If you haven't rolled your eyes while reading somebody else who criticized your work, your blog or your day to day job then you are either very lucky, or very unlucky. We forgive our moms for criticizing us because they carried us for 9 months'ish, plus when everyone turns a deaf ear to you she's the only one that will listen. For those who preach about stuff like design, blogging, web and internet stuff offering their expertise - seriously it's not a perfect world. Neither are you.
You say PotAto, I say POtato
Everyone has their tastes, styles, personalities and other characteristics. That's what makes all of us separate individuals. I have some traits and talents that you do not possess, and vice versa. So while one person can do one thing brilliantly, the other person just can't get it. Learning new things is the most wonderful experience you can have your entire life. You literally soak up knowledge till the day you kick the bucket.
What happens after that? Well, we all think differently about that too, don't we.
Criticism in the Blogosphere
The world of blogging on both sides of the Atlantic is pretty small, well kinda. Most of the influential blogs are connected between each other. I have a bunch of high profile bloggers on my IM and chat with some of them regularly. So when a fellow blogger is criticized for something it gets a bit personal, due to the friendship that has materialized out of similar blogging interests.
The fact is, even if somebody were to criticize me tomorrow for something I just wouldn't be bothered with it. You know why, because people will still continue to do the same thing they did yesterday. Read a blog post and move on to the next one. Take it {criticism} with a pinch of salt and learn from it. This isn't Spider-man - 3 where a New York critic says your voice doesn't carry over the first row and your career is finished. Nope, that only happens in bad movies about great superheroes.
To those who want to criticize, well I'm sure a few people benefit from your wisdom. The rest frankly don't care.
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Happy New Year 2008!
I assume you are also commenting on what John Cow was saying today and I agree with both of you. I got my BFA from an art school and constructive criticism is the only way we learn how to do things better. Just look at what happens when you are surrounded by yes-men (George Lucas). You churn out a bunch of crap that you thought was going to be genius.
Blogs are no different. If you don’t learn something new at least once a month about how to improve your site or yourself, then you are just spinning wheels.