I read this and my first thought was, "I haven't said anything yet???". This just goes to show I've been gone far too long....
Okay, but to get down to business. First, allow me to address
everyone EXCEPT TJ:
Yes, when someone posts their work they leave themselves open to any and all critique. No, none of you have really stepped out of line because yes, for the most part you guys have been pretty tame and mature with your comments.
For the most part. And, no, I'm not saying you guys need to sugarcoat yourselves and dumb down your critiques.
However, some of you are seriously toeing the line in my opinion and I ask you take a step back and breathe. When critiquing someone, even if they react badly, let's try to keep ourselves away from their level, yes? Try not to bring their maturity into it or mock their age; and stick to their actual work versus turning on the person themselves. It's easy to snap when you've done nothing wrong to provoke the bad behavior, but telling someone they're never going to improve is cutting it awfully close if not down right making you just like them.
Again, not saying you all are bad people...you're just pushing the behavior.
For TJ:
You need to understand that when you post something to the forums, even when you don't ask for one, people are open to critiquing you. Whether you like it or not. And if you DON'T like it, your best option is to either not react at all or to thank someone for their opinion and maturely state you are probably not going to take it; then just move on with your life. Not everyone is going to like your work and not everyone is going to be sweet about it. Sometimes people are blunt.
If you do not like having your work critiqued, period, the only way you can stop it is by not posting it at all. Do not just yell and tell people to shut up. Else we end up in situations like this. There are much better ways to react.
And this is an all around reminder that I wrote
this resource for a very good reason.