[Good Baklava]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Thanks for weighing in on this. I think it helps, when posts are deleted and/or moved, to get the moderator's rationale for why the changes were made. It helps us regular posters understand what was wrong and hopefully we can take it to the table in future discussions.

Looking back on the thread for the sake of analysis, it appears that everything started to go wrong when some criticism was offered on the renderings that were posted and it spiralled a little from there.

If I may add my opinion on what happened, it appears that the criticism was a little direct, and that the developer, apparently expecting praise and positive comments, was taken aback and took the comments personally. The thread went downhill when he decided to respond with sarcastic and belittling comments, and a couple of the responses to his sarcasm crossed the line a little (IMHO), and were removed.

I think it would be great if there could be positive discussions involving developers, but I also think it's a big ask. Internet forums (or any form of social media these days) can be contentious at times, and any developer would have to put on his 'big boy pants' and be prepared to handle some negative comments to advance the discussion. Offering good rational explanations and even accepting criticism as being positive would help build up a trust and a mutual respect between regular board members and developers that could lead to mutually beneficial discussions. For this to really work, though, the developer would have to understand that he is accepting a role similar to a leader or a mentor, and as such would have to put his ego and personal interests in his back pocket, and lead the discussion in a positive way, while treating negative comments with respect and diplomacy. Expecting 'regular posters' to agree with everything and respond with praise and adulation would be unreasonable, unless of course the praise and adulation is earned by well-thought-out and educated responses (which is possible, but could be time consuming and would take a certain commitment).

However, I do remain doubtful that this can actually happen, as we've all seen on this forum in the past, when city councillors decide to become involved in the discussions - a lot of the exchanges are good, but most often it devolves into something less productive, if you know what I mean... councillors don't show up so much anymore.

Agreed, agreed, and absolutely agreed.

It’s not easy for any high-profile individual to engage with the public in a normal way.