Today is the day! Today we talk about getting good online craft advice…or, at least, avoiding feeling like a lowly worm when asking for online craft advice.
Anyway, let’s get to it.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about learning leatherwork (and other things) through craft-centered forums and social media. These online spaces wonderfully embrace the idea that we are not alone in our craft. Made your very first wallet? Wow, somebody else just made their first, too, and now you’re buddies! Got a question about a finishing technique? Somebody else out there has tried a dozen different methods but is having the same problem; now, you are united in your quest to find a solution! Crafters can be amazing resources for one another, and putting them all together in huge online spaces provides a great sense of solidarity. Most of the time, anyway.
They can also be a terrible reminder of how hard it is to sort through good, bad, or genuinely indifferent advice when you have so many people jumping at the chance to prove they are, in fact, “one of the guys.” Or gals. The inner circle. The chosen. Whatever.
People like to be a part of the conversation regardless of whether or not they are qualified to do so. That’s not a bad thing; in fact, the free exchange of ideas is a staple of a productive society, blah blah blah. However, problems happen when what is exchanged is not an idea but an ego.
One thing that I’ve learned to keep in mind while asking for advice on craft related forums is that not everybody intends to be helpful. Half the people who may respond to a request for assistance about a particular project may only be looking to make themselves look good by joining the conversation.
Kind of like that one relative who has an opinion on everything but vanishes when it’s time to actually do anything.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve brought a crafting problem to a forum and had people answer in the form of “well, I would never have done it your way” without following up with what they actually would have done differently.
Is this about my question or your ego, Uncle Joe (or Aunt Maria)?
To help me sift and sort through advice without getting too emotionally involved, I have created a quick question and answer guide to help me interact with my would-be helpers whenever I ask for advice in the social media realm.
Quick Guide to Sorting Online Craft Advice
- Did the commenter actually answer my question?
If the answer is yes, they did indeed answer me, I can move on to the next question.
Next, if the answer is no, but the question is for clarification, I can also continue to engage.
Finally, if the commenter didn’t bother to answer (especially if they were rude) or made up a different question in their head and answered that instead, I don’t need to engage any further. These are the people that feel the need to add their two cents regardless of the benefit to the person they are addressing. We’ll call them the “Lazy Cousins.”
2. Was the commenter respectful or did they maintain a basic kindness in their critique?
I tend to ignore genuine rudeness out of hand. If a commenter has a decent answer to a question but is condescending or mean about it, I acknowledge the comment and feel free not to engage further (using the “like” button on various platforms without adding any comments does this nicely). We’ll call this set the “Competitive Cousins.” While they may offer decent craft advice, they also are often fueling their own egos by putting someone else down at the same time.
Obviously, some people are just terrible at conveying mood online and will always sound like they find that answering your little problem is beneath them, but Competitive Cousins are typically less interested in tearing you down than they are in building themselves up. I take their advice with a grain of salt and try not to let the condescension get to me.
3. How does the commenter’s advice stack up to other advice you’ve received on the same question?
If the advice is off the wall or really doesn’t vibe with what I know or with other commenters suggestions, I run away.
I mean, there are good reasons for crowdsourcing information, and one of them is that there are probably going to be a few bad apples in the bunch. Not rotten apples, just…not worth it. Grainy-textured apples. Some friendly-type people love to answer questions whether or not they know anything. Acknowledge their niceness, maybe, but move on.
And so…
These are just a few questions that I use to try to avoid taking either bad advice or personal offense when in an online conversation about a craft. The method doesn’t necessarily transfer over into other kinds of conversation, like politics. That’s another discussion that I probably won’t be writing about anytime soon (yikes). But, like politics, crafting advice can be a minefield of things that are more about the people giving the advice than the advice itself. Being aware of that fact can save you a lot of typing and wallowing in crafting self-doubt.
Ask for advice, sift through it, and carry on. Let the Lazy and Competitive Cousins argue while you go and actually get things done.
Questions? Comments? Questions about comments? Drop kick them into the comment box below.