Thanks for Sharing or Nice Share
To comment or not to comment.
I have been publishing articles online for around 3 weeks and I cannot get enough it! The social aspect combined with becoming familiar with the styles of some excellent, well informed writers and the potential of supplemental income has no parallel. Just recently, I read an excellent article on alcoholism here at Triond that might well have been written by a professional. It dealt with what exactly a dry drunk is and how to live with and cope with a loved one who is an incorrigible alcoholic.
I do have a very small bone to pick with a trend I have noticed with regard to article comments. I would prefer either no comment or something substantive. I will conjecture that at least 25% of all article comments that I have perused are of the ilk “Thanks for sharing”. Please do not misconstrue my intent here. If “Nice Share” is all you mean to say, then cool. However, if you are doing it just to drive up page impressions irrespective of the articles quality, then it becomes an ethical consideration. I certainly understand the whole notion of quality being subjective and difficult to pin down, but it does seem like more than a few have “Nice Share” as their default comment.
Having said all this, this writer would be the first to get his feelings hurt at even a hint of criticism about anything he wrote. After all, many of us put our heart and soul into our writing and naturally might take it personally if another writer is not impressed with our output. I think most of us would prefer to say something nice about another’s work. In my view, saying nothing is better than false praise.
Incidentally, in Robert Pirsig’s well known magnum opus, he posited that quality was recognizable to all who witnessed it. Sort of like the picture of the beautiful Dallas Cowboy cheerleader who got run over by Jason Witten.
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February 5th, 2011 at 7:29 pm
I have to agree with you about the “nice share” comment. If that is all they can think of to say, I’d rather they said nothing because it means nothing to the writer. In fact, I’d rather see constructive critisicm than that kind of comment.
Quality is indeed recognizable to all who witness it.
February 5th, 2011 at 7:41 pm
Thank you Barb for commenting. I look forward to following your work. Did you read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance ? The theme of Quality as real but undefinable was featured in that excellent book.
February 11th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
I agree as well. There have been moments when I have typed in “good article” then left the page before submitting. If I do say “Thanks for Sharing” it is because I meant it. I try to leave a detailed comment as well…perhaps a little too lengthy occasionally.
As for the constructive criticism I have no problem with it, as long as it is “constructive”. Some folks just downright criticize, and yet pay no attention to their own shortcomings.
A well written article which gets right to the point. Have a great day!
February 12th, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Thanks for reading Diane. Time, oh so precious time. It seems like I am only reading or writing these days! I am glad you are here. I just wrote an article criticizing the artificiality of “Triond Friendships”. I still believe Triond is a very good thing from a standpoint of community and as a writing outlet. Thank you again for your very well written article about Helium.