Swag Progress Report - Little Late and Comment Rant
As you might have picked up on by now, I am Fairly negative... No P!ssed off!
Nothing to do with Swag or WA per se but everything to do with some bullies at ambassador level. No not all, in fact, only one that I have come across with this type of attitude.
I had finished all my articles early and was working on comment's and helping on live chat and doing the other tasks when I noticed that I had received a disapproved comment. I was disappointed and quite honestly, Shocked. I work very hard at trying to give comment's that give the writer opportunity for reply and expanding the subject where possible. The explanation I received was "Off Topic"
What a load of BS and this from an ambassador that clearly was only interested in specifics in
his comment's and then just blew me of with a disapproval because I did not meet his criteria. On top of that I get penalised for being disapproved.
Look, We all have the ideal comment that we want and we don't have to accept everything on our site but to disapprove and waste the commentator's time and effort and on top of that, to have him penalised for his efforts is LOW!!!!!
A lot has been written about this but apparently, only newbies read these posts as only they feel they need to try to improve or so it would seem by some actions on blogs that I have read.
Please everyone, lets make the effort to help each other. Don't just disapprove. The
commentator has spent time and effort to try to help you too. Approve the comment, go to your site back office and amend or delete the comment then PM the commentator and let him or her know what you did and why. This way, you don't destroy the commentator's belief in the system and you teach them a better way WITHOUT PENALISING THEM!!!@!!!!!!
Sorry for the rant but I am starting to feel stronger and stronger about this attitude that I quite frankly find as bullying.
@kyle and @Carson I am sorry for airing my gripe this way but I have now stopped using the comment's system for almost two weeks, in fact, I have stopped doing most things but I have to get back to it so I have to get this off my chest.
There has to be a better way of dealing with this other than by punishing those who honestly try to , but don't, meet the owners criteria. This really feels like a bullying tactic.
I apologise to all those who I have offended but I really feel that this system destroys rather than builds.
I have not done any noticeable work on my sites in over a week and have no motivation because I need comment's and I am to ...what's the right word?....apprehensive to try to use the SiteComments feature for fear of another disapproval and banning from the feature.
If anyone feels like checking my sites and commenting, I will reciprocate. The sites are listed in my profile. Until I gain a bit of faith in the system again I will be keeping a low profile and working quietly on my sites.
I love WA and the community in general. It is a Great Community. Keep on going
Bryanb
Recent Comments
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Bryan, I appreciate your words. I look forward to your posts. You always have good information and encouragement. I hate bullies in any form. I'm very sorry that you had to experience this vile behavior. Keep optimistic! Don't let one bad experience cloud everything. Keep going forward. I appreciate you.
Candice
Thanks Candice, It is great to see that I am not the only one having this problem. And thank you to everyone for their feedback.
I feel your frustration. I try and comment on the first website that comes up and it is a challenge as the topics are mostly not something I know about or am interested in and therefore it really makes commenting difficult. Seeing Carson's comment below is encouraging as they are so open to help. Keep on keeping on....
Hi Bryan,
SiteComments can be a bit discouraging at times. I've had my share of disapproved comments too, so I do prefer to use the "Give and Take Comment Thread." I am glad that WA has made this option available. Check it out: Need website comments? the give and take comment thread Carol
As soon as I understood the difference between Site Review and Site Comments, things got better for me. The two disapproves I got were because I didn't understand what people were expecting from Site Comments. However, the person responding didn't have to be so negative with their response to my comments.
I understand your frustration.
And, thanks Carson for your response. Much appreciated.
Hi Steven, I am very aware of the difference and have had experience with this. My comment just did not suite the site owner's program. that is what makes it so unplesent.
I tend to agree with you on this Bryan and disagree with everyone on what comments are for.
If you were out shopping and stumbled into a store, would the first thing you say is wow what a great piece of glass! I love the way you made it shine, you have placed just right on the shelf so it sparkles and shines just right.! Or, would you look around a bit and say wow you have a great place here. I like the way you have this setup or that.
I think with new people to this environment, they are more in the area of Wow! I like your place! and not in the Wow! I like this piece of glass!
I do understand what Carson is trying to say, but I have been on the disapproved side of things and it does not make you feel very well. I got three of them in one day and then only one of them was nice enough to tell me why they disapproved it.
I also agree with the Approve the comment then unapprove it in your dashboard on your site. Email the person to find out what they were trying for. It's a matter of respect really. You wouldn't shove the person who says Wow! What a great place! Out the door because they didn't notice the glass you have sitting there.
Here is another example! Just today, I had a comment on an article that made no sense. Instead of instantly disapproving it and thinking this person is way off base, I decided to email them. The good thing was, I could pinpoint within about 5 articles they might have been on but not sure which. I approved the comment through the comment program, went into the back and unapproved. Emailed for clarification and was able to fix the comment to the correct post.
I figured, if I was so hard pressed for comments that I can't take the time to figure out what my visitor is talking about maybe I shouldn't be in business?
I know what you mean.
Happened to me a few times and instead of that person pm'ing me to discuss it they just disapproved and the words "off topic" were used in one of the comments.
I don't know what their problem is because if they are not happy with your comments then why not just change them and create a great one, I mean this is the ideal opportunity to do this, instead, they would rather try and get you banned.
Unfortunately, there are always going to be people like this!
Chin-up and forget about it!
Mick
P.S. Just make a note of the person and return the favour!!
I do most of my comments through the give and take comment thread - I feel its less pressure - I was once banned from site feedback for a while until I begged Kyle to let me back in. I had basically got mixed up with what each was for and was commenting rather than giving feedback. I still use the Site comment and Feedback, but every time I tend to be a little stressed until my comment or feedback is approved. I'm loving using the give and take comments thread to do commenting.
Anyway for me its like water off ducks back. Not going to worry about it. Shirley
PM me some links to posts and I'll give you some comments.
Now get back to work for your own good.
Great Post I enjoyed reading it very much. I have been penalized for disapproval comments too. So I too am leery about using the comment portion my self to get the credits to get the feedback on my site. So I am going to go over the videos and work on my site and build up two more sites and take it from there. I had misunderstood what the author wanted and I gave overall general comments. It didn't fair to well. PM if you have any questions.
Mary
Bryan,
I totally agree. I've been "Disapproved" for the same reasons you mention. There's been "Disapproved" for some thoughtful ideas about improvements as well as being "Disapproved" over a little praise for the site. All it takes is 3 "Disapproved" to be denied access to the Comments area. So welcome to the hinterland with those who tried.
Martin
p.s. you can also buy comments if you're in the mood to do that.
Don’t confuse comments with feedback. You should ONLY comment on the specific post you read. Any comments or suggestions about the site in general is feedback, not comments, and will get you disapproved every time. That said, people requesting comments should not think that the commenter can read his or her mind and give the commenter some slack. Would we disapprove real world comments from a visitor because it was “off topic?” Of course not. Get real, people!
Grant
Grant, that's exactly what I made sure I did after the first "Disapproved". Double checked I was doing it right after the second "Disapproved". Then gave it one more try, actually some positive remarks, which got me my third and final "Disapproved" for not having suggested changes.
I've gone to asking family, friends and co-workers for their suggestions.
Martin
See more comments
Hi Bryan, whenever a "Ban" comes from disapproved comments in the SiteComments platform, Kyle and I manually review the disapprovals and in many cases people get their Write Access back for that platform. Keep using SiteComments, if you have a problem then just reach out to me via Private Message and I can look into things and if need be, the specific comment that was disapproved.
The main reason comments get disapproved is that they are offering Feedback on the website or blog, vs engaging from a reader's perspective. The purpose of SiteComments is to create discussion, engagement, and interaction on any given post.
Always here to help and answer questions Bryan - don't stop using a platform for any "FEAR" of losing your ability to continue. Kyle and I are here to help in that regard.
Also, SiteComments is going to be getting a much needed update that will address the exact issues that you're experiencing. The new platform makes it a lot more clear to the person leaving comments the type of comment is being requested.
Thanks for posting, use SiteComments, it only hurts you and your site if you don't.
Carson
Thanks for the update Carson!! People do tend to mix-up the 2 quite often...
Carson,
Thank you for recognizing the issue some of us, don't know how many, are having with comments/suggestions.
Once the clarification update is made, will those of us currently banned have an opportunity to try again?
Thanks,
Martin
Of course Martin, if you're banned then please let me know via Private Message so I can look into your (and anyone else) accounts. I've had a look at your comments that have been disapproved.
As mentioned in my post above, you've provided website FEEDBACK, saying that you like the website, that it's informative, etc. You want to comment on the blog post its self. Comment like you are a reader of the content coming to it after doing a Google Search.
Comments are there to spark discussion. Ask questions about the content, discuss the topic, share your experience with the topic. SiteComments is not to offer feedback about the site, how it looks, the theme, the layout or overall feel. That kind of feedback can be left in our SiteFeedback platform here:
https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/website-feedback
I've enabled your ability to leave comments in the SiteComments platform. Please keep the above in mind.
Carson
Thanks Carson! I'll give it another try.
Hi Carson, Thanks for your reply. I was hoping one of you would comment as you guys have always been approachable with all of my issues that I manage to get myself into.
It is just that I check my comments 2 or 3 times to make sure that I am not creating a negative impression of the article and I try to leave an option to reply and expand the article. Unfortunately, the explanation I received was so generic that it was useless, especially as I cannot access my comment to see what it was he objected to.
I just believe that disapproval does the commentator more harm than it is worth. A little effort by the site owner would help the commentator learn about commenting correctly and get the owner a usable comment.
I will try again and will take you up on your offer, thank you.If I could make a suggestion re the disapproval button, could we not get access to our comment when it is disapproved so that we can see what the owner is on about. Would it also not be better to not disapprove the comment but to "return to commentator" with an explanation for rework and resubmission?
there is nothing like us trying to redesign your platform for you is there :-)
Thanks for your reply and I really do appreciate all the work done by you two and your great teams.
Regards
Bryanb