Haters going to hate

It’s a fairly common sentiment of the Internet. When you put yourself out there, you’re going to get others making bad faith criticisms for the sake of “trolling”. The phrase, “haters going to hate” is meant as a rallying cry for the ego; Bolster yourself with seemingly unearned confidence and continue onwards. It taps into the idea that no matter what you do to address their “criticisms” that it will never be enough. Tearing down creators to get a rise out of them is part of the sport.

However, there’s a line between the bad and good faith criticisms and it’s important to understand where that line is. As a creator, feedback is the fastest way to grow but it means admitting that we are not as good as we may wish to be. The ego is fragile after all. Even good faith criticisms can be a tough pill to swallow, but when embraced, it can lead to improvements that may well have taken longer to achieve.

An example of good feedback is one where they address direct issues and suggest possible fixes. For instance, you may receive a comment that simply says, “The shading is too light. It would look better if it was starker.” This is a problem that can be directly addressed. In fact, this was the very feedback I received when I asked for a review of my work. It stung a little, but it pushed me to experiment with colour, look for examples of shading techniques and colour combinations. Often, we find it difficult to receive criticism, particularly when it is worded in a blunt or harsh manner, but it is important to examine it for what it is and decide whether or not to take it on.

The trick to sorting through criticism is not to take it personally, look at it constructively, and decide if it is worth taking on. You don’t have to act on every piece of advice. If the comment does not address any issues, rather, it merely states something along the lines, “This is shit!” then yeet that comment out of existence. This is the haters hating.

There is one comment, however, that I see on a lot of creators comics, videos, stories etc, that does not need your energy.

“This update is taking too long!”

Take as long as you need. Until one begins their content creation journey, the time it takes a single person (because it is often one person) to create their work is often taken for granted. Creating comics is not easy. Writing is not easy. Art is not easy. And it is all done in your time. It is free for them and resource draining for you. When comments like this pop up, pay them no mind. If you agree, then endeavour to build a buffer, do shorter updates or outsource some of the more labour intensive tasks. But remember, you are doing this for you. Focus on improving your skills and the rest will fall into line, with or without the hate.

How do you deal with negative comments? In what way do you handle constructive criticism? Let us know in the comment section below! And join us on Sunday evening for our Quackchat at 5:30PM(EST)!

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