Do you want a spanking?

[ed_rex]

I know that a number of you are artists, some professional and more of you of the aspiring variety; it is the latter towards whom this poll is primarily aimed: those who are self-publishing or working with very small presses (or whatever is the equivalent in your particular medium/media).

When wearing my critic or reviewer's hat, my inclination is to accentuate the positive, particularly when dealing with the "small fish" of the arts and especially with those exploring self-publishing and/or open source methods of distribution. In other words, I'm inclined to simply ignore work that doesn't interest me or which I find inhabits that large grey area between Bad and Good. (Unless of course I'm being paid for my opinions or something truly repugnant is also dangerously popular.

But neither of those latter conditions is likely to apply to the marginal and the up-and-coming artists out there.

Hence the poll, below. I am curious what creative folk think about reviews. Is any publicity good publicity? If someone (er, that might be me) on your friends' list reads or views or listens to your work and doesn't think too highly of it, do you want to know it or would you rather I just keep my big mouth shut?

(For the record, I'm willing to risk the hurt feelings; if I release something, I'd rather a bad review than none at all.)

[Poll #1496171]

Comments

Really?

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

Do people ever make negative comments about your photos? If so, what (if anything) do you do about it/them?

Re: Really?

[stolen-identity.livejournal.com]

My sister-in-law does all the time, but mostly because she's a beeotch. LOL. All you have to do is look through my photos on facebook to see some of the shitty things she's said about them.

I don't really do anything about it :P I just ignore her... because I'm not entirely convinced that her opinion is shared by most people who view my pics...

*shrug*

Re: Really?

[ed-rex.livejournal.com]

I think I'd block her if I was you - seems to me there's a big difference between posting things to Facebook (presumably for fun, to share with friends and such) and publishing something, in which case negative criticism is fair game.