Some people are idiots - or - How not to give constructive feedback....

As most of you know, I write books. I've written a lot of books and I enjoy it and I enjoy hearing from people who have read my books. Knowing I'm not perfect, I don't mind legitimate criticism as I think it can make me a better writer. Still, once in a while, I get an email from an idiot. I sometimes find them funny, sometimes irritating and sometimes stupid. Here is a perfect case in point for an email I got today:

From: nick
To:my email address
Sent: Wednesday, September 7, 2011 10:25 PM
Subject: Your book
Is so poorly written it is a joke

Well, now this is a concise statement and full of facts and information that will help me do better in the future. My reply was as follows:

From: Robert Freeman [mailto:robertgfreeman@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 8:32 AM
To: nick
Subject: Re: Your book

Care to tell me which book you are talking about there Nick? I've got some 13 of them published. Your feedback is very concise and well written here ... and meaningful and helpful.

Robert

 

Now, Nick's reply is again so helpful. I'm impressed with his incredible skills with the keyboard. Here is his reply.

From: nick
To: 'Robert Freeman'
Sent: Thursday, September 8, 2011 9:40 AM
Subject: RE: Your book

im not getting paid for this email

 

you are for the book

 

oracel 9i 

 

Does anyone in the world understand this reply? Now, I know that I should just let it go at this point. Replying to this guy is just not a good use of my time. Still, it's kind of fun so I did:

 

From: Robert Freeman [mailto:robertgfreeman@yahoo.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 11:51 AM
To: nick
Subject: Re: Your book

I'm assuming you mean Oracle (not Oracel as you have spelled it). I have no idea what you mean "you are for the book", this makes no sense in English, which is clearly not your first language. Given that you have a hard time crafting sentences in English, I'm at a loss at how you feel you are qualified to judge the writing in the book. If you are referencing the content in some place, then I wish you would be more specific.

I would think you are talking about the book Oracle 9i New Features. If you could give me a specific example of poor writing instead of this subjective crap, I'd be thankful. Also I'm curious what you have contributed to the community in the way of white papers or books that makes you qualified to offer any kind of opinion. Normally I am thankful for comments that are objective in nature and make sense. This is quite the opposite and you need not bother replying unless you have something concrete and objective in nature to say.

Thanks

Robert

 

Nick thoughtful reply is seen here....  I'm done with the bozo at this point. 

 

yes Oracle 9i New Features 

 

and its not spelling error its TYPING  error 

 

but i bet you dont even know what or why a dvorak keyboard is.

 

"im not getting paid for this email   you are for the book"

Nick, if you are reading my blog, take a basic English class. Then, once you learn English (and how to read) then I's suggest you spend time doing things to contribute to the community. Then I'd suggest you write a white paper or two, and then see if you can get a book written. If you can, after spending great amounts of time for very little money, I challenge you to write me again and THIS TIME write an email with some substance. For now, I'm done and I find you to be a very silly person. 

 

For those of you who are interested... You can get my Oracle RMAN book here.