Critical Rules to Being a Critic

"If what you're criticizing doesn't break your heart, then don't."

I think the world, and more specifically Fimfiction, has too many "critic heroes". People who feel the need to tell everyone about the things they could be do better to improve themselves or their work. While this isn't a bad desire of itself, there are times where it isn't expedient, especially when the critic is more interested in proving his own knowledge rather than helping the author. If it isn't really something you care about, then why are you bothering to do it in the first place? Just because you're bored, or because you want to show off? Maybe you don't care at all, but you feel the need to do it anyways because they asked you to? I always think back to a quote from the movie Geronimo. "Why are you here? You don't love who you're fighting for, and you don't hate who you're fighting against." If you don't truly care about edifying (To instruct or benefit, to uplift) the author you're helping, and unless you're on some kind of crusade against illiteracy and bad grammar, then why are you even bothering to do it in the first place? From my experience, you'll do more harm to the author by giving some half-hearted advice than you would if you simply told them you didn't want to help them in the first place. Come on we're all adults here (or at least we should be considering the group we're in) I'm sure Fred can handle it if you tell him you're not interested in editing/reviewing his story.

"What if it really is something we want to do, but the author doesn't want to hear it?"

I will admit I'm just as guilty as the next guy when it comes to harmful criticism. You may very well have good intentions in mind, but the end result is anything but. I understand it's hard sometimes to give feedback to someone who doesn't want or appreciate it, and in those cases there's only one thing you can do: walk away. Yes it kinda sucks because at least for me, I really want to help people in any way I can. But if they're refusing you're help then all you'll do is make them bitter. And getting bitter never helped anyone. So if you're doing your part and providing proper, helpful advise in a seemly manner and they still refuse to hear you out, then it's best to just walk away before someone says something and they'll regret later. After all there's few things in this world that are more annoying than unwarranted advise, no matter the subject.

"What if I want to help people, but I'm scared that I might not be qualified?"

Well the best thing to do is just tell them that. If they ask for your help, even after you tell them that you might not be the best source for writing advice, then do the best you can and be grateful for the practice. If you want to take the initiative and critique someone else's story without them asking you, be sure to let them know about your inexperience. Tell them you're a little new to this but you want to help the best that you can. There's nothing wrong with not being the best at something, and openly admitting that you might be wrong takes a stronger character than a lot of people have. Good communication can resolve most problems and fights long before they even start.

The point I'm trying to make here, is that if you're going to be a critic, always keep in mind there's a time and place for your advice. Sometimes it's better not to say anything at all, rather than saying something that only hurts the writer's feelings a little too much and then end up feeling resentment for the rest of their time here. I've talked to far too many people who left the site of even fandom because one guy or group of people pushed them just a little too far.

If anyone else has anything they would like to add, or if you disagree and are willing to let me know why, feel free to post your opinions in the comments. However please keep in mind that we're all civilized human beings here and everyone has feelings no matter how hard they try to hide them. Let's keep the conversation tame shall we? Also if anyone's interested I can make another blog post about some of the better ways to go about giving people advice on how to improve their work.