What's on your mind?

[yamina-chan]

...Doubblepost, but what am I supposed to do if no one speaks up inbetween? XD

I just had a very heartwarming experience, in a way. Have some backstory:
Back in early 2011, I was reading a story online and left the author a quick feedback basically pointing out that a name was spelled wrong and suggesting they should fix that as well as admiting that hadn't been reading the entire thing due to quickly realizing that I did not like it.
The author replied, thanking me for letting them know about the name and asking why I didn't enjoy it. Thus I entered full-on Beta-reader mode and tore the story apart, pointing out every single thing that was wrong about it, explaining why it was wrong and giving suggestions on how to improve it where it was appropriate, as well as pointing out the things that were cleverly done. After that we exchanged a few more lines of conversation about writing in general and that was that. As I usually try to give feedback in a similar manner anyway, I never thought about this particular encounter again.
Moments ago, I found a message that this fellow writer send me just a few hours ago, YEARS after.
It was a thank you message. The person told me how they defined this very conversation as "the turning point in (their) writing", telling me how they realized what they were doing wrong and basically how they not only grew as a writer but as a person at whole from this.

The whole point of feedback is to let the other know how you feel about a particular piece of work, to help them understand and enable them to improve their skills. When I tell someone what I do and don't like about their creations, I do that in hopes that the next thing will be better, that something was learned from it. Usually you never find out about the results, so this very heartfelt thank you message telling me that this one conversation DID leave an impact for the better, is just amazing.