UKMIL is Closed.

[oak666]

If you don't want people to form an opinion on your work don't release it. Or maybe just release it to your close circle of friends, or your mum. A barrage of insults and constant harrassment is one thing, but thinking that people "don't have the right to comment" on the stuff they download is ridiculous and almost insulting in itself. Was the UKMIL forum a rowdy place? :friday:

 

[extrudinator]

It's fascinating to me that some folks passionately defend something ("the right to be critical of freeware") that others consider to be self-defeating. It demonstrates something about human nature that two (more or less) rational people can disagree so completely about something so basic.

I would say that one must "earn" the "right" to be critical by either paying for the product or actually providing the fix along with the criticism. By this I mean actually doing the work to fix the problem or providing detailed, step by step instructions. If not, then I would not point out flaws in something that I have received as a gift, because I assume it would hurt the feelings of the giver.

But of course I know that the above remark is just going to rile up those with a different opinion. So I hope we can agree to disagree.

:ernae:

 

[Tom Clayton]

I would say that one must "earn" the "right" to be critical by either paying for the product or actually providing the fix along with the criticism. By this I mean actually doing the work to fix the problem or providing detailed, step by step instructions. If not, then I would not point out flaws in something that I have received as a gift, because I assume it would hurt the feelings of the giver.

I'll agree with that up to one small point. Here's a hypothetical situation...

Let's say that I have the talent - and patience - to sit down and build a small single-engined whozamawhatzit for FS9. Then Joe User Newbie comes along with this statement: "I used to fly one of these with a friend back in the day, and your model seems like it wants to speed up too much on approach. There's just not enough drag." Well, my response would be to thank him for the polite input, and then to tell him how to adjust the Parasite and Induced Drag Scalars. Then I'd ask him to post his final numbers so that a) those that already have it can do the same, and b) I can include those numbers in a revision.

In other words, even if you don't know how to fix it, if you point it out politely and constructively, then the developer should be able to take it as it was intended.

 

[Stratobat]

Hey Oak,

A barrage of insults and constant harrassment is one thing, but thinking that people "don't have the right to comment" on the stuff they download is ridiculous and almost insulting in itself.

In my first posting I said that it was "an issue of people sitting on their butts and thinking they have the right to comment when they don't contribute anything for others to enjoy" and not that people do not have a right to comment at all. As Extrudinator put it, one should earn the right to be critical by actually being a contributor in some form or other.

I see no problem with having an opinion but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the point when that opinion no longer serves a useful purpose. Unfortunately not everybody has the ability to word a letter tactfully and what one sometimes ends up with is something that does more harm than actual good.

In other words, even if you don't know how to fix it, if you point it out politely and constructively, then the developer should be able to take it as it was intended.

I agree with you, Tom, but if one looks at the example you outlined, the person is commenting from a vantage point of actual real world experience on the type and therefore their input could be construed as a volunteering of their technical knowledge to you as the designer but, when you get someone commenting in a negative manner without offering up a solution, all they're doing is having a gripe session which is counter-productive in it's entirety.

Regards,
Stratobat

 

[Tom Clayton]

Even if it's not offering r/w experience based input, there is always a way to offer positive and constructive advice without nitpicking. If that whozamawhatzit should be as nimble as a hummingbird but turns out to be as sluggish as a whale, there's steps that can be taken to correct that. But agree that coming to a developer - or any other forum - with nothing but gripes and no solution, is completely improper and fully deserving of one of these: