Board Thread:General Wiki Discussion/@comment-4833240-20140301051701/@comment-24784594-20140302174116

Dubiousdugong wrote: Princess Callie wrote: There's a difference between criticism and meaness. Criticism doesn't have to be nice to be constructive, and sometimes down right telling someone their story is shitty is the only way to get the point across.

There is a difference between that and just saying that it's shit because it's shit. That's not true, though. It's that kind of mindset that holds the Wiki back. It does have to be at least civil to be constructive, and nasty remarks add insult to injury. You think the people who write these flawed stories don't know they're bad? Of course they do. You telling them that just makes them feel ashamed for their contribution. There's always another way of getting it across. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, after all. Dugong is right. There may be a lot of stories that are poorly-written, but that doesn't mean you should insult the writer. They're probably doing independent writing for the very first time! But critiques should be precisely that: critiques, not insults.

And true, Callie, criticism won't always be nice. But like Dugong said, it does have to be at least civil. There's a difference between saying "this story is shitty" and saying "this story could use some improvement".