gillesdc

most people struggle to think of themselves as kind, brave, sincere, creative, artists etc — if not told so by someone else

it's so easy to help them out; if you see something in someone you want to see more of, just tell them

compliment the change you want to see in the world

Well said. It's a kindness to let people know they're seen and appreciated, as long as the compliments are sincere and you're mindful of how they're received.

Also important to remember that most people can tell the difference between genuine appreciation and idle flattery or manipulative social climbing.

Writer, senior editor, music journalist, GenX eldergoth, Moxiesplainer. https://paragraph.xyz/@danicaswanson https://tinyurl.com/Black-Stone-Wordsmith

GenX girl who learned the hard way 🔹 lifelong artist 🔹 software engineer 🔹 curator of conversations 🔹 made /blend-o-rama 🔹 thinks you're cool

Good point in that last sentence. A compliment about someone's art doesn't need to be wordy to make an outsized impact on the recipient; it just needs to be a genuine response to the work that gives a bit of detail to differentiate itself from one-word comments like "great" or "beautiful."

Love to hear about the time you've spent responding sincerely to others' work (i.e., being a responsible CLP aka Conversational Liquidity Provider). That kind of effort deserves to be recognized and supported in its own right, I think. 

I hear you about the time constraints. I've been heavily occupied elsewhere for a month or so, and haven't had the bandwidth to write long thoughtful responses.

Only now am I slowly coming "back online" to ramp up my FC presence to where I'd like it to be.

Honestly, life has gotten in the way of me having time to spend here, but I used to spend hours every day leaving thoughtful comments on every art post that I engaged with here. 

Just saying what about the art what specifically caught my eye, how it made me feel or how I appreciated the technical skill in creating the work has always been important to me because I know that's what I truly appreciate someone else taking the time to do for my art. 

Though I also am happy to get ANY interaction with my work, I am far more encouraged by a thoughtful comment. It makes a huge impact! It makes my day and feels better than any tip alone when someone shows me that they connect with my work. And it doesn't have to be more than a sentence that's not just "beautiful" to have that effect.

yes, very important amendment: the difference between sincerity and flattery makes or breaks this point