Why does the net think negative = vicious attack?

[HellCat]

The internet has never been the most mature of places but increasingly it seems anyone who offers a maturely presented negative view point or constructive criticism that isn't just praise is set upon. This annoys me because one of the things I spend time online for is discussion. I like to run ideas past people, discuss things we like and cover what is perceived good and bad. However, it seems these days unless you're just going to type "That was awesome! Brilliant! I want more" you're jumped on and the smallest negative comment is made to be some vicious attack. Maybe it's just my art and design training, but I've always felt there is more benefit to maturely discussing concerns then there is to just praising something. Praise should always be given where due but that doesn't offer much room for discussion.

[Juu-kuchi]

I think it goes back to a very common human trait coupled with net anonymity, impersonality, and openness.

It's a very human trait at times to have a visceral reaction to criticism. No matter how hard you try to be helpful you cannot help but admit that they're going to feel somewhat.... slighted by that. Given the Internet's widespread access and availability to immediately reply at the drop of the hat, it is easy for those people and their supporters to actively jump to the rescue without any disregard and vent their frustrations. The anonymity part does not help it because of the deferred personal interaction. Say a couple of words or turn him down and that's it. There's little to no consideration of the guy since he's just an anonymous person who doesn't fit into the scheme of things because of his unknown nature to the other user. And since the Internet is open, attacks against constructive criticism are allowed the ability to snowball into more criticism, as people will see this so-called person's "attack" and come to the aid of the significant other they're criticizing. It's an endless cycle.

Also this makes me wonder if there's a marked difference in people taking criticism or advice differently (and ideally better) when it is done instead between actual oral conversation and not between marked darting of texts to one another.

[XOMiss_Samantha]

I think it goes back to the fact that despite everyone having been told 'not to care what other people think', regardless you'll always be somewhat concerned with the opinion of others. Good or bad, I think that the opinion is scary, and to have somebody give a negative or constructive comment is automatically seen as an 'insult' because people want to be praised- humans don't want to see their own faults. We believe that we are perfect as is. Nobody wants to know that they have room for improvement because it's like saying that 'you could be better and aren't already good enough now', expecially if this is made public. It takes alot of teeth gritting to get over the fact that the person giving you constructive criticism isn't trying to belittle you. It's a touchy thing.
There's kind of a bandwagon element to be apart of the always 'Good job!That was flawless!' group. It's like how a piece of writing can always be edited and changed. I hate giving what I've written out for judgment [most of the time in class for essays and such], but I do it anyways because I know that some of the feed back will hopefully be useful.
'Oh what, you don't like me now?' 'no man, I was just trying to help you out!' 'Oh really? I don't believe you, you ----'
I've seen that kind of situation more times than I'd like, expecially in youtube comments around amvs.

It's easier on the internet because you don't have to see the other person. Getting angry or jumping at the chance to tell somebody that they need to 'screw off' or 'how about switching that scene with this one?' can be achieved with only a few taps of a button and no confrontation. If half the people online spoke to each other in the same manner off, there would be alot of riots going on...

[GWOtaku]

I think that for a tremendous portion of the internet, negative is harsh and vicious. There are exceptions like TZ but as a general rule, large communities tend to be full of trolls proportional to their size and many sites are just platforms for people to say whatever they want in an effort to stand out. Look hard enough, and you'll find people insisting that The Dark Knight was a terrible movie based on mostly flawed reasons. This has only gotten worse with the advent of the blog, which has allowed even trolls and haters to create humble websites that have a disguise of respectability.

As such, I think backlash against that in favor of positive discussion is perhaps very natural. This doesn't mean the absence of criticism, but I think it does mean that a lot of people have developed quite a sensitivity to harsh criticism on the internet simply due to how pervasive and extreme so much of it is. I think in general it really helps to talk about some positives while engaging in criticism, or to at least acknowledge that there's another side that has a point here and there. Without that, fairly or not, said criticism can come off looking like an "attack" that didn't stop to consider other points of view. Trolls also love using one questionable statement to discredit an entire piece of work, so restraint in one's rhetoric is also important. Bloggers seem to love finding small statements from other bloggers and taking the opportunity to issue smug responses, often treating the other person's point of view unfairly in the process.

[HellCat]

I think that for a tremendous portion of the internet, negative is harsh and vicious. There are exceptions like TZ but as a general rule, large communities tend to be full of trolls proportional to their size and many sites are just platforms for people to say whatever they want in an effort to stand out. Look hard enough, and you'll find people insisting that The Dark Knight was a terrible movie based on mostly flawed reasons. This has only gotten worse with the advent of the blog, which has allowed even trolls and haters to create humble websites that have a disguise of respectability.

As such, I think backlash against that in favor of positive discussion is perhaps very natural. This doesn't mean the absence of criticism, but I think it does mean that a lot of people have developed quite a sensitivity to harsh criticism on the internet simply due to how pervasive and extreme so much of it is. I think in general it really helps to talk about some positives while engaging in criticism, or to at least acknowledge that there's another side that has a point here and there. Without that, fairly or not, said criticism come off looking like an "attack" that didn't stop to consider other points of view. Trolls also love using one questionable statement to discredit an entire piece of work, so restraint in one's rhetoric is also important. Bloggers seem to love finding small statements from other bloggers and taking the opportunity to issue smug responses, often treating the other person's point of view unfairly in the process.

That's a fair point but often if you present good and bad, people will just focus on the bad anyway. I was invited to give feedback on someone's YouTube video recently. My feedback was basically "This and this could be tightened up but overall good job. Well done". This saw my comment get enough thumbs down to be classed as spam.
That's the problem. Even if you do balance it out, people will go after you for not being completely positive. These days, even the simplest of misgivings get you labelled as some moaner.

[Silverstar]

The internet has never been the most mature of places but increasingly it seems anyone who offers a maturely presented negative view point or constructive criticism that isn't just praise is set upon. This annoys me because one of the things I spend time online for is discussion. I like to run ideas past people, discuss things we like and cover what is perceived good and bad. However, it seems these days unless you're just going to type "That was awesome! Brilliant! I want more" you're jumped on and the smallest negative comment is made to be some vicious attack. Maybe it's just my art and design training, but I've always felt there is more benefit to maturely discussing concerns then there is to just praising something. Praise should always be given where due but that doesn't offer much room for discussion.

I agree wholeheartedly, but often online that is not the case, as I know all too well.


Even if you do balance it out, people will go after you for not being completely positive. These days, even the simplest of misgivings get you labeled as some moaner.

Story of my internet life.

I've always been something of a known critic among my circle of friends and relatives, and that's OK for real life, but it's hard to be that online without being labeled a 'hater' or a 'meanie' or an 'a-hole' for doing something other than just showering people with glowing praise.

Some examples: back when I was on TV.com, there was this one aspiring writer on one of the forums I frequented (for reasons of tact, I won't say which show or the poster's name) who would post these episode ideas of his and then say, "I welcome all comments and criticisms." Now, some of his stuff was OK, some of it was not so hot, and in some cases there were glaring plot-holes and continuity errors. But if you dared to point out any flaws in his stories, or even offered suggestions on how they could be better, this guy would get all huffy and defensive, saying things like "I don't care what you say, I'm going to do it my way and I will get my stories on TV, nothing you say matters!" OK, if you're not interested in hearing what anyone else has to say, then why are you always saying that you welcome all comments and criticisms? If anyone dared to make any other comment besides "Great idea, dude. You're awesome!" you'd get your head bitten off and get labeled a "creep", a "loser" or a "dream destroyer". It's the same mentality that has led to people believing that calling something "overrated" is synonymous to saying "I hate it".

Another example: right here in other forum on this very site, months ago there was this guy (again, I'll be tactful and keep his identity a secret) who would create thread after thread putting his favorite superhero in a non-stop array of hypothetical battles against other characters, ending each one with "tell me what u think". But once again, he really just wanted everybody else to fall in line and say, "Yeah, you're right. So-and-so would beat them all!" But if you said the opposite, daring to suggest that maybe x character wouldn't or couldn't win every single hypothetical battle he could ever be put in or suggest that maybe, just maybe, the other character (or team) may actually stand a chance of defeating character x, this guy would lose it and jump to the defense. "Let me tell u something" or "All my friends say x character would win. Are u calling us liars??" or "You're a so-and-so hater! Please be nice to me" or "You're bothering me. Stop ruining my thread!" And I'm like: Geez, why do you even bother making these threads if you only want to hear from people who agree with you? I thought online discussions were about give and take, the exchange of ideas and opinions, not one guy posts his fanboy rants and everyone else falls in line with him. If everyone always agreed with everyone else, there'd be no need for forums like this.

Sad to say, but some people don't want to hear honest opinions online. They don't want criticism; they just want praise and validation.

[HellCat]

I think the phrase "I welcome opinions" has become hollow. Basically people seem to use it because they think it means 'I've been polite, therefore shut up if you don't want to praise me". I've encountered it more than once. One of the worst things it can lead to is "You wait, I've shown it to [prominent forum member]. If they like it, you'll have to too!!"...thankfully this often blows up in the person's face, with said prominent member agreeing with the other side and being offended at being used as a scapegoat.

[Juu-kuchi]

I think the phrase "I welcome opinions" has become hollow. Don't forget what I believe is the quintessential "I respect your opinion BUT..." People with a differing opinion on something and use that before they say their opinion always appeared to me to be lacking any respect.

[Blackstar]

When people type "I welcome all opinions", what they really mean is "I welcome all opinions...except for the negative or critical ones".

It's one thing to flat out say that someone else's idea or suggestion is straight up stupid. That's not criticism, that's flaming. However, you can say that someone's idea needs some work or that It could be better thought out and even go so far as to offer some suggestions on how it could be improved, and then the OP still responds with hostility. "Shut up! My idea is great! It's awesome!" Two things: 1) If you have to tell us that an idea is awesome, then it probably isn't. And 2) Don't say "Please tell me what you think" if all you want to hear is sugar coated praise and compliments. Sometimes, you can actually benefit from some constructive criticism, provided it is constructive criticism and not just saying, "Your idea sucks, dude!". To quote my own mother, "Sometimes it's not what you say, but how you say it."