[MR] A&S Judging Question Part Two

[Hulan family]

Marsali writes:

> That's how I feel about it -- just telling me that the piece is really
awful and the judge felt that I wasting 

> their time by presenting it (yes, that was actually on the unsigned form.
BTW, several other people told 

> me they thought it was very well done and a great piece -- go figure!)
isn't helpful at all! How am I 

> supposed to improve on my work if I'm told is "that sucks."? . . .

I'm sorry you've had such bad experiences. Are you sure that the unsigned
comment was from a judge, not just someone from the populace who wanted to
leave a note? Some people who are not judges do leave comments cards. It
would really surprise me to find a judge who forgot to put their name on the
form. If I encountered an unsigned form with no name and really negative
comments, I'd just put it aside and move on to the helpful things. 

Feedback in the SCA is no different from feedback in the rest of life:
consider it all carefully, but then only take away what you find useful.
There's no sense emotionally hanging on to feedback that isn't helpful to
you. (Although you may want to set aside some judging forms and come back to
them as you gain more experience in your craft. What might not be helpful to
a beginner may really make a lot of sense a year later.) 

Best wishes,
Aneira
 
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Lady Gwerfyl verch Aneirin, CP
(known as Aneira)
Scrivener Royal, Kingdom of Atlantia
Past and present A&S projects: www.aneira.org <http://www.aneira.org/> 
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