The Conundrum of Comments
01 Jul 2010 Leave a Comment
in Reviewing
“Anger is a momentary madness, so control your passion or it will control you.” ~ Horace
While we’d all like the Internet to be a cozy place, there are some negative aspects that can affect your emotional health. How do you deal with comments? In this online world opinions are everywhere. In good faith you write a review and someone on the planet decides to knock you off your feet with an abrasive comment. All you were trying to do was share some beauty with the world. What do you do in this type of situation since it is so common? Is it better to ignore the person? Delete the review? Compose a witty retort?
Yes, you will be temped to respond in an angry manner. You may even get upset or mad for a few days. For your amusement, here are a few negative comments I’ve received over the years:
“…there is no way that you can possibly read, see, listen, taste etc etc all the things you review.”
“Is this an ad by someone who works for Gaiam? Did you really have to write 850 words to review an exercise DVD? Really?”
“It would have been more helpful if you just wrote a BRIEF review… I don’t want to read a lengthy synopsis every time I seek a book review. It’s just too time consuming.”
“Who cares, you have way too much free time on your hands.”
“i think you should go to book rehab. cause i think you are a reading addict. SERIOUSLY.”
“I was wondering if you actually have a life?”
While these may seem fairly tame now, they upset me when I first saw them. Now I can laugh about it and go on with my life. In fact if you’d like to see my responses visit this page: Comments_heard_it_all_before. On this page I explain the top ten concerns people have about reviewing.
I do get mostly positive comments! To see them visit these two pages: Your_important_comments
In the end, how you respond to these types of comments is really important. You can get stuck in negativity and respond in an angry manner or you can be reasonable and answer in a calm manner. I’d recommend the latter method because it leaves you with no regrets. Most people who are angry are probably not going to come back and see your response. But the rest of the world will! That is my advice from ten years of experience with this issue.
