Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber
How do we get to a less cyclically negative community? Well, I got a few wonderfully enlightening text messages today... at the time I didn't find them quite as wonderful but with a few hours to think on it I learned something. I'm sharing some of the thoughts since I have a hunch I'm not the only one who does it.
- Snippish responses to misunderstandings. I do this a lot, a lot of other folks do too. Maybe we should take a lesson from what we always yell at the GDC for and not rush our calls. I've been writing most of my posts 2/3 times before posting them... unfortunately I'm a REALLY fast typist. Coupled that with the fact that I get frustrated with what I perceive as stupidity and stay that way for a long time; I guess I need to physically write them out. I'd be willing to bet this would prevent a lot of misunderstandings.
- Negative tone. I, and many folks (esp this year) have a really negative tone. Or at least that's what folks tell me. I rarely see it as I focus mostly on content rather than tone. I'm open to suggestions on avoiding this one. It's a writing style/personality style. I've noticed, at least in my field, it tends to be quite common to be very negative when looking at things. Suggestions on being optimistic are very welcome.
- Frustration at arguments based solely on feeling. I'm a firm believe in facts. It's why I'm in STEM. My mind is wired to believe there is an OPTIMAL answer. Because of this I find myself being frustrated by folks who think that an opinion based on nothing more than "well I feel that..." is worth as much as a researched opinion. Big wakeup call to folks like me: We're wrong. I hate writing that, I hate admitting that. But as this friend pointed out (as much as I didn't want them to), feelings are just as valid about a lot of topics. That being said, folks who base opinions on feelings should recognize that if facts come to light disproving your feeling? Responding with "You're wrong because I feel this" without incorporating the new facts into your belief is just rude.
Those are the big three I pulled out of that conversation. I figured I'd share in case someone else similar finds any use out of them.
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This is a great post, and might just be the best one I've read, ever. If you look at the "negative" conversations that have been going on, 90% of the posts are by the set of people people who have full/almost full rep bars, and are active, well-known users. If everybody makes a good effort to be constructive, we could really make CD a wonderful place. After reading this, I looked through my posts from this year, and realized that I'm guilty of doing most of the bad stuff. I've convinced myself that I'm not going to post anything that doesn't help someone or contribute to a conversation. If I think something isn't good, I'll try to stay more positive, and help find a possible solution. For all the complaining over little things I did this year, I accomplished absolutely nothing.