When is it right?

i think the real thing that you are getting to here is the difference between constuctive criticism, which begets growth and change, making the artist/writer a better person; or destructive criticism, which simply tears down a person, causes them to become defensive, and makes the artist/writer cling to those things that perhaps they need the most help/advice with.

i heard a wise man once say, "i don't come down to burger king and tell you how to do your job, so don't come here telling me how to do mine."

to each their own though, you know?

I think I'm with dragonbat on this one in terms of stance and beliefs. There are times when some sort of a comment might be out of line (For example, I know in a post I made, I think it was in the Babs/Kory thread about the Huntress/Nightwing x-over being a piece of Mary Sue writing by Devin Grayson was probably out of line.) But saying something along the lines of "I don't think Devin really got into Huntress' boots when she was writing that tale" would have been a better way of putting it.

I think it's the worst when we say, you know even off-handedly, oh, so-and-so writer sucks, he doesn't know how to write...those are the things we don't have the right to say.

and i don't think i made much sense...did i?

you made perfect sense, bc. great commets by all, by the way.

I think you and dragonbat are probably both dead on with this, BC. And yes, I do think that the "fanboys" (although I probably shouldn't use that word since I'm not positive of all its meanings)that go around slamming the writer is probably one of the reasons they no longer visit. Because it is a shame. I would love to have a conversation with any writer, even the one's I don't really care for. I don't think any one writer is just horrible.
OH! and I also agree with you, HoM. Winnick is a terrific writer in my opinion as well but I would get lynched if I said it over at DC1. LOL

Yeah, it was Loeb, his son had cancer...

that's great about the special issue. it is so difficult for a parent to have to go through something like that. my heart and prayers go out to the loeb family. thanks, HoM for setting me straight on the details.

Oh yeah, I think that was around the time that S/B and all of that was a couple of months behind schedule. I remember a lot of people had a problem with the Supergirl of Krypton arc as well, because Michael Turner had some health issues at the time - I think it was due to cancer, but I might be wrong...

This is a really interesting question.

I came over here from the DC boards primarily because I was so frustrated by the almost total absence of any positive comments about anything at all. So my first answer is that its important to praise what you do like, as well as criticising what you don't like. That's something that these boards do very well, there are lots of threads asking us to say what we like and what are our favourites.

My second answer, in which I agree with some other posters, is that any criticism must be specific. Rather than saying, "I hated this!" one should say, "I gave up buying Blood of the Demon after the first three issues because the dialogue was so silly as to be unbelievable. I mean how many women refer to their spouses as 'my husband' whilst talking to them?" This gives other posters the chance to support or reject your ideas too. Maybe I'm wrong and need my opinion changing. Maybe someone will say, "I'm forever saying 'pass the salt my husband' " and I will decide to go back to buying Blood of the Demon after all. In any case, I have attempted to justify my opinion instead of taking a cheap shot.

I also think that specific criticisms should be limited to a particular thread. It did bug me a bit when general criticism of Rob Liefield [whose work I do not know at all] started appearing in multiple threads. If there is already a discussion somewhere on a particular topic, I don't think there is a need to start up criticism somewhere else, unless it is very specific to that thread. For example, it would be fine to complain about Liefield further if you are taking issue with something new he has done. In a thread for the new comic "Rob Liefield presents" you say, "I've never liked this mans work and the drawing of Superman on page 3 is even more out of proportion than usual," that would be fine. But if instead you posted, "This guy SUCKS, why does he have his own title?" that would not. It tells the reader nothing about the work, ONLY about you.

This nicely brings me to my next point, which is... If you don't like it, why are you buying it? I appreciate that if your favourite character appears in only one book and you don't like the current creative team, it can be a drag. But someone obviously likes this interpretation. Eventually, it will pass and someone new will come along who might be more to your liking. There is nothing wrong with going online and saying you don't like the current creative team... once or twice. But there are people at the DC boards who state the same non-specific, hate-mongering opinions month after month. Why? Again if you have a new criticism of someone relating to their latest work thats fine, but not if its, "Yeah... Lieberman was a hack last month and... and... He still is now!"

This is the longest post ever so I'm going to stop now. But I will finish by saying that the very worst thing [which never happens here at DC2!], is when people can't agree to disagree and get angry with one another.

Why thankyou Pastor M.

Wow. Evilal, that was really well put. And true. It's one thing that I dislike about the DC Boards it's that half the time, it seems like people just get online to fight and argue. Case in point - the Supergirl boards. Bloody hell, that place is like a warzone almost all the time! The one safe place used to be the Birds of Prey board, but that seems to be getting a little...disruptive...of late as well.

I would have to agree with you there. So much fighting about who the best GL is and who should have their own book. I didn't hang around long there, that's for sure.

Starlord, it's the same way on the Supergirl boards. People are arguing insanely over who was better, Linda Danvers or Kara Zor-El. It's been the same argument for, like....ever....

thanks for the clarification, doc.

Lol. Gail. I do love her.