How flame can actually benifit you if you use it right
You know that feeling you get when you get a message from someone telling you why your content sucks? It hurts, and can sometimes mess you up depending on the post, but the fact of the matter is that flame is actually a good thing for most posts. Don’t believe me? Well 1st lets differentiate spam from flame, and that might help us a little.
Flame is a message from someone telling you why they think that your article is bad. It is usually set up as hate mail, and can cause an argument, but unlike spam, it has some meaning behind it. Spam is usually something that says “you suck.” Short, not really a true comment, just there to aggravate you that the sender didn’t spend a lot of time on. If you are getting flame it means that someone is actually reading your content, and pointing out the flaws in your writing.
Why FLAME is good
Traffic is traffic
You may not like it, but you are getting page views. This means that someone is looking at your content and actually reading it. Personally would rather have one person say “fix this” than opposed to 100 people saying “great post, loved it.”
Someone thinks you are worth the effort
Usually when I see blogs that suck, I just leave them be, and let them fail. There a few blogs though that when I read the content that they put out I prefer to tell them “sorry, but you are dead wrong.” If someone is post all the things you need to fix then you grabbed their attention enough that they spent the time to leave a comment. Probly the best flame I’ve gotten would be on my article Three: A New Legend on the Myth of Vampires (comment #5.) It was a bit rough reading though I had already changed the story idea, but I got 7 quality reasons from Mike as to why he thought I need to change my story. This leads me to the next point.
Comments are always a good thing
Usually you will get feedback about why people agree with what you said or things that you forgot to add. If you are getting some one that is telling you something different it might be a good idea to listen and see if what they are saying is legit. If you remove it then you are just letting them win. But leaving it there, and defending yourself can show them (or future readers) that you can and will back yourself up.
When should I remove it?
There comes a time when enough is enough, just remember though that when you signed up for this gig you get everything that comes with it, and the flame is going to happen. You know the saying “if you can’t take the heat then stay out of the kitchen?” Well here is where it applies. If you keep getting feedback about how bad your writing is then you might want to either start publishing somewhere else, get someone to edit you work, or just go back and analyze yourself. Don’t give up writing, it is a difficult thing…just take a break and have someone overlook your content before you publish something that isn’t readable, or has completely wrong facts.
Besides, think about the commenter. If they spent the time to comment then why remove what they said? This is why I don't even bother commenting on Triond because people get offend if you try and give them tips on improving their writing, and then remove what you had to say.
So how does flame affect your writing? Do you remove nasty comment or reply to them? When is to much enough for you, and what do you do when it happens?
Writers should be their own worst critics if they're going to consistently produce work that is readable and enjoyable to everyone else. If you're so inlove with your characters or creation that you can't objectively notice the mistakes or weakness in your writing then you need to be flamed.
Holly Jahangiri says
I think you should make a distinction between "flames" and "constructive criticism" and "debate" - even "heated debate" - they're not the same thing. Though I'll concede that starting a comment with "How dare you..." borders on a "flame." You're right, though, that comment had some excellent questions and suggestions, and it's great to see a writer who can swallow his pride long enough to make use of blunt critique.
We can't grow, as writers, if people only tell us how "wonderful" our writing is.
"Spam" is just mindless; it has nothing to do with the content of the post, and everything to do with the links left by the spammer.
Izzy Daniels says
Holly,
You bring up a good point in differentiation between flame and constructive criticism. It is true that there is a fine line, but in my opinion alot of people tag them as the same thing and delete it because "it doesn't make them feel good." I think that is when it is time to do a gut check and see if you really want to get continue writing online.
Corey Freeman says
If it's a constructive comment then I just reply explaining my motives. If it's a mindless flame comment (like recently) then I reply, and defend myself. I don't have any problem with criticism, and I hand down my honest opinion with an iron fist.
Izzy Daniels says
@Corey
Yeh I can see that! and it is a good thing. Some people can't defend themselves and because of it their blog suffers.