It's not what you think.
If I said I was getting "positive feedback" you'd probably figure I heard from people who like my posts. If I said "negative feedback" you'd figure they didn't like 'em. Fair enough. That's probably what I'd mean. But y'know, if that was all there was to it, I wouldn't be writing this post.
Tack the word "loop" on to those feedback phrases, and the meanings are totally different. A positive feedback loop is a self-reinforcing loop. A negative feedback loop is self-negating. These are not at all the meanings we ordinarily use. We might think of a bad situation making itself worse as a negative thing. But it's a positive feedback loop.
