Ego 2.0: The Hater Phase
Remember a couple of years ago when the bubble burst and everyone was down in the dumps? That was a great time for the independent web because when you are out of a job what else can you do besides write and work on your projects? Nothing inspires someone to start their own company than not having a job. Now a ton of people have a blog and even more run their own companies. This phase of the web that we like to refer to as “Web 2.0″ can also be seen as the era of empowerment since technology has given us the ability to start almost any web project we want or at the very least copy or mimic a project that already exists.
Now I’m not sure if this sort of attitude has been around longer and maybe I am just now noticing it, but doesn’t it seem as though we are surrounded by a lot of animosity and jealousy? You can’t start a project and have a general discussion about it without it seeming like you are a copycat, using people or just selling out. Now I will be the first to admit that I place companies, sites, projects and people under scrutiny just as much as anyone else, but what happened to the praise and quality criticism we are capable of providing individuals? It still happens a lot, but more times than not it gets lost in the noise.
Admittedly a couple of years ago when this era was starting to build up you couldn’t go anywhere without simply hearing the sheep throw their praise upon any project that came around and it’s almost understandable when looking back because of the events that everyone had been going through. We just got down with our own mini-recession and bubble burst so finding something to be optimistic about was a very, very good thing. Now? Well everyone is on equal playing grounds again and therefore maybe we feel nobody deserves our praise anymore because we just couldn’t do it better or faster than them.
Whenever I talk about 37signals the opinions divide into two camps.
- Those that tend to agree with me.
- Those that wish to castrate me.
What the second group doesn’t realize though is that when I write about 37signals I do so from a passionate user standpoint. They helped to shape many of the philosophies that I follow today and therefore I put them under more scrutiny than I would any other company. Sure, I’ve noticed some changes in their attitudes over the years, but it’s not like my attitude or that of my colleagues hasn’t changed as well. For one I don’t want them changing from the 37signals that I know and love (they can’t stay perfect to everybody) and second, I write about them because I think it helps.
We have some passionate readers and members in the 9rules Network and they are not afraid to voice their opinions, but what they do really well is use constructive criticism when we do something they don’t agree with and give us praise when they want us to know we are doing something well. This is the key, we have to find a balance between criticism and praise that helps the companies and people we love and respect grow.
I don’t think its possible to find something good in every company. There are companies out there that I truly can’t stand, but now I just don’t write about them anymore. When I do critique I try my best to be balanced because I know how hard it can be to bust your ass on something only to have everyone jump on you not with constructive criticism, but with venom that leaves you wondering if you should even continue.
Last week, Mike Arrington came under a ton of scrutiny for his recent redesign of TechCrunch. This was a great example between the difference of haters and passionate users. Ignoring the aesthetics of the site many people felt as though Arrington had soldout his userbase for money and although I think most people understand that money is vital and with that amount of traffic you would be foolish not to try and monetize the site, I don’t think they wanted it to occur at the expense of their experience on the site. I’m not sure Arrington understands that and is taking all the criticism as people hating on him, which many times isn’t the case. Many people feel as though a trust was broken and if this era is all about the users that’s the only thing keeping them on your site.
As I mentioned before I am more guilty of criticizing without throwing praise when it is deserved as much as anybody so I am consciously going to try and put the good word out when I feel someone deserves it. If I do see one or two things that I don’t agree with I will point them out, but don’t take that as jealousy. If we ever get out of this phase I will be happy, but I don’t think there will ever be that perfect median that I am looking for so I can only worry about myself and how I come across to the world.
I think you hit the nail on the head about the key being users and this is the single most important fact currently really. It comes into everything on a website now and I can’t see it changing for a while, yes maybe bouncing up and down as it balances about but not much.
By karmatosed on May 18, 2006 11:44 am
I think the majority of us know its about the user, but we tend to drift away from that simple idea every once in a while and need a reminder here and there. I know I have fallen into that trap on many occassions.
I’m sure there are a ton of places with a positive vibe going on right now, but I’m just catching a lot of the negative in this community perhaps. Of course I should probably stop reading Calacanis so much.
By Scrivs on May 18, 2006 12:19 pm
I hear what you are saying. There is still a lot of sheep out there which makes the hating sound even louder. The other problem is that most people (in my experience anyway) are better at saying what they don’t like rather than what they do. This makes it easy to write about how rubbish you think something is, while writing about good points can take more effort.
By Eddie Sowden on May 18, 2006 1:15 pm
I know all to well what you mean Eddie. Pretty much along the lines of its a piece of cake to express your hatred towards someone, but telling somebody you love them for the first time is an impossible task.
Maybe it’s hard to say good things because we are so caught up in what we love and maybe we just figure that if we like those things then everyone else must like them as well.
By Scrivs on May 18, 2006 1:20 pm
That’s exactly the case. It’s so much easier to bring up the things that you don’t like than it is what you do like. And that doesn’t matter whether it’s a website, a person, a technique or anything. It takes a lot of patience to put to words what you feel is good about something, just because our minds are geared towards thinking about all the negative things in life.
Look at the news… How often do you hear something good on the news, or read about it in the newspaper?
By Steven Ametjan on May 18, 2006 2:10 pm
That is a good point about the news and I definetly agree about people saying bad stuff easier than good. I also think the sheep thing is a big one, it is a bit of a wooly jumper festival online sometimes.
By karmatosed on May 18, 2006 3:23 pm
Thanks for this article. Really resonated with me a lot.
I’ve written a couple of “constructive criticism” articles on 37signals as well, and the intent is just as you said: sometimes, scrutinizing something is the best way to learn — as long as it’s not vindictive or malicious.
By Dharmesh Shah on May 18, 2006 3:56 pm
Yeah with constructive criticism you have to be careful of the tone which on the web can be taken however the mood of the person is in while reading it so it’s rarely a win-win situation.
By Scrivs on May 18, 2006 5:07 pm