Comments on: About comments

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 20:05:27 +0000

Forgive me for chiming in late, but I enjoyed the post under discussion as well as all the comments. I thought that everyone was doing a great job of discussing these contentious issues with courtesy and clarity. If indeed the problem is that the original poster was hurt by comments that made up no more than 5% of the comments, I think it’s a shame that the editors felt the need to chide commenters. The craft arena has a lot of genuinely nice people, but there’s also a culture of unrelenting positivism that doesn’t accept any criticism or disagreement at all. I appreciate it when people are honest as well as polite, and whipup could be a great space for those kind of discussions.

By: kim from melbourne

kim from melbourne — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 07:06:34 +0000

I don’t find anything hostile in the tone of Weeks’ post.
I’m curious, is it cultural difference? English, American, Australian, Canadian, New Zeland and many other English speakers, are we percieving it as slightly different according to our own cultural mores?

By: kim from melbourne

kim from melbourne — Sat, 08 Sep 2007 07:00:57 +0000

Christina, could it be something as simple as having your caps lock or num lock on?

By: Christina

Christina — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 19:20:06 +0000

ok, I tried posting both on the original comment and here (so a fourth and fifth time) and it doesn’t work, my comment gets “eaten up”. Thought today would be my lucky day as it’s my 25th birthday but it just doesn’t work:( So after 2 days of trying to post my comment; I think I will just give up.

All the best,

Christina

By: admin

admin — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 09:48:51 +0000

Hi christina – I am sorry – I have no idea about your comment disappearing – but I will keep a look out for it.

and cassie – no I do not censor authors posts – I trust my authors to post relevant and informative posts – however all authors are welcome to ask advice as to appropriateness – guest contributors are of course edited by me first.

and to everyone else – I too felt that only 5% of the comments of the previous post under discussion were mean spirited but on the whole I felt it to be a healthy and interesting discussion and very glad to have it on here. I am sorry of course that Weeks was offended by the 5% and while I will be more vigilant in watching out for the that 5% I will not be censoring comments that are constructive and dissenting – only those that are personal attacks and mean in spirit.

And thank you everyone for your participation in these sorts of issues – please let me know of any topics you would like to see discussed here.

By: Miki

Miki — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 02:05:03 +0000

I’m also a regular reader to the Whip Up blog. I think Weeks’ article and the follow on comments have been excellent food for thought. Personally, I would like to see more articles on these types of topics. These issues are timely, relevant and clearly strike a chord with many readers. I hope potential authors will not shy away for writing something that could be percieved as controversial because of reader comments. I definitely think a reader’s emotional perception can sometimes prevent them from seeing the big picture. Ex. It’s not what she said….but how she said it. Contributors keep up the good work and we’ll keep coming back.

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 23:50:01 +0000

Hum……..I have posted the same comment TWICE (once yesterday and once today) on the original post and it stills doesn’t appear. I doubt it’s “censorship” as it is not really negative but I wonder how or why it gets “eaten up”. I would appreciate if I could get an answer as I feel like my freedom of speech is getting limited;) I’m sure it must something in the system… Anyway, keep up the good work at whipup, always a source of inspiration.

By: gleek

gleek — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 11:37:51 +0000

thanks for this post on commenting. it really is a bummer when grown-ups say things like “Grow up and get on with your own work” in a discussion. that strikes me as very negative and certainly uncalled for. it’s certainly not very constructive which is what the discussion was supposed to be. i felt like 95% of the comments, while most of them dissenting, were quite above board and did their best to get their point across without being mean. too bad there were a few bad apples in there but they didn’t rot the whole barrel.

By: Cassie

Cassie — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 10:08:57 +0000

I do agree with Maria in that I also found Weeks’ post to have quite a hostile tone to it – and while I understand the issue, I didn’t appreciate the authoritarian way in which it was written.

I wonder does an administrator look over authors posts before they are posted, or perhaps give advice to authors before they post? Or are authors just able to write and post whatever they are thinking at the time?

By: sooz

sooz — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 05:21:36 +0000

I’ve been following this discussion from Weeks’ original post and I find myself agreeing with many of the sometimes contradictory views expressed. While there are always a few unscrupulous and selfish people out there I think most of the problem Weeks has is based on people’s ignorance about what she does and what it is worth. By that I don’t mean that people are stupid, just that the world of professional designing and quilting sits outside most people’s experience so they don’t know to be more respectful (as is the case for many small professional fields).

And perhaps the repetitious nature of Weeks’ experience with people who don’t know better has led her to feeling a bit frustrated by it and understandably feeling disrespected. Those who don’t know better feel unjustly accused by her expectations that they should respect something they don’t necessarily understand.

It is a shame that comments can be felt as hurtful because the discussion is really worthwhile. The vexed issues of where inspiration becomes copying and where the pleasure of crafting becomes a commercial enterprise are only likely to be clarified, understood, thrashed out and illuminated by discussion.

I suspect that the defensiveness and personal tones come precisely from our lack of shared understanding and shows that we need more, not less expression because it is one thing to expect respect for different points of view, it is another to expect respect for something people don’t know about.