Open up your mind

accepting criticism and "entertaining a thought"

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" noted the great philosopher Aristotle. In theory we are entitled to our own opinions and thoughts. This article is not to cast down upon the concept of having your own thoughts and strongly believing in them; rather this article is an attempt to stage my thoughts on how "entertain(ing) a thought" is successful and needed in a WPR for both reviewer and reviewee.

Have you ever visited a WPR that takes off points in their review of your site because they just didn't like the color blue? Or perhaps they took off points/or noted in disgust that they hate that character that you used in your layout? Welcome to the world of close-minded reviewing. Of course this is their WPR and they can say whatever they want or how they want to run their WPR by even taking off points just because they don't like a certain color. But was that criticism even necessary or helpful in any way? I'll let you ponder that.

On the flip side, when a reviewer reviews a site they are taking up their own time to help some anonymous person. It absolutely does not help a reviewer when they visit the site they are reviewing to only find in bold letters "I will not change anything on this site, because I like it." The site owner is entitled to do whatever they please on their site, but my question remains...then why did you ask for a review in the first place? If the reviewee is not open to criticism on their site or even suggestions, there is no point for a reviewer to waste their time trying to review a site that wishes for no change at all.

Thus, if you ever do decide to visit a WPR, open up your own WPR, ask for a review, please have an open mind and be prepared to accept criticism or at least go through the motions that Aristole so graciously points out. If you choose not to do so then that is your own downfall and you will lose a chance, perhaps, of improvement.