Feedback and Comments - Some Guidelines
Hi Everyone
It appears that there are still some members who are confusing the purposes of Feedback and Comments. I know the there has been quite a bit written on this subject, but perhaps there can't be too much!! So I hope you all tolerate my thoughts on it!
So what is the purpose of Feedback?
I think that feedback is mostly requested by those of us who are in the process of developing our websites. We want to know what other members think about, amongst others things:
- The appearance of our sites
- The ease of navigation, use of menus etc
- The content and its quality and its relevance
- Our use of images and their relevance
- Quality of visitor experience
So a remark such as "I really like your website, it is great, well done" really does not help in any way, and is quite frankly useless to the member requesting the feedback.
So please when you are leaving feedback, take some time to really look round the site - don't just look at one page and just leave a very few words.
But it is important to remember that the feedback you leave needs to be constructive.
Even if you think that the site is not at all good, please don't say that in so many words! Whatever you say needs to be encouraging and carefully worded.
I always try to start by commenting on something that is good about the site. You can always find something that is good to comment on!
Then I go on to suggest things that might be improved, e.g.:
- Solid blocks of text which would look much better broken up into paragraphs, maybe with shorter sentences
- Point out if there are any spelling mistakes - no-one wants to publish a site with glaring spelling errors
- Maybe they need some help with the use of menus, so I would point them in the direction appropriate training for that
- I would also point the to any other trainings which could help to improve the general appearance of the site
I always finish with some encouraging remarks.
That is the method which I use because this is the kind of feedback which I would find most useful.
Site Comments
The purpose of Site Comments is completely different from the purpose of Feedback. They are usually requested because Comments help towards Site Ranking, and they relate to just one post and not to the whole website.
It is very important to remember that whereas Feedback is for the eyes of the site owner only, comments appear on the actual site for all visitors to read.
Therefore, Comments should not be used to criticise the layout of the page, or point out mistakes etc - those things should be restricted to Feedback. If those things are mentioned in Comments, it is very likely that the Comment will be rejected by the site owner.
So what should be mentioned in Comments?
- How helpful is the information to the visitor
- What the visitor has learned from the post
- Reasons why you agree or disagree with the post
- Further questions which you would like to leave for the site owner
- Any other things you would like to say which relates to the content of the post
I always try to view the post through the eyes of a visitor who is nothing to do with WA, and if WA is being promoted, I may ask questions about WA which may not have been covered.
This is just my take on how Feedback and Comments should be used.
I am very happy to hear about how you deal with them, and also about any ways in which you disagree with me.
Thank you so much for reading this, and I wish you all a great, positive and productive day:)
Recent Comments
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I made this mistake recently, one I will not repeat. But these guidelines are awesome! Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate your point of view, Chrissie, but I am a bit mystified by the division between "feedback" and "comments." The idea that the thoughts about website content and structuring belongs in a separate category from the topic of a post on that website confuses me.
When I ask for comments, I am looking for other people's eyes to help me look at this thing I am doing. I want to improve my product, which is my website, and the only way I'm going to get to that is by accepting whatever people think about the vehicle I am building as well as about the information I am presenting.
I like knowing how the post affects other people and how they are choosing to integrate the information presented into their own lives. I also like knowing what they think I can do to improve their reception of the information I am presenting.
My own feeling is that being transparent -- letting people comment on either form or the information that's presented and then using this information to improve the product before the very eyes of the rest of the world -- is just another form of "branding." It tells the peeps who read my stuff that I do hear them and I do listen. What could be better than that?
Of course, it could be that I am not aware of some deeper issues surrounding this. To me, it's all just learning about my market and the people who are not me.
I do appreciate whenever people make the effort to look over my stuff and think on it. Very often they point me in a better direction and I am grateful that WA allows us to help each other in this way.
Hugs!
An interesting point of view Netta.
In my humble opinion, I still maintain that the issues which I outlined in the feedback section really do belong there, and comments on the content belong in Comments.
Many thanks for your comment :)
Thanks Chrissie for the insights on how feedback and comments are done. This is a very useful guidelines as not to mislead our visitors.
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I just saw a question from someone who had been confusing the two to the extent that his acceptance rate was down to 50%, and he now is not allowed to offer any more feedback or comments.
This shows how very important it is not to confuse the two :)
Aha! The light dawns. Thanks, Chrissie....
Thats really good Netta, many thanks :)