Think Before You Post!
Read Before You Click... Think Before You Post....It Might Stop You From Being Stupid !
Yes this is another moan about the 'comments' feature.
Sorry I can hear you all taking a deep sigh... we have been here a million times before and here we are again but considering for the most part I pay for my comments (sorry to make that admission but I very rarely have time to offer comments - I do, when I do have the time though) its is irritating and annoying that the questions I ask to be addressed with the particular blog are not being read...
How can you be in any doubt when being asked to 'ask questions on the topic or overall article'
Now that is unambiguous as far as I am concerned. I am asking that my article is read and questions are asked in the comments about what I have written.
Nothing too hard in that, because if you don't understand what I have written you have the perfect platform to now ask you question and get a direct answer from me. I won't ignore your question, like its on some random blog post, but I will be back with in a few minutes, more than likely, to answer your question... what a perfect scenario to build on your knowledge and give me the feedback that I need? I specifically wanted comments that were questions for this article because i wanted to know if what I had written was making sense and resonating with readers.
Out of 12 comments, only 2 were questions. 😱
This is so frustrating... I don't want someone's 3 line resume of my 2500 word blog. How disrespectful is that ?
Recent Comments
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Thanks for the rant on comments, Helen. I've had similar experiences. I believe many have similar experiences.
They do boil over. I seldom use the comments features here. I like the idea of beginning a comment with a question, something we do in Toastmasters to engage an audience. Perhaps that's universal.
Not sure how to make it better though, because the fundamental here is 'read what you're being asked to do' and they can't seem to do that.
You know what they say, Helen! "The Squeaky Wheel get's the Grease!" Eventually something will be done about this, I am sure! Stay safe and successful, my friend!
Jeff
Never had to disapprove so many though Jen. Some of the comments were ok comments but they didnt ask questions which is what I had specifically asked for. I ticked only one choice so that i would get questions.
I nearly blogged about this last week. I had an article I wrote about supporting the benefits of a woodworking place called "The Men's Shed" in our local community, I got a comment that said "its good you have such a place cause in the long run men are better than relationships than women". I hit the delete. It is frustrating. Jen
Thats terrible Jen! some people just don't care... why bother saying anything at all when you can't be bothered to stick to the content !
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I do understand where you are coming from and as I recently received 10 SiteComments on 1 article of which only 3 were directly usable, I also understand your frustration.
Incidentally, of the other 7, I edited 5 and rejected 2.
But it is sometimes not as easy as it sounds.
Whilst you state that it is not unambiguous and I agree, I admit that on occasions I don't concentrate on which of the four statements have been selected. In fact when I request comments I always select all four. When i'm offering comments I always try to make it quality and will include a question if one comes to mind.
But sometimes the niche just doesn't lend itself it to the person supplying the comments.
For example, recently (at least three occasions), I have offered comments on a Tankini site. Now as a 48 year old man, tankinis are as you would expect are not my thing. I simply put myself in a situation where it was my partners birthday and responded by commenting as though I was buying a gift. I even managed to make a comment regarding the underwire causing pain by sticking into the body, because my partner apparently moans about this on her current tankinis. (she doesn't actually own any)
But, without making myself sound either perverse or simple, I could not think of a question on the subject.
Let's not forget , that it is my gravatar image that goes next to that comment and therefore possibly my reputation that could be effected by a bad comment.
I understand what you’re saying Lawrence.. but I work differently. I tick the box or boxes that I’m specifically interested in getting comments about. On this occasion I wanted questions about the topic or overall article.. so plenty to go on there... considering this was a blog about blogs!... and when I have gone to offer comments, if it’s something that I really couldn’t offer a question about, I wouldn’t continue..there have been some that I really couldn’t comment on, so I don’t. I only edit if there is a spelling mistake or grammatical error, I don’t think it’s the done thing to edit questions in just so I can approve them and answer them.
I think it's a case of what is reasonable to expect!
Whether a person paid for the credits or earned them through offering comments is not really relevant because :-
Where those offering quality comments, I would estimate they spend about 10 minutes per site ( 2 sites) to read and comment to earn my 2 credits. That is over £2 of their time based on minimum wage etc.
Paying for credits is £1 per 2 credits .. I'm not going to bother doing currency exchange, I think you get my point.
10 minutes per site is not a lot of time to read a 2k+ blog and then gather your thoughts and then comment.
But I wouldn't expect people to spend 5 minutes of their valuable time and then not earn their credit by simply moving on.
Your real readers will probably spend 30 minutes + just reading and digesting your content and at the end of that may, just simply reply 'Thank You' (but click on affiliate link) - bonus!
In my view, poor spelling, awful grammar and cut and paste comments are certainly not acceptable. But we should appreciate the effort taken to offer quality comments, even if they haven't specifically ticked the box that you wanted.
I understand what you’re saying but if we are going to accept comments on the basis of the time they spent, then we might as well do away with ticking what comment type we want and on that basis we should accept all comments. I know straight off when I look at sites asking for comments whether it’s one I would be interested in/ have knowledge about and could offer the type of comment being asked, so if it’s not, I go no further than reading the title. Surely that’s what everyone does?
I'm a newbie (only here 2 months) so maybe I am being a bit naive.
I'm learning from this discussion and will certainly take away the point of looking more intently of what people have selected.
But the fact that WA has a skip rate target of below 20% on SiteComments, suggests we shouldn't be skipping things.
If I was to skip all the sites that I have no interest or knowledge in I would have over 80% skip rate . keto diets, fitness equipment, shoes, tankinis, copper water bottles to name just a few that I have commented on in the last 2 days or so. AND I currently only aim to earn 2 to 3 credits a day.
If everyone of us was doing MMO or similar niches then yes I would agree.
I don’t use the comments section to earn myself credit. Whilst I appreciate the ‘pay it forward’ ethos, I more than not, do not have time to do that. So I pay for my comments with cash.. to be honest, I expect to get what I pay for.. which is what I have checked on the list. I think though a skip rate of 20% suggests that one should be skipping 2/10, idve skipped the tankini one, but the copper water bottles sounds intriguing.. my no-no would be homeopathic stuff.. I’m afraid.