[Meta] Lets Talk About Commenting

I think its time we have a conversation about comments and commenting on this subreddit. Also big shout out to /u/test180412 for inspiring me to write this stuff up and hopefully spark some change.It goes without saying that the majority of the recent WDYWT posts by whitelisted users have been flooded with negativity and hate. Now before I go on, the whitelisted posters are forthemostpart adults who can handle some comments online and this has nothing to do with preserving feelings. If we conduct ourselves just trying to make people feel good there will be no growth and all this subreddit will serve as is an ego stroking circle jerk. that being said, on the vast majority of recent posts there has been a collection of highly upvoted comments such as "hobo-core", "heroin junky", "school shooter core" and others of a similar nature.Lets really think about these comments. what are they accomplishing? I think if you were to boil it down they're simply a joke. so who am i? who am I to say, "no jokes allowed! this subreddit is serious business." Well thats not my point at all. I've seen some hilarious jokes on posts and I think taking ourselves too seriously would be the biggest joke of all. to give a personal example in the Boston Techwear Meetup picture there is a comment near 1k upvotes from /u/sonQUAALUDE that reads,As a white guy I’ve come to accept that white guys can’t really pull off techwear. If you look at this pic from L to R it’s like BLADERUNNER, DRONE HACKER, MATRIX NINJA, German tourist on a hike Much respect to the Boston scene tho ✊Despite disagreeing with his main point, he makes a humorous commentary about photo, and opens up a discussion about techwear that has a lot of nuance to it. I don't even think it needs the complimentary caveat at the end to be lighthearted and clearly meant as a joking hyperbole.Explaining jokes is stupid: but the point im getting at here is by not resorting to simple platitudes like "you look like you smell bad" you can actually create more dialogue and progress through jokes that have a productive core.Back to The issue at hand. Comments like "Wtf are you wearing. You look like a soup sandwich." on /u/Hanyiu 's early for work are no longer being seen as some light humor but rather being justified as valid critique of an outfit. Many commenters now simply state criticisms like this and when pressed on their opinions resort to insults or just re-affirming their initial stance.Now I have talked with quite a few people about this phenomenon and many have said things along the lines of "well its the /r/all effect, when a post hits the front page it get flooded with hate because it's from people who aren't as interested in fashion". I wish this was the case and although there is a fair amount of distain from people outside of the community, many of these comments come from active members within.lets take the post from /u/ImDeluxx yesterday. No where close to the front page, only 60% upvoted as I write this and yet, pretty quickly after posting Noah was met with comments such as the tame but unproductive "meme", the unnecessary and now deleted "my least favorite whitelist poster" and sitting with 40+ upvotes "He's the most cringy, quirky dude on reddit". Granted, the aforementioned fit is not my favorite and there are things I would critique. But, as /u/test180412 eloquently put in the most recent Jah fit.For those members complaining about the declining quality of this sub and lack of WDYWT posts, take a good look at this comment section. Most of the top comments are inappropriate and filled with negativity. In a couple of hours, OP has been called a heroin junky, homeless, cheap and nasty, smelly, stinky, and a bum. All because of a custom sweater that might not be your thing. This isn't a random celebrity, it's a member of the community who took a few hours out of their life to provide us with content. The approval process to be a WDYWT poster is already a lot of work, and no one wants to post something just to get roasted in the comments. In fact, I've noticed that a lot of the negative comments are made by people who don't contribute any positive content to this sub themselves. This is a likely explanation for the decline in WDYWT posts lately.We have reached a point where people can hide behind cheep insults and justify it as productive. If someones fit isn't up to your liking you should take it upon yourself to write out and articulate why you don't like it. I have been impressed recently with the quality of conversation and discourse among users in the daily WDYWT thread. I used to comment on every single fit to provide compliments and critique but recently people have been beating me to it (/u/topper102 and /u/Looste to name a couple). People in there have been making thoughtful and articulate comments about fits and I have seen an increase in many users output quality.Now, This is not to say that every whitelisted poster should be met with unequivocal praise and i certainly don't want this to be perceived as me saying WDYWT post are not to be harshly critiqued. I think the key to this subreddits success comes from the community working constructively to give feedback to its users and strive for excellence. If the community here is content with low quality critique than that is all were going to have. the voices of the many drown out that of the few. If you are one of the many frustrated members here who is upset by the lack of good content, giving well thought out critique and comments is the easiest way to see the community blossom.Obviously the sub is close to 500,000 members and i would be surprised if even 1/50000th of that read this post all the way through but if you're tired of shit content then help by being the change that you want.All in all I'm just some guy who want the quality of the sub to go up but let me know what you think. I would love to hear some other opinions or feedback in the comments.<3 via /r/streetwear http://ift.tt/2A9K9sK