Handling negative reviews, offense taken or lessons learnt?

[Cedric]

We put a lot of effort and passion into our work, so getting a negative review can sometimes feel like a personal attack.

However, these 'not so good' reviews can also offer a valuable opportunity for growth and improvement, if approached with the right mindset. So, how do you react when you receive a less than stellar review?

• Do you tend to get offended when you receive a 'not so good' review, or do you see it as an opportunity to learn and improve?
• Can you share a time when a negative review helped you make positive changes to your site?
• How do you handle responding to such reviews? Do you have any tips or best practices to share?
• How do you ensure that you don't let negative reviews discourage you, but rather motivate you to continually improve?
• Are there any strategies you've found useful for soliciting constructive feedback, rather than just negative comments?

This can be a challenging topic, but I think it's important for us to discuss. Your insights and experiences can help us all learn to navigate criticism more effectively and use it to drive our progress.

 

[Debashis]

Sometimes the reviewers might not put the negative review in a tone of a constructive feedback. We ourselves have to identify what areas of opportunities the same is trying to highlight. We must always be open to taking feedbacks, even when it is negative. Respect their opinion, go back home, think on it, find what needs to be fixed and turn that criticism into a stepping stone of your journey to become your best at whatever you are doing. That is the only way to grow in life. And that is what I practice. Never get discouraged.

 

[Reverie]

We put a lot of effort and passion into our work, so getting a negative review can sometimes feel like a personal attack.

However, these 'not so good' reviews can also offer a valuable opportunity for growth and improvement, if approached with the right mindset. So, how do you react when you receive a less than stellar review?

• Do you tend to get offended when you receive a 'not so good' review, or do you see it as an opportunity to learn and improve?
• Can you share a time when a negative review helped you make positive changes to your site?
• How do you handle responding to such reviews? Do you have any tips or best practices to share?
• How do you ensure that you don't let negative reviews discourage you, but rather motivate you to continually improve?
• Are there any strategies you've found useful for soliciting constructive feedback, rather than just negative comments?

This can be a challenging topic, but I think it's important for us to discuss. Your insights and experiences can help us all learn to navigate criticism more effectively and use it to drive our progress.

• Do you tend to get offended when you receive a 'not so good' review, or do you see it as an opportunity to learn and improve?
  I don't get offended typically, unless the reviewer makes it semi-personal and is obviously just giving a bad review to give one. This hasn't occurred in quite a long time though! I typically do see them as a opportunity to learn and improve!
• Can you share a time when a negative review helped you make positive changes to your site?
  I haven't requested a review in quite a long time. I do recall though I've never found the entire review helpful, but typically there are pieces that I can take to help me change things.
• How do you handle responding to such reviews? Do you have any tips or best practices to share?
  Someone took the time to view your forum and give their opinion - I'm typically thankful and appreciative for it. If I wanted more specific review of a particular part they did not touch on, I may ask them privately their opinion on that. If you want a specific sectional/area review I would recommend adding a note to a request on feedback for a particular area! Sometimes it's hard to touch on everything in a single review.
• How do you ensure that you don't let negative reviews discourage you, but rather motivate you to continually improve?
  I remember that everything needs improvement, and I asked for the feedback - so I can't be hurt that someone found something "wrong" or "something to be worked on"
• Are there any strategies you've found useful for soliciting constructive feedback, rather than just negative comments?
  I find that if I ask in the notes for specific feedback, or for hyper focus on certain areas, there is typically more constructive feedback. It's because as humans it can sometimes be difficult to look at a whole forum. Sometimes I just got the "It looks good." the end. Constructive feedback is super important!

 

[Uncrowned]

While it is completely true that negative reviews look bad for your site in the eye of the public, the negative ones are often better for the site staff as a whole. Removing both the positive and negative reviews that are simply a few words like "I like it", the reviews that go into depth actually seem more informative and detailed when they are negative. Negative reviews also offer a direct route to improving the site as negative reviews will generally list the problems they have with the site. Positive reviews on the other hand, generally list their favorite features and while this is good information to have, you can really change or improve the users' favorite feature to improve the site as a whole.

Overall, positive reviews help guide the overall site towards the main goal it should be trying to achieve by building on its strengths. While negative reviews point out the current issues and problems faced by the community that are needed to keep the foundation strong. Granted, both sides rely on reviews that provide details and information from the user.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I wouldn't get offended if the person was telling me the flaws of my community. I would take it as a learning opportunity to make my community better. Even if the person was being rude about it, I'd still take their criticisms to make my site better. I haven't actually had a rude review, and it's been a while since I've had a review for my sites. Any time someone found something off or out of place on my forum, I would fix it immediately to make their experience better.

 

[Ken]

I feel that getting a negative review makes the site look bad.

 

[Cedric]

I feel that getting a negative review makes the site look bad.

Why? Do you not think that reviewers may have constructive feedback in order to make your website better?

 

[Ken]

Why? Do you not think that reviewers may have constructive feedback in order to make your website better?

It's because that I had one member who was a part of my site once about a month ago said "I don't like your forum", and I just find it wrong to give a review without any reason after leaving.

 

[Tracy]

Honestly... as far as a review on my site. I'll take any comment into consideration.. but the ultimate "view/decision" is the one that I have for my site.
Am I perfect... hell no. But generally I know what I want to offer. Can it be tweaked? You bet.. nobody is perfect. But just because someone else thinks something should be a "certain" way does not equate to them being right.
Generally if it's an "ease of use" aspect, I pay more attention... if it's a "I want his because I think it looks/acts better"... that resolves into a harder look and generally it washes out.
Stubborn.. yep.. but since I don't ask anything (especially financially) from my members... they can simply live with my choice. If they can make a valid argument about a change, I have no issues with implementing it...but bitching because you don't like something? You can simply stuff it where the sun doesn't shine. I run my site for ME... if others want to play, then they are welcome to jump in. And THAT is one of the benefits of running a hobby site where you aren't dependent upon others to support it.
I've ran sites for over a decade (for my enjoyment)...the current main site has been registered since 2018... and has been up and running for 3 of those years (once I figured out what the hellI was doing with the niche equipment).

 

[Reverie]

It's because that I had one member who was a part of my site once about a month ago said "I don't like your forum", and I just find it wrong to give a review without any reason after leaving.

Typically a review though will give you constructive feedback and won't just state "I don't like it" although I understand your point of view as well.

 

[kensonplays]

If its constructive, I'm fine with negative, but if its "Deconstructive" I usually would prefer constructive instead.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Typically a review though will give you constructive feedback and won't just state "I don't like it" although I understand your point of view as well.

It depends on the situation though IMO. Like, if you don't agree with the way moderation is handled or the rules are enforced, I don't think it'd be my place to tell someone how to run their site. I'd simply just leave. Most staff don't like to get dragged into a debate about this sort of thing and have the attitude of "My house, my rules. If you don't like it, leave." There are boundaries of reasonable limits for feedback given a community is privately owned and not a democracy.

 

[Kennysplash]

You can focus on the message in the reviews, not on the way it was delivered. Use it to correct what needs to be done.

 

[~ True Legend ~]

You can focus on the message in the reviews, not on the way it was delivered. Use it to correct what needs to be done.

Agreed. Are you considering creating a forum?

 

[Xilia]

Once I get my Naruto site off the ground I'm probably going to send a generic survey via DM to see what exactly is going right vs what is going wrong, see if there's any common topics/themes with what's going wrong and make adjustments from there.

Sites only exist BECAUSE of the members. While we can't please everyone, if a lot of people are saying the same thing, it might be worth looking into.

 

[Nomad]

It depends on what kind of negative reviews they have done. If is it unfounded, I will retaliate, if it is a constructive review, I will take it positively.

 

[Spartan]

It may hurt a little bit but as long as it’s not worded meanly I encourage constructive criticism.

 

[Empire]

Take it with a pinch of salt and also it can help you still

 

[~ True Legend ~]

Take it with a pinch of salt and also it can help you still

Not sure about taking it with a pinch of salt if multiple users are saying it. We should learn from the good and the bad feedback

 

[Empire]

Not sure about taking it with a pinch of salt if multiple users are saying it.

If they say the same then they know each other and say it as a group or it's legit however the way they send it's not good.