I think they notice you're trying but don't want to tell you that you aren't good. At least you're not good yet. I don't know what you do so don't bite my head off.

>>85854475
this is the case. you don't have to be a master of a craft to recognize when someone is either, talented, skilled or not. When someone is saying you have potential repeatedly, especially when you're trying to bait for compliments on skill or talent it's because they can see you aren't tangibly good upfront, but are putting in the work, so they say you have potential, which in itself is a fine compliment, and an honest one at that.

>>85854432
explain the context. what skills? i have skills and nobody tells me i have potential, they just gush ridiculously about how amazing i am to the point i think they're doing normie psyops out of social compulsion because while i'm good i'm not nearly That good

>>85854432
>A pet peeve of mine is people telling me I have "potential" and never that I'm actually good at something. Even though this has been happening for years as I've been honing my skills. So does it come from insecurity in a way? Do people cope by making backhanded compliments that let them feel smug for a bit?

I've had this all my life. With me it's an ADD thing. O get hung up on one particular subject, lose interest, and find another one.

When normies start learning a skill other normies notice it and encourage them. But normies will actually go all in on a skill and get really good at it to the point they can gain some certification or official public acknowledgement of mastery that they might even be able to make some money off of. But normies, in the pursuit of their skills, they're actually thinking of how they can conform it to normie standards (or they understand it intuitively).

With robots it's different. We tend to pursue skills purely for our own pleasure within our own internal framework to the satisfaction of our personal tastes. That doesn't go over well with normies. But they don't know we're doing that when they see us starting out. They're expecting us to turn out like a known famous artist or practitioner of the subject. And they're comparing us to themselves. Yes, our work is superior to someone completely inexperienced, but we'll likely move on before we get good enough to "make it," or we won't because our personal tastes are too weird, or we simply won't be able to navigate the normie social gatekeeping to get there.

people usually say that if you show them an incomplete work. it's the equivalent of saying 'well, i generally prefer polished turds' regardless of how good or bad what you show them is.
as far as i'm concerned though the average friend or acquaintance isn't going to watch your indie animation or listen to your album or read your graphic novel though. maybe you mean something else though.