Someone Doubted my Knowledge of my Niche. But All’s Well :)
I recently posted an article recommending manga for beginners because it’s one of the highly ranked keywords in Jaxxy.
Got a comment today asking why I didn’t put One Piece (a really popular manga in Japan and overseas) as one of my recommendations and immediately concluded I was a beginner too.
This comment then proceeded to put out feedback on my article (guessing that I know nothing about manga at all) when I didn’t ask for it, then ended the comment by quoting a phrase from a famous manga (which I also happen to know as I was a die-hard fan of this manga) basically saying I needed to work harder.
After reading that mostly feedback-comment. What was the first thing I did?
*flips table* I slammed down my laptop.
How DARE this person assume I’m a beginner! I’ve been reading and researching manga for 12 years! How the heck am I a beginner?! Plus, I didn’t put One Piece because it was incomplete. “Beginners want a concrete introduction to something new” I believed, which is why I put completed manga in my list. I mean, would you sign up for a gym programme that is incomplete if you’re a new member of the gym? (Lame analogy I know...it’s just that there’s are lot of people here that are doing health and fitness as their niche so hahaha).
I was livid as you can imagine. I ranted to my sister and she agreed with me.
However, unlike most people of the internet, I know how dangerous it is to reply to comments while being emotionally high. I’ve seen the devastating effect it has as it got my Vice-Principal from my Junior College fired last year :/ (story for another time)
I didn’t go online for a few hours and did others things (like cook dinner for my siblings) to cool off.
Now lying in bed, I pulled up the comment again. With my emotions thoroughly cooled, I can now see from the writer’s perspective. My General Paper (basically English) teacher in Junior College taught us that every prompt in essay writing questions have speaker’s intent and we can only see that intent if we are focused and concentrated. It’s called the Point of Contention.
Great advice that I highly recommend to all blog writers here in WA 👍🏼
So I used my training and analysed the comment once again to find the Point of Contention. Aha! This writer doesn’t understand why I don’t follow anime/manga fandom norms. Usually, One Piece is always being listed as an all-time starter manga and manga genres are listed out in full off the bat.
But I think back to the purpose of my website: I want to help people understand manga better and help get the manga they want.
The fandom is definitely helpful but it’s sometimes full of incoherent vernacular and fangirling which will not be helpful to beginners and those who want a “professional” opinion on manga. You know, a fair article on manga.
That means I have to think of my audience first and foremost because helping is what I want to do, not fangirl (though I do that a lot 😅).
Thinking of what my audience wants to see and not what the fandom wants (or what I want) is why I don’t follow fandom norms which can baffle some experienced readers.
With that analysis in mind, I decided to let this person who wrote that comment know:
1. I’m not a beginner
2. My people-centric focus on my website
3. The reasons why I don’t follow fandom norms
I’ve learn something today from this one comment:
You can be offended. We humans are prideful creatures. However, it is the actions that we decide to take that really matter afterwards and not the opinion that caused you to be offended.
I am actually a huge fan of the stoicism class of philosophy as I have a notoriously bad temper and well, people were afraid of me. I took up this class of philosophy and read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius to understand the mindset behind stoicism.
So it’s no surprise that I knew this philosophy but I just didn’t know how to apply it to my daily life. With me choosing to do online business, this will be a test of my studies in stoicism. That is the lesson I learnt today — how to apply the stoicism I learnt in my daily life to this comment that I got offended by.
To those who are reading this now, I know that you have had such comments that supposedly doubt you and your knowledge of your niche which may make you want to type out an angry tirade of cuss words and curse the person and his family to the 9 circles of Hell as a reply.
Just know that sometimes these comments are not meant to hurt you, but to help you improve your website and your writing. This doesn’t mean though that you have to change everything. A simple, calm clarification and explanation will do. If the person is reasonable (and most of the time they are), they will get your message and hopefully acknowledge your skill in your respective niche.
I hope my post today will put some of you in reflection just like it did to me (although not like in the cover photo above lol).
If you have any questions or want to discuss anything with me, go right ahead. I will be awaiting your thoughts :)
Recent Comments
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I congratulate you on your problem-solving skills. I'm not in the niche you speak of and it is totally foreign to me but I was able to follow how you resolved your conflict.
It is never a good idea to respond when you are angry. I have been dealing with a similar problem in real life with a neighbor. I believe that I have also been able to step back and provide a studied answer that should suffice.
Phew I glad you could follow. I wasn't sure how to explain those unfamiliar with it :)
I had a neighbour who thought my parent's driveway was his property :/ My father was the calm, collected person (that day) who helped solve it with just a few word so I learn some of that from him.
EDIT: I forgot to mention. Despite being angry, I’m actually thankful to this person for making that kind of comment. I was able to learn about my self control and understand how to calmly clarify to others who comment on my site in the same manner :)
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I read your post with interest as it's inevitable that we will all face detractors at some point.
The good news is that if someone felt motivated enough to leave a lengthy comment, your website is clearly reaching people.
Secondly, they've provided you with a fabulous gift - a long comment that you can write a long reply to, boosting the word count of your original post (comments count as words as far as Google is concerned).
Finally, perhaps some of the points that they raised could become topics for future blog posts.
Well done for taking a step back before responding though. :)
Yup since the new Google core update is favouring longest posts so I'm now glad this person decided to comment :)
My sister actually told me to ignore this person but that "comment waiting approval" light will be in my face forever so stepping back before answering was a necessary step before I decided to actually reply to this person.