Is It Not Done To Be Honest??

[Mees]

Hey all, here's just someting I'd like to share.

when I look at screenshots in this forum, I always look at a couple of details, and some shots are actually quite amazing, some shots are good, some are nice, BUT: Also some shots are IMO butt-ugly! And on this forum it appears to be not done to tell someone his shots just straight forward suck. I'm also a member of a Dutch Flight sim forum, and frankly, the rules there are very very different. That's more of a family forum while SimV is a huge forum with members all over the world, so on the dutch forum people tend to post their very first shots there, which are absolutely nothing. And if those shots are nothing, it's not wrong to tell someone, people just accept it, you just give some tips how they could be better.

Now my question:

Is it actually not done to say to someone: Those aren't the best shots I've seen, but here's what you might want to do about it?


Waiting for replies.


Mees

[Omag 2.0]

I agree, though saying someone's shot sucks is perhaps not the best way to go about... sensitive souls and all...  ;) But I do agree with you, that some people post shots that are beyond any repair. Frankly I don't understand that...

[eno]

There is nothing wrong with constructive critisism as you describe in your post. It is when the critic becomes personal or the recipient takes it personally that it becomes a problem.

Everyone using this forum should know that flaming is unacceptable and with that in mind.

If you have any doubts about wether your comments will cause offence ....... keep the comment to yourself.

I would think that a post with no comments would get the message across to the poster with greater effect than just saying "it sucks!".

[Mees]

Indeed Andy, when someone posts a shot that's pants, you can say like: Actually, I don't really like this this shot, but here are some tips.

[Jakemaster]

I never just say 'those shots suck'.  I always give suggestions for what they should do to improve them.

If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything

[FSGT Gabe]

If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything

Exactly .  I try to help people but sometimes...you just can't without being negative :-/.  That's when you close your mouth .

- Kevin

[Jakemaster]

If you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything

Exactly .

[Clipper]

I think all of us agree that the goal of StudioV is to help everyone imrove their screenshot skills in a variety of ways. One of those ways is constructive critcism of posted shots. I hope that all who post pics at the Studio and request evaluation are prepared to accept the not always diplomatic responses from readers. Every effort should be made to ALWAYS INCLUDE ALTERNATVES AND IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTIONS on all critiques, I feel it's unacceptable to simply post a response criticizing without a positive and/or helpful comment attached to it. That's in the true spirit of the Studio..http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1153185697

[cspyro21]

I wouldn't just plain forward say "these shots suck" or "I don't like these shots, you could do ... to improve" Mees, after all I would see it as being a bit impolite. Instead, perhaps you could say something like "Not bad, but there is room for improvement. You could do ... to improve" or something, just to respect the poster and not be too blunt.

[Cobra]

Yeh right, i agree with Jake...for once I only comment on screenshots if I like them, otherwise i just keep  :-X

[MOUSY]

I think part of the reason for everyone being so uptight about ANY form of criticism at all was because of the bad experience with angers and tempers that seemed to have been rapant all over the freeware screenshot section and screenshot contests a couple months ago. The environment here had become so verbally aggressive that the Mods had to step in and a few people left. So now ppl are being very very picky about what they say, if they say anything at all.

To me, if I say anything about a shot, I just give my general polite opinion. Soon after that occurence here, I would sometimes lie ( ...yea I know ... ) about the pictures I posted on by saying "Great pic. Gd Luck in the comp!" because they were so bad that they were, as Omag put it, beyond repair. But soon I found that even that was ridiculous, so I refrained for commenting at all. And if I did, I said "Great pic. I'm loving the... but here's what I would have done instead...."

So what I'm actually trying to say is, the attitude of constructive crtiticism or no comment at all is usually best.

[Sytse]

Well, Mees... We Dutchies are very impolite and blunt according to foreigners. (It's a scientific fact, actually  ;D)

Although "we" are used to this type of behaviour, "we" should be extremely careful when communicating with foreigners. So, if someone from Holland says 'it sucks' and someone from the UK says 'not bad' they're basically saying the same thing.  ;)

[Harold]

True ... but what 'we' think and what is fact are two different things.

On the other hand, some people can't even take it when you say I don't like their shots. I've seen lots of screenshots that I don't like and I'll ask the artist how he did it. Usually I offer my help to people so they can improve their shots.

But if you do criticize, always give fundamented advice on how to improve ...

And Mees: Always stay true to yourself. If you can't be straight to yourself who can you be straight with?

[Mees]

But if you do criticize, always give fundamented advice on how to improve ...

As I stated in the topic...

[Alonso]

Well... I just comment if I like it... If I don't...I just comment if I have recommendations  ;)