This has to do with woodworking, although it can certainly apply to lots of other things. Someone posted on Reddit, complaining that whenever he uploads a project, people will criticize him. He even admits his faults, his joints are loose, his boards have gaps, etc. No, what he wants people to do is be less critical.

Not only no, but hell no. That’s not how this works.

 

This is very, very common these days. Nobody is being overtly mean to this guy, he is putting his work up for evaluation and they are giving their honest opinions. He doesn’t want honest opinions though, he wants people to ride him around on their shoulders. He wants people to tell him how good he is, even if he isn’t good. He’s looking for external validation.

That is not how this works.

I tried to explain it, which I’m sure will get downvoted from the childish fee-fee brigade. I don’t care. Sure, if an 8-year old kid nails 2 boards together and uploads it to Reddit, ignoring the fact that you have to be 13 to have an account, but most people just ignore rules because they think they’re special, then no, I’m not going to tell that kid he’s terrible. I might say “good effort” but that’s about as far as I’m willing to go. For an adult though, which is what this person is, what they ought to get are honest opinions. Here’s how you can improve what you’re doing. Like I said though, that’s not what a lot of these snowflakes are after. They just want praise.

I responded, since he said he was doing this for “fun” and said that if he was doing it for “fun”, why is he uploading his projects at all? That’s not fun, that’s showing off and he’s seeing the normal results of that. Far too many people out there aren’t looking for honesty, they have egos on overdrive and zero self-respect and they just want constant validation so they can feel good about themselves.

These people have some serious emotional problems. Now I didn’t say that part because I have no clue what he’s uploaded so I can’t make any kind of evaluation, but if it’s someone hand-cutting dovetails, which is what he said, then clearly, this isn’t some little kid giving it all they’ve got. This is an adult and we treat people like adults. We should at least. If you’re only doing this for fun, keep it to yourself. The fun doesn’t increase because other people like it and it doesn’t decrease  because other people hate it. You make your own fun. Your enjoyment doesn’t depend on others. If you want to nail a couple of boards together and call it a day, that’s up to you. If you put that up on Reddit, or anywhere else, and say “how did I do?” I’m going to tell you though. You asked, not me.

I honestly don’t get people today. If anyone can tell me why these spineless, childish people are out there, please, use the comments to explain because I think it’s all absolutely dumb. Granted, I think the overwhelming majority of people are absolutely dumb. How about you?