[sdiy] Basic tips on constructive criticism

[Bob Weigel]

1) Identify cleary the problem you are having with another.
2) Ask "have they already made an effort to clear up this problem?"  
Ahem...then ask it again...and again..WAIT..don't hit that send key!  
Ask one more time and maybe do a search of the archives to see if 
anything jars your selective memory....
3) Try to express continuing problems in clear concise terms, examining 
whether any of the substance of your assertion is opinion based.  FAct?  
Who says?  Post your sources.
4) Avoid posting OPINIONS that are derogatory.  Everyone is entitled to 
an opinion. But when you post it in public, you become an instant 
problem yourself.   You put yourself on the level of a politician who 
uses propoganda to try to gain favor.
5) If the person won't listen to your reasonable effort to 
communicate...let 'em have it with both barrels like.....this. :-)

  REMEMBER.  At some point you have to take things to their LOGICAL 
CONCLUSION.  For instance, do you want to be the kind of human being who 
is so fear based that they can't express their personal preference in 
medical care?  For FEAR that someone else might say "Ohhh..someone 
voiced a preference..therefore I must do the same thing!"  For instance, 
I dont' go to doctors hardly at all.  Yet how DARE I say that!  SOmeone 
might worship my preference, do the same, and miss having something 
diagnosed that kills them. Does that make it my fault? No.  Shut up. Go 
away.  I am totally entitled to post my preference about any freakin' 
think I FEEL LIKE.  If someone is SO careless that they just read 
someone's opinion on the internet and take it as gospel, then whatever.  
They're 'too stupid to live' frankly. 
   What we have here is no such thing. We have a world full of people 
who rather than wanting to learn things for themselves want to blame 
everyone else.  Now if I actually told someone something deliberately 
false or ohhh let's say 'withheld information'..FOR EXAMPLE you all know 
me well enough (save a couple total pinheads who think I'm Max Smart 
level and Harry is James Bond..ahem...) to know that I know enough to 
warn someone about potential shock hazards from AC coupling capacitors 
in old amplifiers.   Now if someone came asking advice and said "Doc 
says I can't take any kind of electrical shock and hey I've got this old 
amp and I'm afraid to plug it in..is there anything I need to be aware 
of???"  Well..duh.  If I didn't tell them, it's obviously deliberate 
attempt to shock them into eternity :-)  (See logical parallel to my 
complaint with (s)wine country on my website.  This type of thing is 
blatant deceit. )
   ON THE OTHER HAND (pound this through your heads people) If I tell 
someone that for example it isn't normally harmful to anything in my 
experience to direct discharge power supply caps in typical guitar 
amplifiers.....  man.   I tried to be clear. What is typical?  If the 
guy doesn't know, he should NOT ignore my words but ASK! If this is the 
only guitar amp he's ever seen he should say "uhh...this amp needs to be 
carried with a FORK LIFT...is that typical??"  :-)  C'mon.  My grammar 
was clear.  My grammar demands respect.  If you don't respect it..I 
don't respect you. That's the way it works.  I'll be killfiling anyone 
who gives me ANY more crap on this one. I get too much traffic from this 
group anyway that is out of the interest area but I appreciate so many 
people here I wouldn't think of leaving. Many of them...actually know 
how to READ and make a responsible effort with what I spend my time 
typing as I do with them.  But some I'm rapidly losing interest in seeing.
-Bob