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Someone posts a new jacket. It’s a nice jacket. However, upon closer inspection, you observe a palpable shortcoming and/or deviation from the original jacket. The owner may not be aware of the issue and/or likely does not care. Do you speak-up about your observation, cast yourself as a killjoy and/or potentially impair the owner’s excitement about his new jacket? Or, do you remain silent about you observation and, in so doing, deny the community information about jacket details?
This “outerwear” community exists largely to discuss minute jacket details that are overlooked by the vast majority of jacket owners. We see and discuss issues, shortcomings and deviations that most would never see or care about. We pay ridiculous sums of money for jackets made by people who we trust to get the details right. We come here to discuss, and educate ourselves about, these details. According to this line of reasoning, posting information about a particular jacket’s shortcomings and/or deviation from the original is consistent with the purpose of the forum. Such a post may also serve to educate . . . including the maker of the jacket, who may correct the issue on subsequent jackets.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, we should be sensitive to the feelings of our fellow community members and not unnecessarily rain on their parades. When someone comes here and proudly posts about their new jacket, and is obviously smitten with the jacket, do we really want to undermine and diminish their joy with a negative/critical post? Is that fair?
A while back, I proudly posted photos of my new Good Wear Imperial. I was very excited about my new jacket. The initial responses were quite positive. Then, someone observed that the chest pocket appeared slightly too high. The thread subsequently evolved from a positive discussion about my new jacket into a discussion about the location of the chest pocket. The resulting discussion was informative even though it revolved around an arguable shortcoming in my jacket. My initial glee was undermined as I fretted about the chest pocket. Was the initial poster who criticized the location of the chest pocket wrong for raining on my parade, or was he making a fair observation which launched an informative discussion regarding chest pocket location? Before you answer, let me bring this story full circle. I brought the matter to JC’s attention, he acknowledged that the location of the chest pocket was not ideal, and he remade the jacket. Now, I have a jacket with a better located chest pocket, and I am happier with the remake than I was with the original. Thus, the original critical post ultimately led to a positive outcome. Does that change your opinion of the original poster’s decision to question the details of my new jacket? Not all jacket manufacturers will go the extra length that JC did with my jacket, so pointing out a shortcoming might not lead to my outcome.
Interestingly, I posed this question privately to two respected members of this forum -- one recommended remaining silent, and the other was in favor of posting the information.
What do you think?
This “outerwear” community exists largely to discuss minute jacket details that are overlooked by the vast majority of jacket owners. We see and discuss issues, shortcomings and deviations that most would never see or care about. We pay ridiculous sums of money for jackets made by people who we trust to get the details right. We come here to discuss, and educate ourselves about, these details. According to this line of reasoning, posting information about a particular jacket’s shortcomings and/or deviation from the original is consistent with the purpose of the forum. Such a post may also serve to educate . . . including the maker of the jacket, who may correct the issue on subsequent jackets.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, we should be sensitive to the feelings of our fellow community members and not unnecessarily rain on their parades. When someone comes here and proudly posts about their new jacket, and is obviously smitten with the jacket, do we really want to undermine and diminish their joy with a negative/critical post? Is that fair?
A while back, I proudly posted photos of my new Good Wear Imperial. I was very excited about my new jacket. The initial responses were quite positive. Then, someone observed that the chest pocket appeared slightly too high. The thread subsequently evolved from a positive discussion about my new jacket into a discussion about the location of the chest pocket. The resulting discussion was informative even though it revolved around an arguable shortcoming in my jacket. My initial glee was undermined as I fretted about the chest pocket. Was the initial poster who criticized the location of the chest pocket wrong for raining on my parade, or was he making a fair observation which launched an informative discussion regarding chest pocket location? Before you answer, let me bring this story full circle. I brought the matter to JC’s attention, he acknowledged that the location of the chest pocket was not ideal, and he remade the jacket. Now, I have a jacket with a better located chest pocket, and I am happier with the remake than I was with the original. Thus, the original critical post ultimately led to a positive outcome. Does that change your opinion of the original poster’s decision to question the details of my new jacket? Not all jacket manufacturers will go the extra length that JC did with my jacket, so pointing out a shortcoming might not lead to my outcome.
Interestingly, I posed this question privately to two respected members of this forum -- one recommended remaining silent, and the other was in favor of posting the information.
What do you think?
