The argumentative quirk to criticism

Humans have a funny quirk I find.

• Compliment them and they say, Thanks!
• Ask for advice or clarification and they provide, some generalized points.
• Criticize them and; They will spend the time to write walls of text to clear their good names.

I personally am argumentative by nature or, perhaps necessity considering I am inquisitive and value discussion. It is not that I love being criticized but, I even value a conversation in the negative, over a meaningless compliment.

Discussions hold value transformational value as two or more people can engage and share ideas and if both open, a lot of ground can be covered and clarifications be made. It is not that after the discussion both parties agree on anything but, there need not be animosity and anger. Working out the differences is just as important as negotiating terms, perhaps more so in some cases.

A couple weeks ago @berniesanders called out some witnesses and questioned their roles quite publicly. In one post, he targeted @roelandp very directly. The approach can be frowned upon and might be seen as negative or toxic by many people. Personally, I found out more about some of the witnesses here in a couple of posts than I have learned in all my time trying to find out about them. Being called out seemed to bring out some of the best in some of them and, I assume that was the point.

For @roelandp, after defending his position, he found out that his delegation to a bidbot wasn't being used the way he thought and on the back of that, finished off a side project which he presented the other day called SolicitingPower. Have a look.

Although quite a rough process, I think that for some of the witnesses at least, having a bucket of cold water thrown over them woke them up and perhaps forced them into a review of their actions. Those who presented their positions, their projects and their coming developments added a lot of value to the blockchain and the community. In my opinion, it is healthy.

Witnesses are elected positions and therefore need to be be held responsible for their behaviors more stringently than a normal user. They should have to defend themselves in the public eye, especially if the public no longer know what they do and what value they provide. Because of Bernie's public persona, his posts hold a lot of weight. You can go and have a read of the 400+ comments here.

However, I do think that the public calling out shouldn't really be necessary if the witnesses are doing their job and keeping the community who elect them, informed. Even the ones who aren't community orientated should be providing the information relevant to the community without being asked for it. This is especially true for the contentious issues that might be on the platform. The witnesses should at least know what they are and give a public stance or defend positions.

However, this quirk is true for pretty much everyone. Last night I posted a discussion question about advertising rival platforms on Steemit. You can find it here.

Although I didn't name anyone directly, several people I would consider public figures dropped by with their views. They were @Uwelang, @Surfermarly and @Clayboyn. As far as my memory serves, none of them have ever commented on my content before. It is a big platform after all, right? I am very grateful for them coming by and thank them profusely for adding to the discourse.

I had and still have many questions but, I am not going to go and hijack their comment sections for my own agenda as I find that quite rude. But, if I hadn't challenged the general behavior and been quite critical, would they have left a comment? Would they have even come across it? Would they have joined into a discussion that many of my own followers consider important since they are trying hard to make this place work with their limited influence? Seeing high visibility accounts advertise rivals doesn't seem to inspire them. Perhaps advertising rivals puts a nail in the coffin?

But, here is the thing. They did comment and clarify their positions which at least for me and some of my followers, takes some of the shill out of their advertising as they are essentially forced to evaluate their own positions in order to defend them. Perhaps there is a lot of value on both sides when such things happen as both get new information and they can reinforce their own or perhaps, weaken their views on some things.

As I have said many times and reiterated many, many more, discussion is necessary for a community to grow healthily and when that discussion hasn't arrived, it should be forced. This is actually a large part of the current challenges we face now, communication.

Without good communication that travels throughout the community, the wrong things get attention and the right get swept under the rug as they are often difficult to deal with. In an emerging environment being built in an emerging industry, communication is vital. Vital means essential but also, life. This means that without it, there is death.

If you notice, community and communication are born from the same stem; share, together. The problems facing this community lay in the togetherness of it. No, not everyone has to agree but, the discussions need to happen so that when actions are taken, they are more likely to include the needs of more groups within. If the questions aren't raised and discussions don't happen, we get what we have now, imbalance.

As said, it is in my nature to be argumentative and it is in my interest area to question behavior. It is also my profession to facilitate and improve communication. I am not saying that every post of mine is going to be a challenge but, I am unlikely to stop asking questions and finding ways to get them answered. When that comes to questions about the community, it takes a community to answer.

Anyway, thanks to all the comments and perspectives and I think I am missing replying to some lately as I am struggling to keep up. Hopefully you will also read and talk amongst yourselves and add to the public discourse on all of the issues you find of interest or importance. With a little communication, this place becomes so much more relevant but, it does take work as well as that step back. Not all the value is in the payout figure, perhaps, not even much.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

Also, check out the accounts I have tagged to see if they produce something you might be interested in and throw them a follow.