Forum Moderators: phranque
I feel people may jump in from here talking legal action stuff, ( they're big on that in this forum ;-)but realistically it is a waste of time and you wont be doing that..
Learn the lesson though, tighten up your security, validate emails before allowing submittion, etc ..there are numerous things you can do to protect a standard site ..
And let it go, who cares if he bruised your ego a little, it is what you do next that is important, you're still learning so learn .. next ..
It's not so difficult to bruteforce an unprotected site, all it takes is a dumb geek twat with a little giggle on his shoulder..
people sit behind a monitor and feel they can bad mouth whoever, whenever, it's common and it makes them feel better
just delete the comment and carry on :)
Once had a young guy offer a few tips. Later I learned that he was VP of a division of Microsoft who was buying something for his girlfriend. You bet I listened to what he had to say.
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We have a catch-all comment text box on our commerce site. About 30% of shoppers write something. The rare negative comments are far more useful than the mass of bland positive ones.
As already mentioned when those few people that do send an email suggesting or even complaining there is often a valid reason for it and I personally read and analyse every one of them. I have had a few gems of advice in the past, and thank those people for taking their time to write in.
Negative comments can be useful.
Though I receive mostly positive comments abt. what I sell...
;-)
Occassionally you will get worse, though. A couple of visitors to the same section of my site have actually let me know they wish violence upon me. One guy sent a photo showing him aim a gun at his webcam. Another sent me pictures of someone getting castrated.
The message is: you can't please all the people all the time. Even if only 1% of visitors enjoy what's on your site, you're still offering something that is useful to those people. Nothing is loved by everyone.
With that said, brush him off as a jerk and if he left any design advice, see if you can use it.
I wish more people would write to me when they don't like something (or find a problem). I can say that no one has ever written nasty things to me. They have always been nice and are usually asking me if the problem is on their end.
Keep working on your stuff. In a year or two, you'll look back and laugh at some of the things you designed.
You site might suck, who knows... But! You'll never get better if you quit and get discouraged. I remember my first site, now that I look at it, it looks pretty pathetic :)
Here's the thing... if you just get 'this sucks' w/o some reasons then just put the thick skin on.
You'll want to pay close attention to those folks that state something like 'this sucks because...'. Those reasons that they give can be 'gold' at times.
Tell them to kiss your ***!
But today someone signed my guestbook who completely put down my site and said I should not be in the web design area. Is this common?
People are a jealous lot. It's like any other field, throw a few hundred bucks at Dreamweaver and all of a sudden you are a self-proclaimed expert and everyone else is an idiot. By taking the time to post Stupid Comments in your guestbook, all they really did is reveal their ignorance and childish ego.
What you should do with this is read between the lines for the real info that can benefit you. Always keep an open mind - regardless of how many years you've been doing this, how many seminars, classes, or other experience you've gained, there is always something to be learned, **especially** from negative input. Turn it into an improvement.
Here is a tip, if you have a "guestbook", your design is probably still in the year 1999. Get rid of the guestbook and have a comment form or something more up to date!
Only pay attention if they leave you with criticism you can use. You won't get this often, because most people who know what they're talking about also know how to be polite.
But for "You should not be in the web design business," read: "Get off my SERPs!"
On one site I visit there is a no holds barred approach to design crit - it's far more helpful than dainty feet tiptoing around their real thoughts - they are often c/rude, usually funny, but there is always helpful stuff too.
& watch out for trolls
I feel no need to be polite when I happen upon a page with yellow text on a red background or when I have to waive my mouse all around a page to find the cute hidden navigation.
By and large, web design has greatly improved in recent years.
