@morecakeplz -- hello and welcome back 

Quote by @Jinkies on 14 Jun 2016 , 12:59pm

You don't and you won't.  Does any grown up keep going back to High School year after year? Only if they are being paid to hear the same questions and repeat the same answers.  Cake Central is still a nice place and very helpful to newbies. It's exceptionally helpful for those willing to search topics and read a little bit.

@costumeczar ‍ you have always given accurate descriptions of real life situations.  The last person I gave a suggestion to, told me that "I already know that!", on her crooked piece of melting flotsam that she had ASKED for corrective feedback.  So pretty much done & dusted for me.

(It also does suck to click on a thread and have to start at the beginning, especially when they are really long.)

@MBalaska ‍ So you believed them when they said "corrective feedback"? What they really mean is, "Tell me how awesome I am and there is absolutely nothing wrong with It and I'm crazy for thinking there is!"

I had a conversation with a mom of one of my daughter's friends. We told each other if we ever heard anything our girls were doing wrong we should tell each other. She told me some stuff and I talked to my daughter about it, done. I told her something her daughter lied about and you would have thought I had stabbed and spit on her. People don't mean half of what they say or post or they don't have the self awareness to know they can't handle criticism. It can be very confusing.

I usually only post on the Friday Nights Cake Club. I love seeing the cakes and hearing what everyone else is working in. I prefer to sit on the sidelines. I have been on here before the changes and I think it is like everything else it. I would like a like button too. Because there are some post that I would love to have comment on way up the thread, but now I forgot. Love the stories about how y'all got started.

If the page thing can't be fixed to where you have to start at the beginning can you have the pages at the top to go to the next page.

I have learned a lot on here. Including how not to price a cake. I get a kick out of some of them. Especially I am just beginning and not a professional. I want to say when then don't charge. Oh and I am not a professional. I start decorating so my boys could have a decent birthday cake, and now my family.

I want to know, too! PastryBagLady! Come on, fess up! :D

You CRACK ME UP!!!

@TwoThumbs2 ‍ You've been a busy  little bee today!!!!

Its me......... or is there a lot of activity on CC recently. Lots of interesting threads to follow........

I agree, any cakes I post...I would LOVE honest feedback. Especially if someone sees a mistake I made and tells me how I can fix it. I'm just a hobby decorator ,but I have done many many wedding cakes for family and friends and sisters of friend etc. and  a few birthday cakes. Last year I had 4 wedding cakes and this year I had 4 wedding cakes and 1 scheduled for next year already. I always get rave reviews ,but..... they are from family and close friends , so I don't know how honest they are. 

@Bakerlady2 ‍ 

Well I guess you could post the question in the forum,  " Need Honest Feedback.......yes I can take it like a man"

ok just kidding........

When I had a huge disaster with a cake I made, I posted on the forum looking for answers as to what I did wrong. I got a lot of great advice. I stopped looking at the  cakes when it seemed all the cakes were so pristine and flawless. The gallery has changed a lot over the years.

@Bakerlady2 ‍ I just checked out your cakes. I'm no expert but your work looks nice and clean.  

@Bakerlady2 ‍  agree with kstevens........

I think we can be our own worst critic.

We do a lot of celebration cakes and holiday themed orders. I find that posting our work really doesn't compare in terms of the elaborate cakes that are posted. There isn't anything usually that has the wow factor we want them to have lol. We don't get to do incredibly elaborate, highly detailed or much skill required cakes very often. I think a lot of it has to do with us still being new and customers wanting to make sure they are getting what they pay for. Which I totally understand especially when cheap cake ladies are in an over abundance but that's life so no biggie. It's kind of hard for me to see all these really detailed and really nice looking cakes on here and Not start to wish we got to do more of them but we are a business and have to make a profit so we work within the constraints of people's budget. So for me it's like what's the  point in posting pictures since our cakes are usually simple lol. Maybe one day we'll have a portfolio of wow cakes but right now we're paying our dues ;) 

Don't feel bad about that. Even Ace of Cakes (in his original bakery) said they got very few specialty orders. The bulk of his business were the standard white wedding cakes.

And,I would guess, 'case' cakes......that one w/the colorful round fondants all over.  It's not bad, but boring :)  Once you've done two you're sick of the design.  Just think of working an 8 hr shift and having to make 6 dozen of them!

two things:

1. if you want a solid critique enter a competition with decorators for judges
2. we can always do elaborate cakes for our portfolios and for the fun of it -- and if you use a dummy or rice krispy treat -- you can do it at your leisure but be sure you can replicate in real time or if you can't make that known too kwim --

worked for some peeps long ago who had cakes they called "only on a sunday" so they had enough schedule cleared to get it done -- they were covered in cooked sugar ribbons & flowers -- and they were closed on sunday

I've been a CC member for a couple of years now, and this site and its members have been a valuable resource. I've learned better ways to do things, been introduced to tools I didn't know existed (i.e. my clay extruder -- a real game changer!), and have been inspired to try things that I might not have tried otherwise. What puzzles me is why there seems to be this idea that giving honest, helpful feedback equates with giving rude feedback. Webster defines criticism as "...the analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work." There is nothing in that definition about being hurtful or rude, just honest. I teach a college course about critical thinking, and in it we work on developing skills that allow us to objectively look at something from multiple points of view to identify what went well or is strong and what didn't work well or is weak. I don't see anything different about providing honest, constructive feedback about the works we share here. If someone asks for feedback, consider how we might offer comments about what looks good and suggestions for things to make the next cake even better. If we offer specific suggestions about components that we can improve, we can all benefit from sharing ideas without being rude.

The answer to the puzzle is, that the truth hurts them & they don't want to put in the time energy, or money to get better. They want heaps of praise & flattery for their small poor efforts.  @jselle ‍ you are absolutely correct that analysis is not rude.  You can tell just by the looks of their cakes over the years which decorators acknowledged the criticism and made the corrections.  It's glaringly obvious.

@Pastrybaglady ‍  Best wishes to you and your family.  You know that in time your daughter will see the rewards for your efforts in correcting her, and observe the problems that her friend experiences by continuing on a path of stupidity.  That wisdom applies to cakes & life equally.

Thank you,  i can take critique  like a WOMAN. LOL. I'm all ears if anybody has info to make my cakes better. I know my cakes are far from perfect. 

I agree, @MBalaska ‍ and @Bakerlady2 ‍ -- unless we are prepared to accept criticism and suggestions when it's offered, we probably shouldn't ask for it. However, the act of critiquing inherently involves at least two parties -- someone to create and someone else to critique. While it's important that we accept valid criticism and attempt to learn from it, it is equally important that we give criticism in such a way that it is beneficial and not hurtful. Being honest does not mean that it's acceptable to be rude and then to say, "Well, you asked for my opinion and I gave it!"

I sort of  agree, but kind of sort of...I think the issue on here (and any online venue) is that people often don't want to hear a real critique, they just want people to say "Oh my God, you're so talented! You're such an artist!" like they do on facebook. They're not really looking for a critique, they're just showing off but think that posting for a critique will make them look less greedy for praise. So when they get honest feedback they blow up and say it's rude or mean or they're being bullied, even when it's given in a straightforward way. It's the same thing in the business forums when someone asks a business question and somebody responds with "are you licensed," which is a perfectly legitimate place to start in a business forum. I've seen many people get all huffy and cry about being harassed when they get asked a basic question, so they don't really want to know the answer, they just want someone to say "you should definitely go for your dreams!"

I don't think I've ever seen anyone on here "Critique" someone with something outright rude like "That is an ugly cake", but I've seen plenty of neutral or specific comments that were interpreted that way because the poster didn't like the answer. (I'm sure that people will have examples of true rudeness that I'm not aware of since I tend to ignore the critique threads, but I'm thinking of the business threads more since that's the forum I tend to hang out in.)

I always remember the season of American Idol when Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard were on it. About halfway through the show I told my kids that they should watch how those two took the critiques after they sang. They were the ONLY ONES that season who didn't get all huffy and mad at the judges if they didn't 100% love their performance. They both shut their mouths, listened carefully to the critiques, then went and worked on that stuff for the following week. And they were the winners that season. The ones who whined and said "they didn't understand my brilliance" when they got a bad review got kicked off. It had nothing to do with the judges' delivery and everything to do with the willingness of the singers to put their own egos aside and listen.

Then, of course, you also have the people who are willing to hand out all kinds of advice about things they know nothing about, who you'll find everywhere...That's one of the drawbacks of asking for critiques online. You don't know if that "business genius" you're getting advice from has ever run a business, or if they're just a sweaty fat guy sitting in his underwear in his mom's basement after his shift at Taco Bell. 

My daughter wants to be an artist and I've told her that she needs to be ready for critiques in college, which can be brutal. Part of the brutality comes from having your work really gone over, but part of it also comes from having people who really don't know what they're talking about (i.e. the other students) thinking that they know enough to spout off about your artwork. You'll get some jerk who picked up a paintbrush for the first time this semester because he thought the class would be an easy A telling you why your painting sucks. So I've told my daughter that you have to consider both the criticism and the critiquer and balance that out. If you're online you have no idea who the critiquer really is. Even some of the people who used to be on here who would hand out business advice left and right weren't making a profit in their own businesses, but they were still on here telling other people what to do. So you really have to find someone to be an honest mentor, but also ask to see their 1040 to see if they know how to make a profit 

And here's a suggestion for @Heath ‍ to pass on...You guys should set it up so that any external links that are posted open up in a new window. As it is, the ones that I'm clicking on open in the same window, and that's taking away from your dwell rate and also makes it harder to get back here when we're done with the link!

THIS!!!

Actually the link thing is already an option...

People just do not click to make it open in a new window when attaching the hyperlink...  

But I do agree that it shouldn't be an option, it should be automatic...

For me, I stopped logging in on a daily basis after the update, when there stopped being cake inspiration challenges. That was my favorite part of the site, and without that, the rest doesn't hold much interest for me. It was something that helped me develop my skills and I miss it tremendously.

sneaky cakes -- I think I read somewhere that they are gonna start that again -- pretty sure -- so keep peaking in occasionally -- best to you

Bless you, jselle!  You are absolutely correct that an honest critique includes genuine praise where merited, no matter how little, as well as constructive suggestions on how to correct the things that fell short!  You don't have to be sickly sweet, but there is no need whatsoever to be harsh with your criticism.  I alway suspect those who are rude about other's work are a tiny bit jealous and a whole lot mean spirited.