another topic i didn’t want to reply to at first sight, but what the heck …
aaaw, there’s sooo much been said, i dont know where to begin and will sure forget half of it, nevertheless:
about criticism, i want some!, that’s why i post my stuff - yep, i called it stuff intentionally, i don’t regard anything i ever did as art, artistic or whatever, well, maybe artificial, just to use the syllable somewhere - and i don’t mind if there’s nothing nice being said about it even. all i want is an honest opinion, i mean, an automatic pat on the back may be nice, but it doesn’t tell me anything but i looked at it and i don’t care to really think about it. if you think it’s crap, call it crap, it’s your opinion after all and i’ll think of it whatever i see fit anyway. if you think it’s amazing and downright perfect, well, i’ll be pleased but will still find something i do absolutely dislike, since no one will ever be as harsh a critic to my own works, as i am myself, schizophrenically being damn proud of my ridiculous achievements and advances at the same time.
what really surprised me, is that 121 rule, did i get that right? if you want criticism, you have to actually ask for it? and if you ask for it, people will still try to say something nice, to be allowed to say anything negative-in-a-friendly-and-constructive-way? why?
also, it lies in the nature and concept of criticism and audience, that you don’t need to prove that you’re more skilled or smart than the creator of what you’re perceiving, you don’t have to even try, to have the right to have an opinion. heck, am i teaching the fundamentals of free speech here? being a kraut? nah, you know all that already, don’t you?
well, i see the sense in being at least polite, keeping in mind whom you’re criticising and showing a little respect to the mere effort. but after all, whoever visits the forum should be regarded as audience, and what good is an audience, that feels obliged to say something nice or to not comment at all? if you look at something that’s totally wrong, senseless or badly executed, you’re free to say that. no need to pretend anything. i guess we all have the brains to see the difference between disliking someones style and (of course constructively :D) criticising someones craftsmanship or technique.
actually i’m too nice a person (
)to really do that, i just don’t like the idea of being told to behave, as if i was 5 years of age.
nevertheless i have to agree, that it does matter, who posted it, what the contributor wants to achieve and to distinguish between experimental doodlings and painstaking efforts with ambition and a message.
it goes without saying, that any professional should be able to withstand quite some amount of critique and dislike without going haywire or feeling deeply and personally hurt and insulted, i always thought this was part of the term pro.
clients can be cruel, stupid and lacking any taste and style at all, it’s a baaaad and sinister world out there 
aaaaaaaaaaaand: just take it all so bloody seriously, even if we’re working hard to achieve whatever we’re able to, if it ceases to be fun and entertaining, we’d better do something else. and i doubt that a little critique - that ownly makes you aware of the fact that you’re no Dalí or Matisse - is such an awful disruption of your personal hunger for praise and harmony, well, why post at all?
i suppose all this has been said earlier, doesn’t change anyones point of view anyway and wouldn’t have had to type it after all, nevertheless i simply had to get rid of it.
(robo, did i spell everything correctly, using the appropriate grammar and those little hook-like thingies and the tiny dots, which you put at the end of something? i’ve seen more worse mistakes and typos done by native speakers … not in here of course, i’m not kritiseizing :))
as stated above, i wan’t critique, make me suffer.
and neomecha, whatever your first post will be, i’ll find something!, hehe