Comment Boost or Bust?

Comment Boost or Bust?

So I actively use the site comments thread here at WA and it does the trick, for the most part. However, I know our Site Comments platform has the potential to be very useful.

Comments left through the Site Comment platform are much more directed to what a user is looking for and most people are willing to spend more time to give better comments, in an effort to keep their own comment satsifaction percentages high.

On Site Comments platform a user earns credit for commenting on another users submitted article. After earning two credits, a user can submit their own article for another user to leave a comment on. Basically, it prevents the "will comment for you if your comment for me" exchange that happens on the comment thread.

Don't get me wrong! I am plenty guilty of interacting this way on the comment thread. There is no shame in this, but the Site Comment platform is part of our premium membership and as such, I think it should be more effective, or at least, as effective as our comment thread.

In the two months I have been a premium member at WA, I have checked the SiteComment platform daily in an effort to gain credits. There has only been two occasions where articles were available for me to comment on. I took full advantage and, IMO, provided 4 quality comments. The requesting members agreed, as my comment rating is 100%.

If there were articles available for comment every time I checked the platform, I would have left significantly more comments by now.

IDEAS TO IMPROVE SITE COMMENTS PLATFORM:

1. Allow all new premium members to submit one comment request for free when they reach Site Comments lesson of their training.

After reaching this lesson, it took me almost two weeks checking the platform before an article was available for comment.

Note: I know you can purchase credits. However, I was not comfortable buying credits yet. At least not until I had a bit more experience and content on my website. Also, I had just paid for my membership, so putting more money into something I was not going to see an income from for quite some time, was not realistic, no matter how small the charge.

2. For a limited time, allow premium member one comment request per month, for free.

Like idea 1, this would flood the platform with new material, allowing more people an opportunity to earn credits. This would increase use of the platform as opposed to the comment thread, and in turn, members would receive more thoughtful, directed comments on their sites.

3. Charge 1 credit, instead of 2, to request a comment of an article.

COMMENT BOOST A BUST

In addition, I believe Comment Boost has the potential to be a valuable incentive for members to use the platform. However, I have tried to leave my ten comments in 24 hours for the past week, and have had no luck. The reason being, there does not seem to be ten articles available for me to comment on in a 24-hour period. I would suggest changing the incentive to allow for a boost once a user gives ten comments total, not within 24 hours. In my experience, it simply is not possible for me to leave the ten comments in 24 hours because the platform does not provide me with ten opportunities in that time span.

Implementing one of the ideas above, may actually make the comment boost incentive realistically attainable.

Let us turn this comment BUST around and work to fulfill WA's initial intention: Encouraging more platform use with the comment BOOST incentive.

Anyone else frustrated with this or have I lost my mind completely? :) Am I doing something incorrectly?

Any other ideas to make the platform more effective for all of us committed premium members?

Has anyone been successful in achieving a comment boost?

If so, how often are you checking the platform?

How effective was the boost?

This is really the only issue I have had this far during my membership here at WA. Everyone has been so welcoming and helpful. Thank you all and keep up all the great work!

XO Ash