From an artistic standpoint, this is just... ludicrous. And I'm not exaggerating at all. Say this to any bona fide writer, and watch them look as shocked as I'm looking right now. Why bother responding? Because you're trying to help, and whether it's positive or negative, it's helpful! If I like something about a poem, I ALWAYS mention it... if you think I don't say anything positive just because I don't think it'll do any good, then yeah... sorry to disappoint, but that's untrue.

Obviously, you don't understand what the definition of "constructive" is. It doesn't have to be positive to be constructive. That's like saying if your friend plans on robbing a bank, and you don't think it's a good idea, then you shouldn't say anything to him because c'mon.... he totally needs to hear nothing but encouragement. What if you want the writer to see something in the work that could be improved upon? How is that any worse than a compliment? You really need to step out of that "complimentary" comfort zone of yours, because it isn't rational. I don't know where you picked it up, but it must be within some sort of moral construct. If this is the case, then remember the fact that honesty is moral. This has nothing to do with being jaded, and I'm personally offended by that statement.

I'm not tryin to "break people in"; I'm trying to be honest. And honesty is the ONLY WAY of helping someone improve. What's the only alternative? Dishonesty. If you can name one way in which dishonesty is a virtue, I'll apologize to you profusely. The poetry forum is not a place for people to "meet each other when they are down." It's a place to post poetry, and if that's not why you're here, then go to the friendship forum. I remember when people started treating this forum as a place to blather on and on a la the friendship forum, they were told to stick to discussing the poetry.

In essence, you're being a mom who is protective of her children. Yeah, nobody likes to see their kids get anything other than compliments, but a) there are no lil' kiddies here, and b) "criticism" defies that entire concept. Yes, there is a way to give negative criticism in a nice way, and that is what I do.; that's not what sixxx does, necessarily, but it's what I do. And if you can't find the positive nature in that, then I really don't understand what you're doing here. In my opinion, a person who thinks of the poetry here as "personal" first and "publishable" second shouldn't be modding this place, because he/she tends to be irked by negative remarks right off the bat.