I came across the following message from Rick Niemic to Jonathan Lewis’ page on criticism:

Personally, I think you should have the character to rise above such low standards.  Before I criticize someone's work publicly, I believe it would certainly be more professional and respectful to initially check with the author to see if the criticism is accurate and also to give them a chance to correct it.  Who wouldn't want this opportunity among us? It is completely unprofessional to publicly slam someone without their knowledge at all or without giving them the chance to respond. If the criticism is incorrect it could potentially even be deemed slander.  I've seen several excellent discussions become reduced to senseless banter because people don't show common courtesy and decency to others.

Life is too short to not care more about those around you.  You can always post the truth if that is your goal without slamming someone else publicly. I think that we have a greater responsibility to one another and to bring out the best in each other.  If you slam them, you'll only bring out the worst in them.  Everyone is a work in progress and nobody is perfect.  A nice quote on this says: "...If I treat people as they are, I make them worse, but if I treat them as they ought to be, I will help them to become what they are capable of becoming."

So I emailed Rich as follows:

Regarding your message to Jonathan, there is a practical problem.

The professional rules of exchange, which include the courtesy to notify an author of an error, are valid in a normal environment, where the ratio of errors to correct material is no more than, say, 25% to 75%; and when the authors of errors have the necessary knowledge and intellectual ability to address their errors. But in an environment when the reverse ratio and worse is in effect, and there is neither the ability, nor the willingness to accept and correct one's mistakes (as they are too many, and the culture does not punish, and even rewards them), the approach you recommend is a waste of time.

In such an environment the only way to handle the tons of crap produced is to call a spade a spade and not bother with notifications that may either not get a response, or suck you into more crap. It's not the preferable way, but anything else would be a tremendous waste of time and effort.

Unfortunately, the price to pay for that is that the knowledgeable are treated the same by the Burlesons of the world. But they would do that anyway, whether we call a spade a spade, or not.

To this I would also add that it has become imperative to call a spade a spade, as a lot of the crap passes as equivalent to real substance, and we should call on it. Not doing so is, in my opinion, irresponsible.

Posted 11/18/05