The Feedback Firewall
Remove harmful feedback loops without abandoning the work
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 93%
The Feedback Firewall separates making work from personally consuming every reaction to it. Start by identifying which channel creates the harmful loop and whether it produces any decision-quality information. Preserve cleaner signals such as viewing behavior, retention, sales, or structured feedback, while disabling, limiting, or delegating the stream of personal commentary. Make the boundary operational so the creator is not repeatedly tempted to check immediately after publishing. Then observe whether concentration and wellbeing improve before changing the rule. True Geordie described turning off comments on social posts and some videos even though colleagues worried about engagement. He said the videos still performed strongly and that removing both praise and hostile remarks stopped the cycle of posting and checking. This is a personal boundary, not proof that comments never matter for other creators or platforms.
Origin
Extracted from The Diary of a CEO
Core principles
- 01Access to feedback is optional even when publishing is not
- 02Praise and abuse can feed the same compulsive checking loop
- 03Audience behavior can provide a cleaner signal than personal insults
- 04Protecting attention may justify sacrificing some engagement
How to run it
- 1
Locate the harmful loop
Name the platform, trigger, and checking behavior that repeatedly worsens mood or distracts from the work.
Pro tip Track what happens immediately after publishing, when the urge to check is often strongest.
Watch out Do not generalize one creator's experience into a universal claim about engagement.
- 2
Preserve decision signals
List the information the channel provides and retain only the measures needed for real creative or business decisions.
Pro tip Prefer aggregate behavior over unstructured personal judgments when it answers the same question.
Watch out Keep an accessible route for corrections, safety issues, and legitimate customer concerns.
- 3
Choose the barrier
Disable comments, delegate moderation, restrict notifications, or impose a review window according to the severity of the loop.
Pro tip Use the strongest reversible barrier that the situation warrants.
- 4
Align the team
Explain the boundary and define who, if anyone, will monitor actionable responses. Do not leave the creator responsible for endless manual moderation.
Pro tip Document which issues should still be escalated privately.
- 5
Publish without polling
Release the work, step away from reaction feeds, and return to the next meaningful activity rather than treating comments as a live verdict.
Pro tip Plan the post-publication activity before pressing publish.
- 6
Review the boundary
After a defined period, compare wellbeing and work quality with the earlier baseline. Reopen access only if there is a specific benefit and a safer process.
Watch out Seek qualified support when distress is severe; a platform setting is not treatment.
In the wild
True Geordie disabled comments on social posts and on some YouTube videos after deciding that hostile remarks were harming him. He said team members warned that the change could hurt engagement, but the affected videos still trended strongly in his account. More importantly for him, publishing no longer automatically led to checking whether each new reaction was positive or negative.
→ He reported that the boundary reduced his exposure to harmful reactions while he continued releasing work.
Common mistakes
Removing every feedback route
A firewall should block harmful exposure without concealing corrections, safety reports, or useful structured feedback.
Keeping praise but filtering criticism
Compulsive dependence can attach to positive reactions too; the boundary may need to cover both sides.
Assuming the platform rule is universal
True Geordie's performance observation was specific to his videos and does not establish that comments are irrelevant everywhere.
Is it for you?
Best for
Creators whose comment checking is harming concentration or wellbeing without producing useful decisions.
Not ideal for
Teams that need comments for safety reports, customer support, or essential product feedback and have no alternative intake route.
From the transcript
“For my own mental health, I don't want to hear it.”
“I'm choosing not to listen to either side.”
From the episode
The Rise, The Fall & The Rebuild Of True Geordie