Thoughts on FeedBack & Comments, Give What You Want to Get

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After a month of WA, I have found it more than worth the monthly fee. I enjoy the community and the structure, and I love being able to write daily with purpose.

One of the things I have started doing every day is submitting Site Comments & Feedback. It is a wonderful way to get some activity on our sites and the pay it forward structure is awesome.

I have found, though that some people don’t seem to be actually paying attention when they look at a site. I had one feedback that warned me my links were misleading.

Well my links are either affiliate or referral links to work from home or money-making opportunities. And my page is all about working from home.

I knew this person did not read a single word of my page, because if they had, there would be no question as to the purpose of the age and the links. I have been a proofreader and editor for years.

You learn to tell when someone is actually paying attention to the material. When the very basic premise of the entire site gets missed, they aren’t paying attention.

My point is, if you’re going offer someone your opinion, take the time to actually form an informed one. Don’t glance over the homepage and a few links. We all put a lot of work into our pages and our content. We want real feedback from our peers.

We have to be careful how we do this. If any of you are like me, I am very sensitive about my work. I am constantly worried it is not good enough, clear enough, precise enough. I toss words I could have used instead around in my head like fresh salad.

When I ask people to look over my site, I am putting my heart and soul out there To have someone barely look at it and then tell me I’m misleading people is crushing, disheartening and frankly bewildering. I know that is absolutely not what I am doing. I am relieved and excited by the transparency here at WA. I use that same open-eyes practice on my site.

The very first page explains exactly what the site is for, and so does my About Me.

Those of us that are doing the Feedback need to honor the people we are doing it for by taking the time to read over at least one post, look at the About page, look at the overall structure of the page.

Feedback cannot be declined like Comments, so you get your points whether you dash off a few random lines from a cursory glance or give them a 3-page detailed overview. So why not give them something worth doing, actually help them improve their site, point out things they can do to tighten things up or make them better?

Honestly, I haven’t really felt up to getting feedback for a while. Our words have power, and you can discourage or uplift your WAFam with these words. We are all here to encourage each other. Let’s not drop the ball on something so vital to the continuity of our community.

I am not trying to shame anyone or call anyone out, but this has been on my mind since that day. I know I am an excellent writer. I know my ideas and my intent are clear in my content.

I can say that when I called this person about their confusing feedback, they did own it. They admitted they looked at the site as they felt a visitor would and didn’t read any of the posts.

It occurs to me that when we ask for feedback, we don’t want visitor point of view (if I’m wrong please correct me). Feedback is designed to help us improve the page overall isn’t it?

Comments are from a reader, visitor, user point of view. Even when I see glaring flaws in the page, if I am doing comments, I leave a comment. I read the page as a visitor and suppress my Inner Editor.

Most of my feedback experiences have been very helpful and informative. I appreciate anyone who takes the time to give me real pointers on my work. I hope that we all do for each other on the same level we want done for ourselves.

Take care, and take care of each other 😊

Gwendolyn J

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Recent Comments

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Gwendolyn, you are on point with this Blog. I am glad that your feedback reviewer fessed up about not truly checking out your website.

When I get constructive feedback it helps me make positive changes to my website and I truly appreciate that. When I first started giving comments, I gave responses more akin to feedback. I was soon put into my place as my comments were rejected as not giving the requester what they wanted.

Before I give comments I read exactly what points are requested. I haven't given any feedback yet because i know it would take me hours to do the website justice. Can you advise is it possible to give feedback on a website focusing only on a few posts instead of reading everything?

Thanks.

Edwin

Edwin,

Feedback takes me anywhere from 30m to an hour. I read at least one whole post, look over the structure of the site, check links, banners and, About page.
I look for sentence structure, grammar, spelling, readability, & flow.
I consider how the pictures match with the text, are the banners distracting, is the page loading too slow, am I able to understand what the owner is telling me?

I keep notes as I go, so I don't miss anything by going back. The last feedback I did was about a 1/2-1 page, but the first one I did was 5 pages. It just depends on the page and how well it's constructed.

We also have to take into account the fact that WA is international, literally a global community. Some of the sites we look over were not written in English, so quite a bit can get lost in the translation.
Working through that can take a bit more time, but I believe it is worth it.

Hi Gwendolyn, I have used Feedback only once and that was a long time ago. I did not have any concerns about what was said. In fact, there was not a lot said. With regard to Comments, I haven't requested any for a few months but from those I did receive, some were good and a few clearly didn't understand how to correctly comment on a website.

With regard to your Feedback on your website, after reading your post I can't believe there would be any reason for negative feedback. Your post is beautifully written with a standard far above many. Don't let negativity get you down, Gwendolyn. I understand how you feel as I'm sensitive to such as you've experienced. It's is clear you have very high standards.

With best wishes :)
Valerie

Valerie,

Thank you for your kind words. I appreciate you so much.

A little constructive criticism is good for us if delivered with tact and kindness. I appreciate that too because I feel the point is to help me get better.

It does not come through when someone has not taken the time to truly study my work. I do not accept feedback unless I have time to do it right.

There is no point in paying anything forward if you don't have time to focus on your part of it.

Thank you again, and take care,

Gwendolyn J

Very well said, Gwendolyn! It's been awhile since I have used Site Feedback. When I previously used it, I received mostly good input. There were a couple of times when new members had commented on my site. Unfortunately, they weren't far enough along in the training to really know what to tell me, so they took a negative approach. They even told me that they were new and had no real idea what they were to say. Otherwise, the Site Feedback comments I've received have been positive and helpful.

All the best to you! :)
Colleen

Colleen,

I am glad to know the system works, which I have seen it do.
In your case, at least the people giving feedback admitted upfront that they weren't sure what they were doing.

It is all a learning process. I don't know if there is any way to improve it without creating issues for those that are doing it right.

We shall see.
Thanks so much for your comment :) Take care

Gwendolyn J

Hi Gwendolyn! I completely agree with you - this is my hearts work and I put so much effort into my articles as well as the comments I leave for people - I more often feel disappointed and disheartened when I receive comments from people who have only read the title of my article.

Sometimes I reply to these comments with the response they deserve but I have declined a comment recently that was absolutely absurd.

I feel the quality isn't there - but that is just me - the interaction means I can go into more detail for future readers so I make the most of the shittier comments it in that way. I like that we can earn credits but I feel the rebate is low - I would prefer 1:1 rather than 1 credit per 2 comments. I wish there was a minimum character requirement for site comments.

In saying all this I do feel that this site comment offering within the WA platform is an asset to my business. I appreciate this feature and I will remain optimistic that things will improve on the platform with regard to site comments.

I simply don't ask for feedback. I doubt I will use this function at all because I'm a bit jaded at the site comment quality - I don't actually believe I will be getting genuine feedback I can work with so I don't ask.

Overall I love WA and will commence my bootcamp referral strategy this month.

Blessings to you and I appreciate you sharing your heart thoughts!
Thankyou!

I would encourage you to try the Feedback. I have gotten very valuable insight from it. As I stated, it has only been the one that gave me pause.
We can be blind to something that others will see right away, because it is our work, so feedback is important to our continued growth.
I went ahead and posted this because I didn't want anyone else to feel that feedback was not worth doing here. We are all on different branches of the same path. So having a fellow WA look over your site can be a great way to tweak things into place.

I just hope those of us doing it do it with the heart and attention that went into creating the work.
Thank you for your feedback :).

While I'm here having a rant off the back of your post (lol) I will add that I get a bit shady when people offer feedback within a site comment. It gives me the creeps. 'overall I think your article is a bit short - what do you think' Ummm I think you should stick to doing what you came here to do - that's not what 'give your opinion' means in site comments.

I wonder how we can get some changes happening with regards to these features on the WA platform. Thanks for raising this topic

I will consider this. Like you , I am sensitive to my work. I think I just got jaded about the site comments so I haven't gone to the feedback tool because I thought it's the same people looking for a quick credit. Thanks for restoring the faith somewhat!

This is Wonderful!....

Thank you very much.

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