Let’s talk about feedback for a moment. No, not the type used to sweeten vacuum tube audio amplifiers, but rather those votes, cools, and comments we sometimes give and receive. There's been plenty said regarding votes; this little essay will concern itself with the use of the blab box, and cools.
Based on my conversations with noders, I’ve no doubt that we could be giving each other a bit more feedback on our writeups than we do. Life is not to be lived in a vacuum, and neither is E2. The cools are nice, but sometimes much more can be said with a comment or question. I've lost track of the number of times I've used the blab box to comment upon a writeup. Even in my pre-editor days, I often messaged noders how much I enjoyed the writeup, or how well it was written, or with perhaps a bit of constructive criticism. It's a practice I continue to this day, and you should, too.
What if that feedback is little more than a correction, or a typo alert? Accept it gracefully – it is, or should be, almost always given in the spirit of trying to help you improve. Take it as a learning experience, and know that it's part of the process of helping you become a better writer!
And if you receive feedback you judge abusive? It happens, unfortunately. Contact a god or editor. We're equipped to deal with it, and deal with it we will.
Now, a word or two about cools. I’ve been asked now and then whether one should thank the giver of a C!. Opinions rage back and forth – here’s a sampling:
1. yes, because it's the polite thing to do.
2. yes, because I want to thank the noder for judging my work worthy of appearing on the front page.
3. no, I don’t require an acknowledgement that I read your writeup and thought it deserving of a C!.
4. no, I think it's superfluous to thank someone for thanking you.
Speaking only for myself, unless the noder has specifically stated on their homenode that they do not wish to be thanked for a cool, they'll receive thanks from me (unless I forget, which happens all too often). See opinions #1 and #2 above.
Let's use the communicative power we have here, and make more of an effort to chat with each other about our writeups.
Here’s my feedback for the month:
Recycled nodegel
- Hugh Jackman by Missmarple – superseded by subsequent writeup.
- node by BioTech – superfluous writeup, same information as a longer writeup in the node.
- Camp X-Ray by cretog8 – at noder’s request.
- liquid nitrogen by 3.1415 – superseded by subsequent writeups.
- hurriedly by Legendary Heat – advised noder that a definition is not a writeup.
Reconstituted nodegel
- VHS by smileloki – a few minor edits and spelling fixes.
- Planner by madmrmox – advised noder that principle is not the word to use when you mean principal.
- zoning by madmrmox – advised noder of typos.
- Holy Roman Empire by Noung – fixed a few minor typos, notified noder.
- The Holy Mountain by Tlachtga – fixed a few minor typos, notified noder.
Examined Operators
And yes, I invite feedback on this writeup, too!