CF Dictionary · Discourse & Debate
Criticism Policy
A personal or institutional rule for handling criticism. CF treats this as central to error-correction infrastructure.
A criticism policy is a rule — personal, team, or institutional — for how criticism is received, evaluated, and acted on. CF treats having an explicit policy as essential to error-correction.
Why a criticism policy
- Default behaviour is biased. We trust friendly criticism; ignore hostile criticism.
- Paths Forward requires structure. Without a policy, "I judge the criticism" is biased by default.
- Policies are public, criticisable artefacts. They're IGCs themselves.
Elements of a CF criticism policy
- Openness. All serious criticisms receive a reply.
- Objectivity.: Criticism is evaluated on its content, not its source.
- Time efficiency. Filtering mechanism that's itself criticisable.
- Paths Forward.: Criticisms that point to errors are prioritised.
- Fallibilism. The policy itself is revisable.
Common anti-patterns
- "I'll listen to criticism that seems reasonable." Biased by your sense of "reasonable".
- "I'll listen to credentialed critics." appeal-to-authority.
- "I don't engage trolls." Often a cover for ignoring good criticism.
- "I read everything." Overload, can't keep up.
CF-recommended policies
- Engage criticisms that present a decisive argument. (Time-efficient.)
- Make your reasoning public. (Anyone can check.)
- Acknowledge refutations quickly. (Don't entrench errors.)
- State your policy explicitly. (Others can criticise it.)