@Klavinova
You are aware not all criticism is constructive, some critics are harsher than others and some would fall into what is known as “asshole” territory here.
Some critics will only point out your flaws, finding going over what’s good to be unnecessary, as what’s good doesn’t need improvement so why mention it? Other than sugar coating their words it provides nothing.
But you see, the issue here is with your final line, we cannot have a responsible fan-art site for as long as the fandom is so batshit paranoid about negativity. Constructive or not, criticism is commonly met with the artist whining their eyes out or a mob of fans coming to defend said artist or even subject. Before we tackle “how people might use the little red down-arrow meanly!!1!1” we need to focus, as a whole, and getting the fandom to accept negativity better. I would much rather have an “If you see someone you disagree with in the comments, you may start a discussion, but
don’t turn it into a shitshow. Period. (Doesn’t matter if they like it or not)” rule much more than a vague as fuck “Be nice” rule for a “Rule 0” of an art site. Of course, there would be things like “Don’t post a dozen comments on one image about how much you hate it (unless it’s in discussion with other users on the image.)” As well, just to keep things balanced.
When I can watch the fandom collectively shit itself because a fanfic didn’t use “insert popular ship here” and instead used “other ship here.” No matter the fanfic’s actual quality, they flip out because it’s something different.
But back to criticism, let’s say I’m reviewing Darkest Dungeon, in front of Red Hook themselves. What’s the point in mentioning how good the art style is, or the themes of the human psyche, (unless asked my thoughts) when it’s blatantly evident that they’re done well? Should I sugar-coat it with a bunch of praise before going on about how
bullshit The Collector’s add-spawns are? No. I would spend more time on what they did wrong as that’s where they need improvement.
Now that’s not to say that mentioning good things is necessarily bad or shouldn’t be done. But we’ve got this idea in our heads (the fandom) that “Constructive Criticism” means sucking the artist’s dick for two hours, telling them how good it is, before telling them what they did wrong for thirty seconds.
I’m not a talkative person, I’m not even that friendly of a person. That doesn’t mean I’m rude, cruel or generally impolite, I’m quite polite when out in public and even when people come over, I’m just “aloof” if you will, but I will speak my mind and I will speak it truthfully and bluntly. So, in turn, this leads me in between a rock and a hard spot because yes, sometimes my comments can be as blatant as “What the fuck is this?” Other times it can be as verbose and long as this forum post. And when I do criticize, I will focus more on their shortcomings, not to be mean, not to be cruel or try to demotivate them from making further work, but because that’s where they need improvement. For example: “Well I really like the colours, especially the shades of purple used, and the composition is wonderful. But the linework is choppy which leads to unfortunate things like [a good dozen or so lines explaining where to improve.]” Now I could be really sweet with it, but more often than not I’m going to be blunt about it, I might slip a joke in there every so often for the sake of lightening the mood, especially if I’m approaching a sensitive topic soon.
Now there are also times in which I will go hog-wild on someone, usually this is when I see something that goes from “Just badly made” to “Absolutely disgusting” material, for writing references, think of something like that Clockwork creepypasta from a while back. One of the quickest ways to piss me off is to use a serious topic half-assedly,
hence why “Rape” is a spoilered tag of mine. Most MLP art doesn’t use the topic tactfully in my eyes.
However my style of criticism is seen as “mean” to most people because I focus on the negative. But I ask you and everyone here this: What is the point of criticism? To help an artist improve. And how can we properly criticize something if the slightest bit of negativity is treated like the apocalypse?
In conclusion and back to the original topic, I think the fandom would appreciate it more if I simply clicked a little arrow rather than going into blunt detail about what I think the piece did wrong, even if I’m pointing these things in the hope that the artist will listen and try to improve. Or even worse have someone get to that meter of “Fuck ’em” and have me unload my entire, bitter mind onto them. I dunno I think the score going 1 number lower would be appreciated far more.
TL;DR: The fandom needs a maturity check on dealing with negativity before we worry about the effects of someone clicking on a little red arrow.