tea berry-blue

I think for me, I realize those expectations are there, but it's more that I feel we need to change the expectations that you're talking about. If someone posts a piece of writing, people should feel free to weigh in on it more than to just give thumbs up or encouragement, but that's been discouraged for so long that I think a lot of people who would appreciate more concrit have gotten to the point where they're taken aback by it when it exists out of the very limited "acceptable" settings. The dialogue about writing would be so much more fascinating for everyone involved if that weren't the case-- and people would get a better feel for what is actually concrit, and what's just being a jerk. I think right now, a lot of the time, the baby is thrown out with the bathwater because people have come to the often wrong-headed belief that anything in the tub is bad if you haven't asked for a tub. I would much rather live in a world where people who don't want concrit exclude themselves from the discussion than one where it has to be openly invited.

For something like LJ Idol, I think that while some people consider their pieces finished, there is always a new piece next week. You might not be incorporating feedback into the piece that you've already written to polish it (although the idea that things are "done" the minute the last work is written is another interesting topic for a piece, considering the number of people who've refined Idol pieces for publication), but you can think about that feedback for the next week when deciding what to write and how to write it. spydielives gave me some awesome feedback last year during one of the gatekeeper rounds that I worked with during the season, when she asked me to try my hand at more serious comics.