Your topic – Priorities – San Ramon Danville CA Real Estate was interesting when I found it on Monday searching for country club…

Regarding useful criticism, I personally try to strike a balance. I comment on what I observe but also do a lot of teaching through this blog. Much of the time I am throwing out questions because I don’t have the answers — normally my audience does!

A reality: In the post following this one, I provide my own version of what I would do if I were “in the country club” to tone down the backslapping and enable more debate. It was probably the least-tweeted article I’ve ever written. One possible interpretation: bloggers don’t deliver constructive feedback because readers don’t respond to it.

I can relate to being protective about your “baby.” It must feel great to accomplish something like that. So thanks for taking the book criticism graciously.

I tried to distance myself from the “piling on” that occurred throughout the thread. I think it’s unfair to attack individuals for their success instead of the issues. The human tendency toward cronyism and its implications is the issue, not you (or anyone) personally.

You’re such a likeable guy but sometimes the things you say about business make me want to shake you! Still, nobody works harder or gives back more to their audience than Chris Brogan and that means something, whether I agree with you or not.

I bought your book because it was my “vote” for you and your contributions to the social media community. If nothing else, you have consistently offered yourself up as a lightning rod for debate. I wanted to reward you for that and all the free stuff you’ve thrown out there for years.

I’ll buy your next book for the same reason. But that doesn’t mean I won’t be honest about it! : )

Adam, I don’t have your impressive background. The folks who hire me (Sony, AMD, Cisco, Microsoft, Pepsico, Comcast Interactive, etc, etc) just hire me because they believe I know something. I don’t have decades of experience in sales and marketing. Oddly, they don’t care. They hire me because I know something about how the new thing is working, the thing that hasn’t come before.

Revolutions don’t come with roadmaps.

Back on track of Mark’s post: is backpatting rampant? Absolutely.

Here’s what’s more troubling to me, personally: USEFUL criticism is at an all time low. I can read a post per day (there’s a decent average) of someone crapping on me for something. What I rarely read are those same bloggers offering up useful information on what they’d do better.

Addressing the book: the book was written to point out some very basic truths, that this stuff we’re doing isn’t like traditional marketing and business communication. Is it repetitive? Shit, probably. It’s our first book. We’re learning. We hacked it the way we hack everything, and then we learn and improve for next time. But it’s selling like crazy, so people are buying it in its current crappy form. And all my backpatting friends aren’t the buyers, so someone seems to be getting the word out there.

When your books come out, you’ll get the strange feeling in my belly that I get every time I read something negative. I like to learn, but I feel bad when someone calls my kid ugly. I know this because I now feel worse about every negative review I ever gave. I worry that I wasn’t constructive enough.

Am I someone who loves to learn via constructive criticism? No. Constructive feedback? Yes. But those are two different things.

That’s all I have to add. Not really going to proliferate the thread, but I’m grateful for your opinions. To those who slam me just for being where I am, that’s okay too. We all get there different ways.

I want to be the monkey on the right.

Great discussion. It is healthy to challenge and disturb the waters from time to time and kudos to you for having the courage to speak up your mind.

I couldn’t resist sharing the link to this cartoon
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hubspot/3196650975/

Cheers