If there’s anyone who’s made more mistakes in the last bunch of years than George Bush, I’d love to hear their story because there’s probably lots to learn in that story. Putting all politics aside, if just look at the moments themselves, we can probably learn some lessons. Some of them are obvious, but others are a bit more subtle. That’s where the latest mistake fits in.
Moveon.org has fallen under harsh criticism because of an ad that they ran criticising General Patraeus. For obvious reasons, president Bush was one of the most vocal on the topic. The result was not what Bush and the Republicans had hoped for. The final result was that the day after all of the criticism from the upper echelons of government, moveon.org received a half million dollars in donations. The most they had ever received in a single day.
What does this have to do with you and your website? The message that you need to take away is that responding to criticism always needs to be done carefully. You won’t find a more critical place than the Internet so you are likely to get some flak at some point. That’s completely out of your control. What you do have control over is how you’re going to respond to your critics. In many cases, it is important to respond, in others not so much. Here are few hints that have helped me out over the years.
- Be Polite
There’s no reason not to be. Even though someone is criticising you, being rude or sarcastic is not going to accomplish anything. See the aforementioned president for a slew of examples. - Be Honest
If you start using dodgy language, that’s begging for continued criticism. Honesty will help you lay out the situation plainly. In most cases, criticism comes from two people who have different points of view on a situation. If you lay out your viewpoint, the critic is more likely to do the same, leaving the audience to make up their own mind. - If The Criticism Is Baseless Try Not To Respond
This is always a tough one. Valid criticism requires a response. However when the criticism is on the ridiculous side of things, responding to it simply lends it some legitimacy and will pull you into a pointless discussion.
These are just some ideas as to what to do when you face criticism to avoid falling into traps.
life lessons
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2 responses so far ↓
1 helen_H // Sep 23, 2007 at 4:17 am
Thanks for this affirmation. I had a similar experience just a few days ago. I was talking about something in general in my blog and somebody read the piece (it was actually just a sentence.. dang, it was just a tag) and took offense. The party wrote something utterly rude and resorted to personal attack. It was a sad thing coz I do know the person on a personal level.
Well, I did think of responding but decided to wait till the next day until things cool off. Well, it did and I followed your idea #3.
It’s true, I did not respond but I bet I’ll regret much more if I did in my moment of anger. lol
2 Marc // Sep 24, 2007 at 12:37 pm
It’s always disappointing when people resort to saying things like that, but it sounds like you handled it as well as you could have. Taking some time to cool down before deciding what to do is an excellent idea. Having a night’s sleep is even better