Thank you for sharing. Giving good criticism is really difficult in general, I’ve found that the expected norms when communicating with a grantmaking/fundraising audience can feel much more reserved than the register I’d use with technical or executive staff. I’ve settled into a pattern where I write very candid feedback, post it, then filter/translate the original through an LLM and link to the sanitised/”professional” version, which doesn’t seem ideal at all.
I try to be sharp and sincere but the directness of the language which comes natively to me can in some contexts come across as caustic. That said, I don’t have the full picture, but from what you’ve described I think Longview was wrong to rescind the invitation. Your dialect is very clear from your public writing, and if that was a problem for them then they shouldn’t have invited you in the first place.
Thank you for sharing. Giving good criticism is really difficult in general, I’ve found that the expected norms when communicating with a grantmaking/fundraising audience can feel much more reserved than the register I’d use with technical or executive staff. I’ve settled into a pattern where I write very candid feedback, post it, then filter/translate the original through an LLM and link to the sanitised/”professional” version, which doesn’t seem ideal at all.
I try to be sharp and sincere but the directness of the language which comes natively to me can in some contexts come across as caustic. That said, I don’t have the full picture, but from what you’ve described I think Longview was wrong to rescind the invitation. Your dialect is very clear from your public writing, and if that was a problem for them then they shouldn’t have invited you in the first place.