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  5 Rules of Receiving feedback
  5 Rules of Receiving 
  Feedback
  So you’ve posted original content for D&D 5e that you 
  want others to give you feedback on? That’s great! Here 
  are a few simple rules to help you navigate the process…
  Rule 1: Be Open to Anything
  Different people have different aptitudes and 
  perceptions. It might be that you really want comments 
  on a certain feature but people are just correcting your 
  grammar or spelling. It could be that you really wanted 
  to hear praise but instead you’re hearing pretty hard 
  critique. It could even be that you really wanted to hear 
  critique and critical engagement but all you’re getting is 
  praise! When you go into the process of getting feedback 
  you have to accept that you aren’t in control of the 
  feedback you get.
  What you will also have to accept is that the feedback 
  you’re getting is likely based on your blind spots and 
  areas of weakness as a writer / designer. This rule 
  doesn’t mean that you have to take every piece of 
  feedback as the gospel truth and change your work 
  accordingly but it does mean that you should take all 
  feedback seriously.
  Rule 2: Assume Positive Intent
  While there is sometimes a clear give away that 
  someone is trolling you or being rude for no particular 
  discernible reason, you should always assume positive 
  intent. A mental trick that might be helpful is to imagine 
  a friend you trust giving you the feedback in their voice. 
  This will help you reduce any defensiveness you might 
  have or natural inclination to read a negative tone into 
  feedback that doesn’t have it.
  Getting feedback can be a sensitive subject by its 
  very nature. You’re asking people to critique something 
  you care about and it’s easy to see those comments as 
  disparaging. Resist that urge.
  Rule 3: Be Thankful!
  No matter what feedback you get, you say, “thanks for 
  your feedback”. Doesn’t matter if you loved what they 
  said, hated what they said, thought they could have been 
  more delicate, thought they were abrasive, or whatever 
  else - thank them for their time.
  They are doing you a favor by giving you commentary 
  on your piece.  You may not love what they have to say 
  but you should appreciate that they took the time to say 
  it. There are a lot of people out there that would love 
  to see your final product but don’t have the ability or 
  interest in providing you the perspective necessary for it 
  to get there - thank those people that will.
  Rule 4: Ask Questions
  Sometimes you need more information about a 
  particular piece of feedback. This could be because 
  the original piece of feedback is too vague for you to 
  understand how to implement it or it could be because 
  you don’t understand the context of the feedback. 
  For instance, if someone says, “this feature is really 
  overpowered” you might ask, “Can you tell me what you 
  think it’s overpowered compared to?”.
  You should be careful when you are asking questions 
  that you are trying to frame them to generate a positive 
  dialogue and not to demean the feedback or the person 
  giving it. Once you have given a piece of your work 
  over for feedback your role shifts from designer to 
  investigator. Your role after the piece is out there to 
  explore why people think what they do, gather as much 
  information as you can, and compare the most popular 
  and repeated opinions against your own observations. 
  Once you’ve collected all this data, then shift back into 
  your designer role.
  Rule 5: Follow Up
  Once you have made your decisions about changes 
  based on the feedback, follow up with the people who 
  provided feedback. I especially recommend highlighting 
  how feedback they suggested was incorporated into 
  the new draft. In the past, I have reached out to people 
  who had provided feedback that led to contentious 
  discussion and shared how I included their feedback. 
  Try it! It’s humbling, for sure, but that’s good for you as 
  a designer and it’s going to improve your ability to take 
  feedback in the future.
  And that’s it!
  The point of asking for feedback is for the material to get 
  better, not to feel better about yourself. If you find your 
  taking feedback personally or getting into arguments 
  with people, give yourself a break and spend some time 
  doing something else. The feedback will still be there for 
  you the next day when you’re feeling more receptive.
  If It AIn’t Broke, You MIght StIll hAve to fIx It
  Sometimes you know for a fact a feature, trait, or mechanic 
  is balanced but you keep getting feedback that it’s an 
  unbalanced option to put in the game. Explain your 
  reasoning, cite examples from the canon material, and 
  then keep listening - don’t argue. It doesn’t matter that 
  your idea is perfectly balanced if no one agrees with you. 
  When that happens, it’s better to revisit and revise the 
  mechanic in question then to stubbornly stick to your guns.
  5 Rules of Receiving Feedback
  Writing by: Benjamin Huffman
  Layout by: Nathanaël Roux
  Sterling Vermin Adventuring Co.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Dungeons & Dragons [multi]/5th Edition (5e)/3rd Party/Benjamin Huffman/5 Rules of Receiving Feedback.pdf