by Rachelle de Bretagne

Created on: August 26, 2009   Last Updated: November 06, 2010

Often members want more feedback than they get. It's a shame because feedback helps writers to develop. In the real world this may come in the form of rejections from editors, while on websites like Helium, the member who wants to improve the manner in which they present Helium articles has to depend upon other members to help. Although not known by everyone, this isn't necessarily the case, as more and more helpful members are willing to give their time to help. All it takes is the willingness to improve, and taking that first step toward self improvement.

The mentoring system on Helium.

Members can get feedback on their writing by sending their article to mentor@helium.com as an effective way to get neutral feedback. The way to do this is to open the article in question, and then use the article tools which are found just above the article on the right hand side. Press this tool and it takes you to many choices. Choose Email this article, and fill out the form with the email address shown above, and the mentor will receive your article and will give you feedback on that item.

Asking other members.

One way of improving your work is to ask for help in the feedback forums. This is an informal part of the community on Helium, where members can post links, and have their work appraised by others. One should always remember that the idea isn't to criticize but to teach a writer to improve their technique and style. Learning from others is a great way to improve the style, format and even the quality of the content written in answer to a topic.

The message system.

The integrated message system on Helium allows other members to give feedback on your work. What happens is that when a member reads and wants to appraise your work, they can leave a comment upon that work or contact you as a writer through the article tools. Generally this happens when members are rating, and want to give feedback. You will receive a notification that you have a message on Helium, and can press your Inbox while logged in to reveal what others have to say to you about your article. This is a very useful system enabling members to communicate with each other and to use that communication to improve.

Things to remember.

It's worthwhile remembering that every writer has off days. If you receive negative feedback on an article, don't go on the defensive. Every writer on the site makes errors. The people who take the time to give feedback usually do so because they care sufficiently

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