Where is a line drawn between constructive criticism and bullying?

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I TOO GIVE KAGA ALL MY COOKIES. MUCH EXCELLENCE SAID.


I am almost afraid that this rabid side of the fandom might kill the show, which would SUCK. D: But I guess the Porny Bronies didn't kill My Little Pony, so I hope Steven is safe!
Eh, the difference is that MLP porn doesn't really constitute an attack against the creators of the show, and I never really saw any toxicity from one fan to another about that sort of thing (at least nothing on this scale). MLP porn did a lot more damage to fandom's reputation than any damage to the show itself, the creators of which are certainly aware of its adult audience.

Meanwhile, we have SU fans attacking the show's creators... which is... yeah. >.< Thankfully, though, the only way that this could do any harm to the show is if the harassment is enough to make the creators quit, which I certainly hope wouldn't happen. >.< Other than that, though, there's nothing these rabid fans can do that'll harm the show itself. Nothing they do can damage what makes the show great to begin with.

But harassing the crew and fellow fans like this is still completely unacceptable, of course.
 
I missed stuff, apparently, but don't have the focus to read the walls of text that appeared in this thread. So instead, I will address the thread title.

With my experiences, different people take constructive criticism different ways, and it depends a lot on how insecure the person is. Some people, you can tell it like it is, and they understand. Others, you have to wrap in multiple layers of bubble wrap and handle with kid gloves -- and even then, they'll act like you're picking on them for no good reason.

If I'm giving constructive criticism, I try to word my thoughts carefully and without insulting them or their work. However, no matter how good I am about it, there are people who will feel like I'm being a bully.

Like most things in the world, this too is one of those that cannot be clearly defined as one or the other. You might feel like you're being sensitive to them, but the other person might feel like you're throwing them under the bus.
 
Well the first thing you need to consider before writing any kind of critique is. 'If that person' actually want to hear of any flaws to their work.

It dosen't really matter what a person have done, from carefully planned sketches to simply random brush strokes.

Usually persons that want to get their work 'juged' by someone asks for it and that for good reasons.

People are free to think whatever they want about a 'work of art' but freedom of speech has always been a very sensitive subject.

There's a reason why most bigger companies go to professionals for critism.

And the reason is simple.

First when giving critique about anything at all. You need to have a deep understanding about what you actually are looking at.

You cannot compare two works while doing this, as an artist may choose to deviate as far as they want from an original work 'if fan art' and as close to another work they want 'if original'.

Everyone have the right to have an opinion. But that also means that everyone have the right to accept or deny those opinions as they see fit.

You shouldn't need to disable your comment section to get rid of stupid pointless annoying messages. Or so called 'Spam'

Constructive criticism comes from the induvidual, not the masses. And the more options there are, the less important it becomes.

You cannot please everyone, nor should you have to. Art is about pleasing oneself, and is a free form of expression that can be viewed by anyone that wants too.

Then if you love or hate a work is up to the induvidual. But that dosen't mean that its right to bother the artist about their work unless its clearly offensive or hurtful towards induviduals or groups.

Critims should only be conducted by those who can clearly view the whole picture, respect induvidualism, and give a fair thoroughly description about what could improve a work.

That is if the artist want to hear it.

In that case its kiddy gloves off, straight from the heart, down on the table explanation.


Because as long as the artist does not personally want to be judged.

Every attempt at critique will be hurtful and bullying. -No matter the intent.
 
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tl;dr


Don't be a fucking asshole about it.
 
The key word in "constructive criticism" is constructive. If you're not telling people why their stuff sucks or offering suggestions to make it better, it's just unwanted noise in the void.

Also, what @Seiji said.

For example, the people who are upset about this artist skinnying down the characters might have a valid point: There's a stigma against fat people, and thinning a character in your representations of said character due to personal preference sort of makes it feel like you think they're somehow "better" skinnified. So what they should have done is say something like, "Hey, your art is nice but it disappoints me to see that you chose to draw this character as thin, because it sends a message that you might not be meaning to send. Why don't you draw them the way they are in canon?" This would let the artist see their perspective in a non-antagonistic way, doesn't accuse them of intentional ill will without proof, and draws the concern to their attention. Maybe the artist would change how they draw the characters; maybe they wouldn't. But at least it might get them thinking.

You catch more flies with honey, or something like that.
 
To me, a proper critic knows how to deliver a critique without causing injury to the artist. For example, if I drew something that didn't look right, I would want someone to tell me what I needed to fix to get better. Think about it this way, if you had tried really, really hard to get something done, and wanted a constructive opinion on how to make tat work better, the last thing you need is someone yelling at you and telling you how shitty of an artist you are.

There is a very, very fine line between being helpful vs. being an asshole. Like what Ozzie said, it has got to be constructive if you want to help. I am by far disgusted at the news of that artist being shamed so badly that they attempted something so harsh. Nobody deserves to be treated like that, I don't care for what reason. If you have nothing useful to tell the artist how to improve without being nasty about it, do not talk to them. Mark it down in your mind as however bad you see it and move on; no need to ruin another person to boost your ego.
 
Being in the fandom (unfortunately) I've seen wayyyy too many people getting told they can't draw characters a certain way, pair characters with other characters because they aren't into said character canonicly or even cosplay certain characters due to not being the "race" of the character being cosplayed when the character isn't black/white/asian/etc....they're fucking aliens. I've seen people get told they're racist for cosplaying Garnet and painting their skin when in reality, they aren't being racist. The fandom is pathetic and needs to stop whining about how people are bad for certain ships or their style of art, etc etc.... Bullying is never ok and telling people they can't draw characters a certain way isn't ok. People draw how they draw and they need to leave it alone.

Probs off topic but it has to be said....over and over and over...
 
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