Blogging, Criticism and Snarkery


Comments

Anonymous said…
Please, Please, Please.. Don't let anyone dampen your spirits. Tons of people love your beautiful works. Don't let the one or two sardonic critics destroy this for the ones that enjoy your work. It will be very sad for us if you do.

Read about Degas and what a critic caused him to do. What a shame.

Love your work.

Sincerely,
Deb
ALL THE BEST said…
This is great and I love hearing your thoughts on this topic. It was really interesting to hear your thoughts and then hear the thought's of the many designers I meet in LA last week.

Keep up the good work!!
Chris Kauffman said…
That was lot's of fun .
I am so grateful that in general most comments are positive , I would never say something mean if I don't like what I see, I just do not comment.
I am not looking for praise as much as I am sharing , and my goal if more to inspire women to try and get more hands on with their projects ,for the women like me who can not afford to hire out the work . I am OK with constructive criticism but it doesn't mean that I will listen .
Joni , love you always , but funny they spoke about the Something's Gotta Give real people post , I was reading a magazine yesterday with one of the homes you featured in that post , and my memory was that is was a little rough and I felt sorry for the home owners , because if they weren't being compared for the most part they were really nice spaces.
Well done ladies , I will tune in again , great idea .
Chris
Monique said…
I think this is great! Love to hear what you have to say and your ideas. I read the blog all the time and look forward to getting my updates. Being able to hear yall is great. I know it can hurt to hear or read negative comments but don't let them get to you!! You guys are great and doing a wonderful job!
Keep up the Design info and the Blogging, we love it!!!!
Anonymous said…
I really enjoyed listening to all 3 of you. It was very interesting to hear your opinions. What a great idea. Keep up the great work.
ennistbp said…
Dear Joni,

I loved the Somethin's Gotta Give kitchen critique article. Your comments are always informative and educational. How are we going to learn how to edit our own houses if we don't have a little design guidance? Keep up the good work.
We all love to hear what you have to say. Well done!
Karena said…
Excellent conversation! It is really helpful to hear these comments, and look forward to more.
Mrs. Blandings said…
Completely wonderful in concept and execution. My hat is off to you and I look forward to more.
Decor To Adore said…
If you haven't got anything nice to say....pull up a chair.
But seriously, on my own blog I try to keep two words in mind "Nice matters". There is enough negativity in the world.
I remember when Joni was being attacked for the ASID posting. After I spent months working on a massive reasearch paper on this topic I ent back and reread some of the comments and realized that more than 90% of the negative comments were from people that didn't have complete knowledge of the topic. Mom was right.
Think before you speak (or write).
Meg said…
I really enjoyed listening to the show!! And your voices sounded great, you were easy to listen to! Good job! I tend to agree with a lot of what you said about criticism, as I was listening it reminded me of a post I read a few months ago. I took the blogger off my feed and I can't even remember who it was anymore. The truth is that while a snarky post may draw some attention... in the long run it's respectful bloggers who are memorable and keep us reading.
Marnie said…
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Marnie said…
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Marnie said…
if you are wondering about the two prior deleted comments - that was me because I did not proofread and the comments had were not clear (grammar and incorrect wording). What i wanted to say was this:
podcast was fun - i did my needlepoint and listened to you all - it was nice to hear your voices and match voices with bloggers.
Olivia said…
Hi ladies,

I think these podcasts add a wonderful new dimension to the world of blogs - a little behind the blog info and dialogue is really nice!

I am still listening to this second podcast, so I can't comment fully on it yet, but I am interested to know why Linda thinks The Sartorialist blog is "snarky"? (Is it the blogger himself or the comments left on the blog? Something else?) Sorry to hone in on minutia, but I'm just curious. And I think that's another reason these podcasts are so neat - differing perspectives and a chance to explain them!
Anonymous said…
A question for Megan:

There is a new decor blog that prides itself of its "snark," and has a consistently angry, acid tone. It has even ridiculed other bloggers for their physical appearance. Why do you regularly comment on this blog, list yourself as a "follower" of it, and even promote it on your own?

Making matters worse, this blog has recently caused pain to one of your own blogging friends. It used his image without his permission--and even over his protests--to ridicule another blogger's appearance.

Still you continue to support this self-described "snarky" blog. It seems disloyal to your friend, and even cruel.
72 and sunny said…
anon 11:11

To my knowledge, I've never knowingly commented under a post that personally attacks anyone who is 'my friend'.

I agree, that would be disloyal if I did so.
Anonymous said…
You support the blog with regular comments, list yourself as a follower of it, and praised it on your own, even though it posted this, causing your friend's distress:

http://girl-world-decor.blogspot.com/2009/03/blogs-yes-or-no-2-west-coast-guys.html
mrsben said…
Congrats ladies on your new venture. Super and easy listening!
I started this internet stuff with rms. I was so excited to find the site and jumped right in, I had some knowledge about design, I do it for a living and thought everyone would want to better thier spaces...boy was I wrong. Most people got offended if you said anything other than 5*'s. As for me... I would love it if any of you girls looked at one of my rooms and made a comment that made me think about it in a differant way. I vote for the real joni to please come out...lol at least at my blog! Thanks for sharing.
Linda Merrill said…
Hi Olivia - thanks for your question re: my comment about The Sartorialist being snarky. You know what? I was wrong to mention him in that context. I was really more thinking of some of the comments I've seen there, and most of the comments are really quite positive. So, thanks for making me take a second look!
As someone who is still very new to the blogging scene, I'm really enjoying these podcasts! I listened to the first two this morning (one for the second time) and I'm off to listen to the next. I think that the information in this cast is incredibly relevant to art, design and craft blogs, and I'll be linking to it in my next Crafty Reading Roundup. Thanks so much for doing this!
Megan said…
Loved listening into your collective thoughts. Joni is the bomb as far as I'm concerned!!
I can't imagine snarkily criticising anyone's choices - having just chosen paint colours for the exterior of my home - it's nerve wracking!
There is a room for critique - both positives and negatives - I think the main thing is to inspire people and explain the choices and considerations that were made or could have been made.
Anonymous said…
Fabulous idea, ladies, and I loved listening to these recordings!

As to critiques, I'm all for them, and I love reading them. One of the things I miss most from design school is the free exchange of ideas in critiques. We all have different points of view and opinions, often see different things that others miss, and the sharing of this kind of information is useful to many people.

It's equally valuable to share comments about what wasn't done well or could have been done better as it is to post positive comments and pointing out what does work. I'd likely refrain from commenting about images I thought were truly hideous (although lord knows I know of a few things I'd love to post so I could tear them apart), but constructive criticism can be done in a way that supports the poster and enables everyone to learn.

Wendy Hoechstetter
Anonymous said…
This is a great idea! Joni, one of your posts in the past mentioned slipcovers. I'd like a discussion with more info on slipcovers. Such as, how to wash the fabric to avoid shrinkage before being made into covers? Does fabric need to be cut into smaller lengths? What about dry cleaning? The in and outs, pros and cons from your experience. Could slipcovers be a 15 minute discussion? Look forward to future radio shows. Thanks all.
I agree with alot of what you laidies said .... some blogs are here for much adoration and others to release their info and enjoy what they love doing , which is design. On the subject of being snarky, I think some people are just negative people simple. In this area of being artisitc or creatative, we all have our own eye and what we would want to live with or just smiply admire. I see many things on the web on the blogs and I can appericate and respect but I wouldnt want to live with. That being said I think really if youre a designer you can appericate what others say and what to live with. For example we dont all like blue or whatever color or style but to come to a blog and just want to say mean comments or being sarcastic its not my cup of tea. I dont want to come across that way, my mother taught me better. If Im going to leave my name and my email add Id like to leave it with the intent Im being a good person and what I said was in a good spirit. I guess it not what is said but how its said. Good Luck on your newe adventure here .. Julie in Holland
susan said…
Awesome concept. Love to hear all the off the cuff comments, insight, etc. Very interested to hear the behind the scenes thinking. Love, love, love! Go girls!
Oh Joni - I well know the angst of the "less than well received" blog post! You helped me through one of those. I've grown a thicker skin now, and, as my daughter (who also blogs) pointed out, it's MY blog and I should post what I want and if others don't like it, that's their problem (and I always have the right to delete those naysayer comments). If we fold to criticism, either perceived or real, we aren't standing by what we've published.

Sometimes I reassess my position based on a well worded, well thought out "rebuttal" but knee jerk "how dare you!" rants/responses don't warrant any serious attention on my part other than hitting the "delete" button.

It's not like I'm the White House Press Secretary or something! :)

Enjoy listening to the healthy debate you ladies have on a variety of subjects.