Jan, I haven’t seen your writing so I can’t make comments specific to your work. But just a few general points on such interactions:

You could be doing Mother Theresa’s work, and you’d still draw fire! But you happen to be offering critique, so you can be sure you will at some point upset those, for whom the subjects of your critique are much-cherished.

I’d tread delicately, and be respectful of this. People may have strong attachments to the entities you’re critiquing. As a hypothetical, If you were addressing members of a cult that you really wanted to help, would you write a critique that alienated them?

I also recall witnessing as early as the late 90s and early 00s, coordinated attacks on sites. Forums in places as seemingly benign as ivillage would form a posse and for often nothing more than sport, troll personal websites in large numbers. Then they’d post their exploits on the board to brag. I’m sure it still happens today.

I also happen to live in a country that has very strict anti-defamation laws. According to my lawyer at the Australian Writers’ Guild, Singapore is the only other country in the world which has tougher anti-defamation laws. This means it does not suffice to simply be telling the truth - the manner and intent of a writer might still be deemed defamatory.

On this last point, I should add that there are recent cases of bloggers being taken to court for damages against businesses, when their writing is held to account, and we should all take care to learn from such cases, and not even accidentally replicate such mistakes. Your geographical location may soon be as irrelevant to your means of work as your liability...

Yes even if your review is informative you will still have negative comments. Unfortunately that's just part of the process. As long as you know what you wrote is truthful then I wouldn't worry about it. Just respond as positive as possible.

Tried and true

Elaine

Hi Jan. I haven’t had any negative feedback yet. Not really much feedback at all. New site. I intentionally strive to write informative info and reviews. As non emotional as possible but still stick some opinions in there. But will be interesting to see if that ever happens.

Yep, when you do negative reviews on "opportunities", you will get defenders flocking to your site.