To reciprocate or not?

The page on the Wealthy Affiliate website I visit the most is the give and take comment thread. I presume this is the case for more people here, isn’t it? :)

There was a time I was disappointed with both the amount of comments I got in return and the quality of them. But I grew over it! Thanks to an article I read about commenting by Christine Duts and a tip Taetske Guillaume gave me.

Start by giving quality comments

When you are the one starting a comment, do you pick the ones with a title that appeals to you, or do you just pick the first three in the thread?

Christine’s article made me aware that not just the comments we get on our page are important, but your own comments on somebody else's page contribute to your online credibility. That’s why I look for the titles that are appealing, as it is easier to comment in a sensible way.

I put in an effort to give quality comments. And I’ll start by admitting it’s sometimes hard, if the subject doesn’t appeal to me at all. I don’t mind adding a critical remark, but I don’t want to be straight out negative. That, and the fact that the Dutch seem to be blunt (I am not aware of it, but I get that as a remark sometimes) mean that it takes me ages sometimes to formulate a good comment.

Do you read the whole article?

A two-sentence comment in which the title of the article is repeated and one of the subheadings or list items makes me wonder if that person has read the article at all?

That’s the second thing I learned from Christine’s article: I don’t have to approve every comment.
Phew.

And that brings me to Taetske’s tip: if a comment doesn’t invite a proper answer, approve it, but don’t reply. Just replying “Thank you so much”, doesn’t add value.

Does everyone reply?

Still I wanted to know whether my initial feeling was right. So I tallied a couple of weeks. A third doesn’t bother to comment back.

This can have several reasons. Someone can forget to do it. Or the website didn’t function at the moment the comment was sent (wouldn’t be an exception, because it happens a lot in my experience). Or someone does not realize that you have posted a comment. Maybe there are other reasons as well.

Anyway, if someone comments on my articles I reciprocate. But who knows, maybe my comment didn’t come through or I forgot it. In that case I am really sorry and I do hope that you tell me. And if you think I should improve my comment, tell me as well. The Dutch may be blunt, but they can also endure a lot. :-D