I want feedback + I disabled comments 🤡
I disabled comments on this newsletter, but I actually want feedback. Am I a hypocrite?
If you have some critical feedback of my own posts, please DM me on Twitter: @blurryelectron. I love critical feedback. Err on the side of being mean. EX:
I didn’t like your post. Firstly, it was too long. Second, you made some really embarrassing grammatical mistakes. You didn’t have a clear structure, you made claim X, and your supporting evidence A, B, and C had flaws A1, A2, and A3. You made other mistakes too, but these are the big ones that stood out.
I disabled comments after reading substacks from other people I’m impressed with, and seeing more likes than I had on my own posts. At first, I was gripped with jealousy, but then I decided to not compete. The best way to not care is to remove by ability to care, so I did that.
Personally, when I do have something to say about someone’s post, it’s usually some critical feedback. Is this bad? So I want negative feedback, and I want to dish it out. I know I’m not the best writer I could be, and if you’re not willing to tell me all the ways in which I’m bad at writing, I might even assume you don’t think can take it. My dear newsletter subscribers, you are impressive people. If you didn’t think I could take your criticism, or live up to your high standards, why did you subscribe in the first place?
Also, if you really wanted to discuss a post of mine, chances are, you’d want to discuss it with someone who hasn’t seen the post. So again, public comments aren’t terribly useful. Better to share on social media or Twitter.
I’m over the moon when I get even the tiniest bit of support. However, this newsletter contains the fruiting buds of my ruminations. These ruminations will happen whether I have subscribers or not. They’re public because I think there’s more value from them being public than private.
I do care about meeting interesting people and developing friendships. My subscribers, you are an elite crew, and I hope to live up to your expectations.