Concrit?

[dodificus]

Constructive criticism, how do people feel about it?

As a recorder, do you want to hear from someone about how you read to fast/left that blooper in at 12:42/had birds screeching in the background*/whatever? Is it helpful or hurtful? Has concrit ever prompted you to make changes to a specific recording or made you change something about the way you record/read in the future?

As a listener, *do* you leave concrit when you feedback? Do you want to but feel stifled or unsure of the reception? Do you think it's rude/pointless/dull to do so?


*I'm pretty sure there are screeching birds in the background of just about everything I've recorded, even though I don't actually own a bird

Comments

[dodificus]

And there are some things that just aren't constructive to say, even if they might be true, for example "I can't understand your accent at all".

Yeah, not really helpful, is it? Personally, I've never had a problem understanding or enjoying someone's accent, it's always been more about the pitch/sound of someone's voice that can put me off listening. And again, there's not much anyone can do about what their voice essentially sounds like, so I'd never actually leave a comment about that.

although I always agonize over it a little bit first, and I always make sure to balance it with positive feedback, and to qualify it so that it's clear that this is just my opinion,

That's pretty much where I'm at as well. I mean, feedback is so hard to get for podficcers in the first place, I just hate to think that maybe the only comment someone is going to get is me telling them that they read too fast for me or something like that.

This whole post was prompted by me going back and checking the post of the very first podfic I put out into the world back in 2007. I'd put out an explicit request for constructive criticism because I had fuck all idea about what I was doing and needed pointers. And people gave it to me, it was great! But I tend not to see much unprompted concrit in podfic.

[paraka]

I think the general rule of thumb when giving concrit/advice/heads up/whatever, is that it's really only useful if it's something that can be fixed.

In the case of podficcing, pointing things out like the podficcer's accent or the sound of their voice just sends the message that the podficcer should stop podficcing, which is a sucky message to send. :(