[quote=@Dervish]I wanted to talk about this since I noticed more than a few comments in other threads about people not reading a post or skimming it because it just wasn't interesting to read.[/quote]

Since I'm one of those people, I guess I should chime in.

My utmost respect goes to the people who, while already talented, have not ended their quest to become better at their hobby of choice—in this case, writing. Next on the list is people who, while producing off-quality works, are still eager to improve. This category includes new people learning the ropes.

I hold little or no respect for any writer, good or bad, who is content with his current skill level.

But with that said, if you're offering people criticism without it having been requested first, you're doing a few things wrong even despite your heart being in the right place, wanting to help them improve:[list][*]You're veering on the edge of "backseat-GM" territory. Sometimes it just isn't [i]your[/i] job particularly to burst that person's bubble, because the quality of the RP doesn't depend on your enforcements.[*]You're assuming you're a better writer than him in one or more areas, and therefore, in a position whereby he can learn from you. This may be true, but it's not something which can always be gauged easily. Some good writers are bad roleplayers and vice-versa.[*]You're assuming this person, and maybe the GM hosting the game, too, both hold themselves to the same standards as you, whereas they might judge writing quality by different parameters. After all, the player must have been good [i]enough[/i] where the GM wanted to accept him at all, right?[/list]

I'll also point out that the more often you assume you're better than others at your shared hobby, the likelier it is that you suffer from [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect]Dunning-Kruger's[/url]. This seems especially common in the Guides section of the site, where our (entirely self-proclaimed) "elites" take it upon themselves to lecture others on right and wrong ways to engage in our hobby, a hobby where, supposedly, creativity and diversity of ideas and methods are held in greater esteem than most other virtues.

So, yeah. Even though I like to feel smugly superior to others, only under rare circumstances do I feel entitled to "fix" their errors, because they might not be committing errors at all, and I might be doing nothing (or worse) to "fix" them.

Not to out myself as a raging drunk or anything, but a guy named ralfystuff on YouTube likes to say sometimes: "It's not [i]better[/i], malt-mates. Just [i]different.[/i]"