Writing is an intensely personal and private venture. But if I as a writer want to make a living at it, at some point, I have to let the private become public. I have to take my thoughts and my imagination, and lay it out in front of someone who will decide whether my work is worth their time. Even if I self-publish, the reader directly decides this. And all the love and passion that I poured into the work won't change that person's mind.
What sells, sells. My feelings won't change that. If I want to be a writer for my own satisfaction, that's fine. But if I want to be a professional at it, then I have to behave professionally, and understand that my own enjoyment isn't the point of it. If I cannot let the product and the writing stand on professional standards, then I'm in the wrong business.
So it's interesting to watch certain places and forums that deny passion and difference of opinion. Walk through these places, and there's a commonality of thought, and a blatant disrespect for disagreement. For these people, they are "married" to their narrow worldviews that disagreement with them is evil, obnoxious, "boring", and they don't have to put up with it.
Customer service and professional courtesy aren't halfway items. You cannot "sort of" serve the customer. If you elect to provide a service, a product, then you've got to be prepared to deal with disagreements with respect.
Some people believe themselves exempt from both. That is rarely a path to success.
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