Dealing with criticism

If you have a business or organisation that has received criticism from users of this website, this page has some tips on how to deal with it effectively.

Remember users of this website must comply with our acceptable use policy and terms of use. We will use these rules to judge inappropriate content.

first! report it to the editor

All comments contain a hyperlink (with a little red flag ) to a page explaining our editorial policy and how to report offensive posts to the editor.

This should always be your first step in alerting us to problems.

exercise your right of reply

Should we not find grounds to remove the offending post, you are entitled to reply. This can either be by posting your own comment or rebuttal on the page concerned, or by asking the editor to publish a written rebuttal on the main website.

To request publication of a statement, please contact the editor.

turn criticism into opportunity

If your organisation has received bad feedback the instinct to supress it is normally the wrong one. In a connected world it's also pretty much impossible; a disgruntled member of the public now has huge power to sound off.

The best approach is to engage the community and explain why things went wrong, how you've fixed it and offer some incentive for people to give you another try.

When handled well, criticism can be a great time to boost your image and win new customers.

For a masterclass in turning disastrous critique around, look up "Dell Hell" on Google.

avoid public arguments (at all costs!)

Regardless of the situation, it is NEVER a good idea to become embroiled in a public spat. Being rude, appearing inflexible or generally uncaring will only magnify the problem.

Instead concentrate on being approachable and open to discussion at all times.

Remain polite, concentrate on solutions and keep your tone conciliatory.

don't shoot the messenger

We believe very strongly in providing an open, democratic forum for all. Should we find no cause to remove a post you disagree with, please avoid the temptation to put pressure on the editor.

Aside from our normal procedures for reporting an offensive post, we reserve the right to publicly air ANY other attempts (via legal representation or otherwise) to suppress an open and democratic discourse on this website.

our editorial rules

User generated content on this website (comments, discussions, classifieds, etc) is subject to our acceptable use policy and we will permanently remove content that breaches our rules. This typically includes:

• Libellous, obscene, racist or other incendiary content (see section 4).
• Content that is factually untrue, inaccurate or misleading.
• Unsolicited marketing and spam.
• Flaming, trolling or other breaches of accepted netiquette.

However! We will NOT remove well formed ideas, thoughts or opinions simply because they conflict with those of somebody else.

(In short, please play nice.)

see also...

• Acceptable use policy
• Our Terms of Use
• How to contact us