I was looking through comments when I recorded this video. What struck me was the energy people put into judging and insulting someone publicly.

The reaction in the clip is blunt: keep creating, and do not let people who only tear things down decide what you do with your life. I also question why I should take criticism from someone whose advice I would not seek.

There is something worth keeping in that instinct. There is also a distinction worth making before it becomes an excuse to reject everything uncomfortable.

A comment does not reveal a person’s whole life

I cannot know from one hostile comment how much its author has achieved, what they are struggling with, or why they wrote it. The sweeping language in the video is frustration, not a measured statistic about commenters.

I do not need to diagnose them to set a boundary. An insult can be unhelpful because of what it says, without proving anything about the entire person behind it.

The same works in the other direction. Someone I dislike can point out a real mistake. My job is to examine the claim without handing over my sense of worth.

Check whether criticism is specific, checkable and useful before deciding how to respond.
A way to examine the content without guessing the commenter’s motives.

First: is there a specific claim? Second: can I check it? Third: would acting on it improve something I am responsible for? If the answer is yes, there may be useful feedback inside an unpleasant delivery. If there is only an attack on my identity, there may be nothing to investigate.

Feedback is not automatically helpful

Kluger and DeNisi’s meta-analysis examined 607 effect sizes and 23,663 observations. Although feedback improved performance on average, more than a third of the interventions reduced it. That research concerns feedback interventions, not TikTok commenters’ personalities. It supports a narrower point: the way feedback directs attention matters. Psychological Bulletin, 1996.

That is why “I am just giving feedback” is not a complete defence. Feedback can identify a task someone can improve, or pull the conversation into a judgement about who they are.

A claim about mismatched quantities leads to checking the data; an insult has no factual claim to investigate.
The useful distinction is the next step each comment makes possible.

Consider a pricing article. “You compared different quantities” is checkable. I can inspect the units and correct the table. “You are an idiot” gives me no such next step. Both might feel bad. Only one contains a question the work can answer.

These are invented examples to explain the distinction, not comments I am attributing to a real person.

Correct the mistake, keep the boundary

When there is an error, the clean response is to correct it and explain the change. There is no need to win a personality contest first. In the grocery-price comparison, showing quantities, sources and calculations gives a reader something concrete to challenge.

When there is no substantive claim, I can leave the comment unanswered. I can also moderate abuse. Public work does not require unlimited personal availability to everyone who reacts to it.

And when I am too angry to tell the difference, a pause is useful. Read it later. Ask someone whose judgement I trust to identify the actual point. Decide once, instead of reopening the argument all day.

Keep creating, and keep listening

The video ends with the people worth showing up for: those who learn, encourage, challenge constructively and want to see something grow. That is a better use of attention than trying to persuade every hostile stranger.

I want to bring the same attitude to meeting the community in Germany. Hearing criticism is part of listening. Accepting contempt as authority is not required.

Keep the useful correction. Then get back to the work.

Sources and calculation notes

  • Research: Kluger and DeNisi, The Effects of Feedback Interventions on Performance, 1996. The study does not identify the motives or achievements of online critics. Its standardised effect sizes are not percentage improvements.

  • The three-question filter and example comments are editorial tools. No claimed percentage of malicious, unsuccessful or jealous commenters is supported by a dataset here.

  • Original video and thumbnail: Eduard Luta on TikTok. Published 2026-09-22. Research checked 23 September 2026.