Pablo writes:

>A question: what's the place of critics in the chain?.

Now there's a good question!

Here is what Oscar Wilde had to say on the subject -

   "Why should the artist be troubled by the shrill clamour of criticism?
   Why should those who cannot create take upon themselves to estimate
   the value of creative work? What can they know about it? If a man's
   work is easy to understand an explanation is unnecessary."

And from "the Devil's Dictionary", by Ambrose Bierce

  "Critic - A person who boasts himself hard to please because nobody
  tries to please him"

and Bill Pirkle remembers from somewhere...

  "There are a great number of people who can't tell you what to do,
  they can only tell you what is wrong with what you did."

Any more out there?

Bill Pirkle