Online Feedback: Proceed With Caution

I pay a great deal of attention to the various forms of online communication used by companies. Something very interesting happened to me and my nephew today. We were both playing Rockband 2 on XBOX360, which luckily for him, as his 'cool' uncle, is a favorite game of mine.

Belonging to XBOX Live , although a game, is still very serious because basically you play a game in an anonymous atmosphere with strangers of all ages from around the world. The XBOX set up for communication is phenomenal, and even way too complex at times for a 35-year old man who grew up in the advent of video game home systems. My nephew wanted to play online. He is only 7-years old. I was watching, so I figured it should be ok (I am the 'cool' uncle). We loaded up a game to play 'Eye of the Tiger'. I would be guitar, and he would be drums. As we joined a band online with two other people, I was treated to a horrible blanket of obscenities coming out of the television by adults shouting their opinions on what it is like playing with little kids online. What bothered me is that the people talking were adults. Admittedly, I was stunned, and my nephew looked at me with a face which told me,

'Uncle Steven, I know this is bad to listen to, but you are the adult here. What should I do next?'.

When my jaw was able to close again, I said in true adult fashion, 'Shut that off!'. What my nephew did next...shocked me.

He looked at me and said, 'Do you want me to file a complaint against him?'.

I said, almost embarrassingly, 'What is that?'.

My nephew smiled, and quickly flew through the communication interface (mind you now he is a 7-year old), and was able to file a complaint with XBox360, that he 'preferred to avoid this player' because of 'trash talking and aggressive, insulting language.'

He then told me proudly, 'Don't worry. People who act like that get kicked off the game.'

Maybe he told me this, so I did not immediately shut the game off completely, but what shocked me was that he was able to have that much power over adults, and deservedly so, but it made me think:

'What about the adults in that situation?'

First, I am an adult, and I paid to play online, so why should I be forced to deal with people like this, and my nephew, too? This is also when, I thought of Voice123. One of the many things I have learned here at Voice123 is that Internet communication online, and the ability to submit 'reviews' or 'feedback' is actually a great balance for ending the theory that the 'Internet is just a Wild West'. The adults in that situation may have been thinking, 'I don't want to play with kids!', but what kept them from ruining the experience for other kids who also play, was a 7-year old boy with a good conscience.

Somehow, in Voice123, the initial fear that online feedback creates (for those it does no good) is that there will be some rampant evil genius disguised as a seeker, who will go around leaving people negative feedback. True, feedback in entertainment is subjective, but as I have watched online feedback progress on Voice123, Ebay, Xbox 360 etc., I have come to see exactly what it does for people:

It connects people who like working with each other more often. It keeps people who don't like each other, away from each other.

Therefore, if he/she is evil, you have to deal with that person once, and then barely ever, if ever at all, which means if you are having a problem with getting negative reviews all the time, it may be time to look inward and see what is causing these results because:

The toughest thing to accept is that people treat each other the way they do because of their reactions to how we, as individuals, treat them and other people.

Why? Because this becomes enhanced in an anonymous atmosphere. When working online, it is all about saving time, so this feedback is actually saving years of failure and telling one right away that something is not working well in the way business is being done online. Also, what someone does not say means a great deal as well, and if I had to choose between silence, and critical feedback online, I would take silence as a hint that nothing compelling happened.

Now, before feeling helpless, there are things that one can do to protect him/herself from that 'evil genius'. HOWEVER, this is where one must remember to 'watch his/her trigger finger', because you reap what you sow when it comes to online relations. I have seen people get ripped off online. It has happened to me. Some methods of fighting back are:

1. Never get emotional about it
   
2. Writing a Google review
3. Writing Google and asking that a company be removed from a search engine
   

It is so easy to do, and that is why you have to be careful. One may feel it does nothing, but in the long run, it will. Just know...This being the 'Age of Data' one should make sure they have done everything in his/her power to resolve a situation peacefully and professionally.

In an anonymous environment, adults should be setting the example for communicating online feedback, not cursing its very existence, and behaving pro-actively positive and re-actively positive. After all, it is here as a result of what many adults wanted:

The ability to contact and stay in touch with people we like working with, faster and easier, which inevitably leads to more work.

...or some cases...play together.