For anyone who has ever wanted to make a constructive comment, but has been too embarrassed to vocalize it, Erik Riesenberg of Weehawken has the answer for you. Through his new recently launched Web site NiceCritic.com, you can finally tell your coworkers if they could use a breath mint without the uncomfortable moment.
“It’s to be constructive criticism in a nice and positive way,” said Riesenberg. “A message doesn’t have to be a slap in the face, it can be nice.”
Awkward moments
The idea for NiceCritic.com came to Riesenberg a couple of years ago. One night after going out with some colleagues after work, one of Riesenberg’s coworkers was so bold as to say, “You could really trim that nose hair.”
After the initial shock of the comment, Riesenberg asked his friend why she had never said anything before, and she had said she felt bad about it.
“It left me with the impression that there are many things that you would like to tell someone, but you’re not comfortable with it,” said Riesenberg.
From there, Riesenberg got the idea for NiceCritic.com, a site which allows you to e-mail someone anonymously with a polite piece of criticism.
“I thought it would be the 21st century way of sending an anonymous note,” said Riesenberg. “It’s a free service that I decided to put out there.”
A few years after this encounter, Riesenberg began working with a Web designer last February to develop the Web site, which was officially launched on July 4.
Since then NiceCritic.com has already had 150,000 visits to the site, and not just locally but all over the world.” “It’s just amazing how it has taken off,” said Riesenberg.
‘What would Mary Poppins say?’
A marketing director in New York City, Riesenberg is the mastermind behind all the messages available on NiceCritic.com.
“I write a lot of copy all day, so I can write these messages,” said Riesenberg. “I created them all with a British accent. In my head, I was thinking what would Mary Poppins say?”
In addition, writing the messages also gives Riesenberg control over the content being sent out through e-mails since there are some, who would turn the suggestions into something negative or insulting.
“You don’t write [the comments] in yourself,” said Riesenberg. “The whole point of the message is to be a positive experience.”
Another way the use of the Web site is controlled is by not allowing more than one e-mail to be sent to one recipient within the same 96 hours.
According to Riesenberg, all of the messages are politely worded and are not meant to be insulting. They are used to offer constructive criticisms in many instances, although most are work related.
“Right now, we have nine different categories and different messages they can send [for each category],” said Riesenberg.
Some of the categories range from personal hygiene, which include comments such as “You seem to have food lodged in your teeth” or “Your perfume is very strong today,” to Cubicle Critic, which include messages such as “Not sharing your candy jar makes you look somewhat unsociable” or “Try to limit the amount of time using your speaker phone” or “Please refrain from slapping people’s buttocks.”
Another popular category these days seems to be Neighborly suggestions.
“One of the popular messages right now is ‘Please remember to close your blinds in the evening,'” said Riesenberg.
“It’s beneficial for the recipient and cathartic for the sender, and at least you said something,” said Riesenberg. However, it’s not all criticism. NiceCritic.com even offers users a category to e-mail anonymous praise such as “That haircut looks great on you” or “Your teamwork is greatly appreciated.”
Wave of the future
Since last month, NiceCritic.com has counted 150,000 visits to the Web site from all over the world. Messages have been sent from here in the states, as well as from Russia, Spain, and Portugal among others despite that the site is only offered in English.
However, due to the immense popularity of NiceCritic.com, Riesenberg is working on creating messages in Spanish next, and will possibly be followed by other translations as well.
“I’m getting hundreds of suggestions a week, and questions if there are messages written in German,” said Riesenberg.
Riesenberg moved from San Mateo, California to Weehawken three years ago, and before launching the site, he had informed a couple of friends about the site. However, he never expected to gain as much popularity as it did in just two months.
“Since I’ve been getting so many different suggestions, I’m going to be adding categories such as Dorm Life,” said Riesenberg. “On the Web site, I would also like people to share their stories.”
For the most part, Riesenberg has received a lot of positive feedback from users of the site. There have been some critics of NiceCritic.com, but for those who would no longer like to receive messages from the site they can simply unsubscribe.
“They will never get another message,” said Riesenberg.
Still for Riesenberg, face-to-face honesty is the best policy, but if you do not feel comfortable doing so; NiceCritic.com can take over from there.
“Just try it and if for some reason you can’t – at least you have an option,” said Riesenberg.
Comments on this story can be sent to: current@hudsonreporter.com.