There is a fear that almost every blogger has to overcome. I’ll be honest, it pops up almost every time I hit schedule on a post.

What if my post sucks? What if someone tells me it sucks?

After 6 years of blogging, I finally got one! (Yes, I was excited about it, yes I’m weird.)

..another fear-based DBA post…..

And the commenter went on from there to explain how I was wrong, and not in an overly pleasant way. Now, this particular person did the same with another blogger and I have to admit, they were the bigger person than I. They thanked the commenter for their comment and moved on. I, on the other hand, explained why they were wrong and I was right. Which was kind of pointless. I mean the chances of them actually reading it was slim, and even if they did they wouldn’t pay any attention to what I said. So why respond? I felt better. Which I guess makes it not quite pointless, but even so.

Here’s the thing, negative comments happen. Mean comments happen. We have an awesome community though so negative/rude comments are pretty unusual. And if you do get one mention it on Twitter and chances are you’ll get lots of positive feedback. Mention it to me and I promise you’ll get some. That said, I’ll be honest, the comments I have the hardest time with are constructive criticism. It means I posted something wrong. I hate posting bad information. The goal is to disseminate useful information. Don’t get me wrong, I love constructive criticism. If I make a mistake I want someone to call me on it so no one else will follow the mistake.

I guess the conclusion I want to make here is that you shouldn’t let the fear of what other people think stop you. Do your best, share what you know, and walk away realizing that you’ve added to the community.