[...] Twyber Bullying | Tartan Cat Knocking other people’s ideas, posting mean-spirited comments on Twitter and making spiteful comments on blogs that, while you might not agree with matter to the person who took the time and the effort to write and in many cases the courage to post, is simply wrong. [...]

[...] Cracking post and comments over at Tartan Cat (lovely looking site too) about speaking online. The gist seems to be that if you can’t say something nice, then you really shouldn’t say anything. [...]

[...] – or a sign I need to get out more) but there were a few things that popped up – one on Twyberbullying and one on digital [...]

read your post and later on read this (http://brucebrady.wordpress.com/running-for-london-2011/). the persons writing style may not be the best, posting may not be that regular, but he seems to be trying to put the society back into social and his efforts should be applauded and congratulated and most likely promoted/publicised.
It’s very easy to give “negatives” to peoples blogs but what would that do to their ambitions and aims when they have worthy or atleast causes that they have a passion for.
sorry for the rambling comment, but as I said, your post had more meaning after reading this guy

I think yes, people can give opinions and yes they might not always agree with what you are doing/saying but there’s a way to say things. With manners and courtesy, and also a wee bit of respect. I mean what would life be if we all agreed with each other – boring, but there’s a way to say things (and this is not me being precious or sensitive).
Thankfully ‘anti-social’ behaviour in social media is fairly rare (or maybe i don’t read everything?), and maybe that’s why it hurts when you are on the receiving end, but like in real life there will always be naysayers. People quick to jump on the negative. We can’t do anything about that but continue on our own paths. What we all need is balance.

Hey, you think Twitter/blogs are bad? you should check out forums!! A breading ground of negativity – of the ones I’ve been on. There are some who go on with the intention of being nasty at the expense of others.

My final point is this: what do they think can be achieved by sniping, scathing comments? Maybe i’m just being naive.

I love that you say your intention “will always be pure”. That made me smile.
Thanks for commenting, Laura.

Heaven forbid that people have a differing opinion!

This is a decent post with – at heart – a fair point: be nice, but at the same time being nice all the time doesn’t solve anything: Ghandi never achieved much by the status quo, Nelson Mandela and the IRA felt the need to be more than polite people who disagreed. Nice has a place, but sometimes you can’t be nice.

The bigger problem though is what defines as hurtful. What I may take from someone as constructive criticism – or mean to pass on as constructive criticism – can be interpreted as what it’s meant to be or perceived as harmful, depending on people’s points of view.

And who’s right? The person writing the words or those who take the intent from them?

Some people can have their feelings easily hurt, others not. And at the same time, very few people genuinely like criticism, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for it. I know that as a journalist, a lot of my work was better for being criticised. Did it hurt? Yes, but it made my work better – and by extension, a better professional of me.

Also, to an extent, if you are going to post in a public forum and make your opinions to the world, you have to be ready for the fact that the world may not share your point of view and challenge you on it. It’s a two-way process.

Angela Higgins makes the best point I think: it’s not necessarily what is being said but how it is being said that can have the impact.

Laura, you also make some very fair and good points, but there was one part I felt I had to disagree with:

“In my book, if you’re clever and write well and know everything about everything – it doesn’t give you the right to go around bringing people down who are putting themselves out there! ”

I disagree. If I post something on a topic that is clearly nonsense, I have no truck with someone who is better informed than me coming along and saying that I’m talking mince. That’s one way of learning and growing. Also, asking the experts to shut up or allowing them to be drowned out gives rise to society being half-informed at best (and everyone relying on wikis).

Cracking post that has certainly sparked some debate – and I’ll be linking to it tomorrow as online negativity is something I have found myself accused of over the last few days.

Getting to this late and finding that Craig has already said what I was going to say.

Personally, I think that social media is an open forum and therefore you should expect that not everyone is going to share your opinion. But you also need to embrace that open-ness yourself and accept those differences. It’s not an easy step to take to be honest.

Like Craig and Michelle, in my screenwriting work I am well used to taking criticism and am in no doubt that it improves the final product. Often this comes from people who know more than I do, which I accept. They don’t, however, all deliver it in the most painless way but that’s just people right?

If you’re confident in what you are putting out there then there’s no obligation to listen to anyone else’s opinion. If you’re not confident in what you’ve said then I’d suggest that there’s already a wee voice in the back of your head criticising you already.

For the record. I’m not Ghandi either