try and write an article”
“It’s spelled PUJOLS not POLHOLS, you have zero baseball knowledge”
We are a community of sports writers. We want our fellow Bleacher Creatures to succeed, not fail. At the same time, we can acknowledge that there is always room for improvement.
The trick is to encourage without being condescending. If someone’s article has glaring writing mistakes or maybe just one typo, there is the right way to go about notifying the writer and then there is the wrong way.
We all understand it takes a lot to put yourself out there, especially when you’re just starting out. Having people criticize your work and provide negative feedback can cause writers to shy away from B/R or come back with even more aggression.
In an effort to keep the peace without losing the value of feedback, here are some helpful ways to provide constructive criticism without bashing the writer.
First, if you notice some mistakes, post a note on the writer’s bulletin board so it does not come off as though you are publicly calling them out.
Start off with something you enjoyed about the article. For example, what made you want to read it?
38 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete