When someone posts what you feel to be a horribly bad review...

All right, I know I'm late to the game on this, but I have to say I'm a bit disturbed here.

I'm going to get straight to the point here -- Does the contributor really deserve all of this elitist criticism? I know some people might think my use of the word is harsh, but let's call a spade a spade, okay? You know we love constructive criticisms, but there's constructive and then there's destructive. And I hate to say it, but that's the vibe I'm getting here and in the comments on the review.

Did she take kindly to the comments on her review? Nope, but honestly, neither would I. Had it been me, I would have been very upset and possibly have given up on EF. This is NOT the impression we want to give new people. What have we become? I understand people's concerns about the quality of her review, but I see more attacking here than helpfulness. And it makes me sad.

Have you noticed she's not here to defend herself while people are picking apart her motivations? She is probably (or was depending on how she feels now) just getting to know EF and all that we have to offer. And the community offers her this right out of the gate? C'mon, guys, I know you're better than this.

Speaking of motivations, I think it's great that some of you started out with the intention to educate consumers and contribute to the EF community. But not everyone starts out this way, or even goes in this direction, and it's not wrong that they came here for free toys.

As others have pointed, less than awesome reviews happen, and I do not see how this is such a huge detriment to EF. Believe me, if it was, we'd be all over this. But with all of our projects and responsibilities, we shouldn't have to step out to remind people to be nicer to the new reviewers.

Please remember that tact goes a long way. There's nothing wrong with giving someone a gentle nudge toward a different direction, but perhaps we can do that privately instead of publicly raking someone over the coals.

One more thing, and I know y'all are going to be offended by this, but do we really need people to repeat the criticisms that have been made? This is a few people berating one reviewer. I think it's a bit much, like a lynch mob. Again, I know this seems harsh, but I'm disappointed in this behavior. Please, guys, let's all take a deep breath and remember that this is a community and we're here to support each other and those who wish to make this their home as well. less

OK, I think we've beat this dead horse enough. In addition to discussing it here, there have been messages exchanged and I believe we've reached a satisfactory conclusion. Yes, disagreements have been vocalized, but they happen and we all should move on from this. As always, message me if you have any issues, questions, or concerns and let's do these things less publicly, okay?

As has been mentioned, we the staff work hard to make this community a great place and I hope it continues to be so. less

I think a good rule of thumb, in a public situation that requires concrit, like a review, is to avoid repeating a criticism. If you see that someone else has mentioned grammar, for example, leave it out of your own comment.

My other suggestion would be to be sneakier with concrit -- ask leading questions instead, and the next time, that person will remember not to leave out that piece of information. (For good examples of that, see my year old review of my cyberglass toy from Topco -- I left out several things, assuming that people could figure them out for themselves since the site itself mentioned them. From those questions, I realized that our reviews are supposed to stand on their own, and now if I want readers to look at something for themselves, specifically the view-actual-size feature, I refer to it specifically in the review. My reviews improved, and nobody said anything negative to me.)

If something a huge mess, there's a private message system here, for offering suggestions out of the public eye, and if someone's obviously cut-pasting words just to make the auto-publish let a poor review through, contact someone who gets paid to deal with the grief. It's not worth drama. less