A Project and A Comment
First, the project. I feel like setting totally unrealistic expectations for myself by crocheting something to wear at TNNA in June. Why not Shrug Off Winter? I got this just for it (ooh, is it soft):
10 balls of Baby Silk from elann.com.
Anyone want to join me?
Now for the comment. I deleted my first comment today (not a blog comment - a comment on another page of the site). Is it censorship? Strictly, sure it is. It was ugliness in my magazine. And here's what I think about it:
The internet allows us to select for different types of information in a away “real” life doesn't. When we walk around town we're bound to see advertisements, overhear conversations, and otherwise encounter input we have no control over. Not so on the internet. When we surf, we choose to read what interests us; we might even be inclined only to read opinions from people we have a feeling we'll agree with (I'm certainly guilty of that). There's both an anonymity and, paradoxically, a false sense of familiarity that can arise from frequent web surfing.
In my very own, very personal opinion, blog snark is so last year. Snark is lazy feedback. Snark is the negative feedback version of “that's great!” Except empty compliments are benign. Both types come from the frequently false assumption that the recipient of the feedback wants it. Sure, yes, I have comments on pretty much every page of the site because I want the feedback. Mostly, I want people to share their own information and add to the value of the site. But I don't want snark, which is why I wrote the comments policy the way I did. Snark can be downright mean.
I welcome complaints and negative feedback. Productive negative feedback. This is feedback that involves a complaint and a suggestion. If you hate something about the magazine, all the power to you. If you care enough to let me know about it I assume it's because you want something to change. Depending on how you let me know, I can do one of two things for you. I can ignore your meanness, or I can respond to your complaint. If your care in complaining is based in a desire to make yourself feel better, smarter, superior, funnier, or just satisfied in your own gutsiness, you should know it takes me a second to delete your comment. If your care in complaining is rooted in a desire to find answers, to improve a situation, to share your thoughts in a productive way with the understanding you might not be agreed with, then please, comment often.
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About Kim Werker
About Me:
I'm the founder and creative director of CrochetMe.com, the editor of Interweave Crochet, co-host of Knitting Daily TV and the author of Crochet Me. I love sushi, thunderstorms, good books, the smell of clean laundry, and I also blog at kimwerker.com.
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That yarn looks delicious.
It's a little loosely plied, but other than that, it's very, very delicious.
Good for you - it is your prerogative as an editor to filter the noise into the shape of publication you believe your readers want.
There's lots of places for people to go online if they want to snark....
Delete away, Kim. You put an unbelievable amount of time and talent into this FREE (are you kidding me?) online magazine. I don't know you, but the spirit that comes through is someone that really wants to share with others (and encourage all of us to share, too) and inspire each other in our love of yarn and crochet and creating.
I can't imagine what someone could have to complain about (and I'm picky! so if there was something to complain about, I'd find it). But even with a complaint, if anyone is being negative - just plain negative - with no helpful suggestions for improvement (or offers to help), well then, who needs 'em? Not Crochetme.
You are so right- mean comments are so middle school.
Love that yarn- it will be gorgeous on you. I have a shrug pattern I have been wanting to get to- I don't know how much time I will have in the next month to knit though! (with moving and finals, etc.)
I didn't see the comment, but I have a VERY STRONG idea as to what it's about (and where it came from). I've spent countless hours talking about how LAME snark is to all involved. I've said it in Yahoo Groups. I've posted on Crochetville. I've said it on my blog in the past. And I'll say it here.
People who snark, think too much of themselves. They put themselves on a pedestal with everyone else seen as lesser than they are. There used to be research to support the concept of it being LOW self-esteem, but the latest psychological and educational findings support that people like that truly think so much of themselves. It's a superiority complex, if you will. And it's lame.
There's a world of difference between CRITIQUE and CRITICISM. The first one if meant to elevate the creator. The function of it is meant to say what you like and don't like in a constructive manner, and motivate the creator to transform their original concept. The second is meant to tear people down. Nothing productive or creative comes from criticism. People who spend time snarking other's work, are no more creative or productive than that which they are snarking. It's a waste of breath as far as I'm concerned.
Kim, keep awn keepin' awn. There are plenty of us who know you work hard at what you do and support your efforts in making crochet cool.
P.S. I teach middle school. I have better behaved middle-schoolers. ;-)
I love reading your thoughts on this.
I've blogged before about Kate, the greatest hair stylist ever. Kate crochets, and she laughs and laughs at some of the stories I tell her about online crochet drama. She's suggested someone make a Best In Show-style movie about it. I'm sure some would start riots in response to one.
Sometimes things come up in online-crochet-land that absolutely slay me. Television commercials or print ads that ruffle people's feathers to the point of all-caps and inappropriate punctuation; people crying out for saccharine people to shut up; people crying out for mean people to shut up; people begging for more free stuff; people begging for more professional stuff; people begging for all the free stuff and professional stuff to be different in any number of ways.
To me, it's about fun. And Crochet me is not just my fun. It's fun for tens of thousands of people. Some people think I'm too opinionated. Some people think I pander. Really, I don't care. It's about the crochet, and that's how it will continue to be.
well well...I and many other people have been boycotting this site because it features the work of someone who spends so much time snarking and and being hateful that I wonder how they ever get any crochet done. Many comms on journal sites have gone moderated and auto ban_set this person and her snarking cronies to try and keep thier comms from shutting down because of this crap.
Someone pointed me to one of the latest posts in the the snarkjournal that mentioned that the snarkfest was finally coming to bite them in the butt...therefor I may pass on the word to the rest of the gang that this place is no longer in support of that nonsense and worth checking out.
Glad to hear you finally saw the damage that association was doing.