

Ask HN: Advice on dealing with criticism - brandnewlow

I'm developing a social news site for Chicago (digg-style link voting alongside original reporting and commentary).  I've got about 8 people giving advice and tips along the way, but I'm a solo founder.  About half of the people in my feedback loop are generally positive about the project.  About half aren't.  And now and then people surface to say they like what I'm doing while others surface to say they don't.<p>How do you guys approach criticism?  I know you're supposed to make sure you get a real, accurate assessment of how things are going, but sometimes exposing myself to so much criticism is a real downer.
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warwick
For every person your product is right for, there's going to be a ton of
people your product /isn't/ right for. The people who it isn't right for can
have two reactions. They can be indifferent, or they can be critical.

If they're indifferent, so be it.

Being critical is a different ball game altogether. It either means that they
like it but want changes, or they have some sort of grudge against the
concept, or they want you to be working on something else. You can safely
discard the last two types of criticism.

The first type "they like it, but it's not perfect" is the group to actually
listen to. Can you fix what they don't like about the product without diluting
your vision of what it is? If not, do they have a better vision for your
product that you might incorporate? No? Then don't worry about it, this isn't
your audience talking.

~~~
trapper
They like it but it's not perfect can also be used as a strategy for avoiding
saying they don't like it. "I'd use it if it had one more feature...".

Listen ONLY to users who login regularly and plead for features.

~~~
brandnewlow
I think this is also sound advice. I get a great deal of feedback from my
bloggers and contributors and I take that very seriously. They're using the
platform daily to create original content and build their own audiences. The
easier I make their lives, the easier they make my life. On the other hand
there are a good number of observers with spare thoughts for me. Sometimes
helpful, sometimes not. Good distinction. Thanks.

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blasdel
You've got this backwards: 'deal' with praise, _use_ criticism.

~~~
brandnewlow
Touche (use imagination to insert the accent). The criticism is almost always
helpful. Last night a local journalist wrote me to trash a story we ran. After
a flurry of e-mails the result was that I have a finder understanding for what
that segment of our audience (other bloggers and writers in this market)
expects out of their reading material. That's a win.

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ahizzle
One of the very noticeable things I've observed, and I'm sure someone else has
already blogged about this, is that if you're doing something "new" people
will hate on it because it can't be done... but if you're doing something that
sounds like it's already been "done", you'll get hated on because you
shouldn't bother doing it.

Really it boils down to being able to differentiate hater-ade from
constructive criticism.

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zaidf
This is only from MY personal experience: I have found that I take criticism
more negatively for projects I am myself not fully convinced about.

My advice: fully be sold on your idea before inviting outside opinions.
Otherwise outside opinion, especially negative, is just an EXCUSE to drop an
idea you were never convinced about yourself.

Talk is cheap. Don't seek validation of your idea from others. Except of
course when they are people that matter(and there are limits to that too). ie.
VCs, potential cofounders.

~~~
brandnewlow
Your last point is one I've learned the hard way. When I started this project
I had a large, enthusiastic group of volunteer writers and contributors
trumpeting the effort. That's great. The problem was I was leaning a bit too
hard on them for validation of the idea itself. Not great. I've since stepped
back a bit and forced myself to keep high level questions and opinions to
myself. I talk writing with the writers and that's that.

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Hoff
Have your peanut gallery enter and then vote on the tips and feature requests,
and get the karma system going? Use that traffic to test code and servers and
to sound out the comments and the requests, and then to establish in-network
invites.

~~~
brandnewlow
This is a great idea. It would really separate the men from the boys.

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puzzle-out
If your too sensitive to criticism then a startup will be hell. Hard to
generalise about entrepreneurs, but confidence and resultant tough skins are
integral. If your more a creative type, then get a pitbull co-founder to take
off the heat.

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abijlani
First you have to see if the criticism is constructive or destructive. If it
is destructive eg. "Your idea sucks!". Well then just ignore it. You have to
develop a bit of a thick skin and ignore the naysayers and the ones who want
to put you done. If the criticism is constructive then make sure you
understand what needs to be done or how you can use it to your advantage.

In my experience being a solo founder is very tough because you have to keep
yourself motivated. Having a partner helps so that you can take turns at
picking each other up when times get tough.

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robg
Know your advisers and use them. The main problem to solve is knowing when to
listen --- and when not to. Look for commonalities in what they're saying. If
you average their feedback together, which concerns float to the the top of
the stack?

If it's a social news site, why not have them enter each concern as a separate
item? To the extent that others agree, that concern will get up-voted. Then
there's transparency for all involved when you listen and when you don't. And
they end up using your product more.

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ryanspahn
Unfortunately, it goes with the territory.

But, if you believe in your work and you hear positive, the positive is your
audience. Work for your audience ... don't dismiss the negative if such is
constructive feedback you can use to make a better product.

Just think how many people hated on various businesses (myspace, twitter come
to mind) and yet they became wildly successful!

Keep your head up!

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bayareaguy
The best way to deal with criticism or praise is to have it refined into
something you can actually use. I would suggest asking someone to take the
good and bad things people tell you and summarize it objectively. Then find
someone else with perhiperal involvement in your effort monitor what you do
over time and tell you how their observations compare with the ones from the
summary.

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skmurphy
The lukewarm reaction is the least useful. Bona fide criticism or praise is
always useful. The first thing you should seek to understand is whether the
person has the problem/need that you hope to address. Talk to them about the
problem before you get their feedback on your current solution iteration.

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rrf
You have to approach it objectively, not personally. You have to have the
determination and perseverance to take some flak and keep going. And you need
to be open to changing your idea if you realise the criticism is justified.

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vaksel
You'll never satisfy everyone, don't discount good criticism that also gives
you solution, do discount the "meh it sucks" criticism

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Jem
Honestly? Suck it up - that's life. You can't expect 100% of people to like
what you do 100% of the time.

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nose
It might help to prioritize the feedback by the individual's credibility. In
the end, go with your gut.

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DanielBMarkham
Remember that running a business is about risk -- making decisions with
imperfect information.

There are lots of risks. If you get tied up too much in worrying about them
all you won't get anything accomplished.

I think part of maturing is being able to sort out what problems to act on and
what to ignore. This is probably an acquired taste. In other words, take as
much criticism as you can and then ignore them. Over time, you'll be able to
deal with more and more negativity without it screwing you up. That's where
you want to be -- able to handle all of the possible problems and still being
optimistic about what you're doing. That's the spot you can grow from.

But heck if I would want a dozen or more people critiquing me all the time.
I'd rather use a forum like this every now and then to critique the big issues
instead of getting a running stream of advice.

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LPTS
I approach criticism critically. Then I usually decide the person criticizing
me is an idiot, the wrong person to talk to, or that they had something useful
to say. When people criticize me, it doesn't make me feel down. It makes me
feel smarter or at least ahead of the curve around my ideas, some of the time,
and lets me learn something useful the rest of the time.

You sound like you are running a neuro-semantic loser script about your
project. That's not the way to change the world. You can't play this game if
you care that much about what eight douchebags who happen to know you think.
Instead of "criticism is a downer" try substituting "criticism is a valuable
chance to play a mental game with my ideas"

You should lose the depressed downer reaction right away. Then, you should
think about the criticism, and if it's useful, don't be so arrogant that you
don't take it. If it's not useful, either they are stupid or just not
relevant. Either way, nothing to be depressed about. Or, maybe you actually
are a loser and just are in a state of cognitive denial about what a loser
situation you are in, I don't know.

(You could give your framework to communities all over the country who do
similar community reporting.)

~~~
brandnewlow
Er. Well. At least you're honest?

