I read that blog/series many times, Ian - an excellent overview.
And also an excellent example of the kind of critique/commentary I'm asking about, and asking for.
No villains, no superheros -- just smart, honest, insightful commentary, which, after all, is and can only be an 'opinion'.
This works, that doesn't, this is exhilarating, that is a disappointment -- for such and such reasons.
Sean raises valid points about the challenges of 'judging' a work without knowing all the restrictions/conditions it was created under.
Fair enough:
But - if we can't (as I've been told constantly that I can't) separate out the 'architecture' from the 'course', nor the overall setting from the experience, why should I care to parse out the course that is actually *there* from the course that *might have been* (sans restrictions)?
Plus: why so black and white? Why the immediate thoughts of 'judging' and 'ranking'?
To me, activities/approaches like judging and ranking are far from inherent in the notion of frank commentary.
Indeed, if I knew a very good course very well, the last thing I'd do would be to slap a number/rating on it.
Instead, I hope I'd do it the courtesy of discussing it, as it actually exists, and detailing what for me are its strengths and weaknesses, its high points and low.
I'd like to think I'm a thoughtful person, and sometimes even a kind one: I'd hate to hurt anyone's feeling, and certainly to hurt anyone's careers, by being "critical" in a public forum.
But where have we gotten to when honestly discussing what we see as questionable choices or seemingly flawed ideas or awkward looking finishing work/execution is seen as being "critical"?
It's a critique. Your blog series was a critique, and a very well informed one indeed. It's value lay precisely in the quality of that critique.
At any rate, I've again said too much. I think it's clear, as someone noted earlier, that there is very little appetite for frank commentary anymore, even here. Maybe especially here.
No big deal, I suppose - no harm no foul as they say.
But it sure makes, on a discussion board, for less interesting & engaging discussion.
Peter