This is a problem I come across mostly on the internet, when you post something to get helpful feedback that you can use to improve your work with. There is a huge difference between online and in person feedback as well.

In person i find people to be too shy to be honest with their opinion, this happens when i'm at school during peer review sessions. I almost always get a very vague positive review of anything i maybe doing. (art, writing, programming, etc) I'm guessing they are afraid of any possible retaliation they might receive for giving a negative review but these reviews need to be honest and detailed for them to be useful in anyway. This ruins those sessions and it's one of the reasons i hate working in groups at school.

If people are too shy to say what they think in person than perhaps they will be more honest online. Well the problem with that is they maybe a little too blunt, and they enjoy that a lot. When it comes to getting feedback online, you won't have the problem of people being shy or dishonest, however you get a bunch of people who get pleasure from being overly negative and blunt. You can see in many responses that these people really want you to feel bad for the work you did and instead of helping you, they want to hurt you.

This is a difference of intention, there are people who comment just to insult your work and they are very different from those who want to help. Some people might do this without thinking or without realizing that their comment is insulting. I myself have probably done this a few times, although i try my best to avoid doing so.

The important thing to remember is that helpful feedback is positive in tone and respectful to the creator. There should be no need for using adjectives that insult elements of the work. If a particular element is weak or flawed, you can state that it needs work and why. You can give feedback that negatively reviews the work without the review being in a negative or insulting tone.

Now let's look at some examples of what i mean. Here is what a rude and disrespectful comment looks like:

Okay so from this short comment we can learn a few things, that the user was unhappy with the game in general "the game sucks", that they thought the controls/physics were weak "jumping is broken", and that the music and graphics could be better. However we have learned nothing but the emotional impact the work had on the user and not anything specific about what exactly made them feel this way. it lacks details and suggestions. it's only purpose is to insult the game and it's creator. it is borderline trolling since the intention was never to leave any useful feedback.

Now let's attempt writing up the same comment but in a positive and helpful way:

This comment has the same overall opinion of the work but instead of using insults to express their opinion, they used real details from their experience with the work. When the developer reads this comment they can actually learn something about their game and get a few suggestions for how to improve their work. You know, the whole reason commenting and feedback exist.

When you read insulting comments they tend to seem more barbaric and unintelligent than comments that contain detail and remain helpful. I also think it's important to think carefully about everything you write and post online. Just because people are anonymous and you may never meet any of the people you communicate with online does not mean we should be so rude and thoughtless when engaging in discussions online. nobody likes it when they receive insulting comments so i'm not sure why it is occurs so often, usually coming from people who have never created anything in their life.

Whether or not you are a developer or a consumer shouldn't matter, be respectful and helpful to people, it will create a better environment for developers and consumers alike and this may increase the improvement potential for early developers.

If anyone has any experience they want to share or any other tips for leaving better feedback than leave a comment.