What is your experience with Site Comments?
I'm a bit annoyed since yesterday so I'm gonna lament here a bit, if you don'mind :)
About a week ago I read a very nice post here of ACPetronelli about how beneficial it is to comment on people's websites as a certified commenter.
I thought it would be nice to do that because
1. you can find out a lot of information on the websites
2. you can earn credits and
3. the credits can be used to request comments
On Sunday after publishing an article on my website I decided to try that. There was quite a lot of requests so I provided 10 comments.
However, one of the comments was disapproved and the reason says it's only re-iterating what she said and doesn't provide any value to the discussion.
Well, I don't think so. First of all, I always read the article and try to think of some question what someone would ask if they found the website just by chance. It takes a lot of time to read articles that are often long and sometimes boring for me.
But I always try my best.
If I remember well, my comment was something like this:
Thank you for the valuable information about the tools and apps. The only one I have personal experience with is Canva but I'm thinking of trying that Zoom for videoconferencing as I need something like that. Would you recommend to get all the apps at once or just some of them?
Maybe it wasn't the best comment, I don't know. But I tried my best, it was a genuine comment. The article was also missing information if the apps were free and also some rating of them but I didn't mention that.
I personally haven't disapproved any comment yet. If it's not like Thanks for the post! and I can tell the person put some effort to it, reading and trying to ask something, I don't see why I should disapprove it.
What do you think?
Do you know you can also edit the comments? I mean, you can modify it so let's say someone writes a comment and instead of writing Wealthy Affiliate, they write WA. You can change that if you want.
I would love to hear your opinion about this.
Lenka
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Hi,
I like Site Comments, and I also always do my best to leave a thoughtful comment. I think that you provided a good comment and that the reason for disapproving it was a little exaggerated.
I have disapproved only two comments so far, but I had good reasons. One of them was just rude and based on something that didn't have much to do with what I wrote. The other one was a comment that was left without having read my content and it was not related at all ... I felt bad, but I disapproved them. I once also got a rude comment which I still approved. Why? Because it was related to my content and even though it was rude and dripping with sarcasm and belittlement of what I had researched and know to be facts, in a way that commenter still provided a way for me to reply and show my point of view and background knowledge of my topic.
I think that we have to be careful before we disapprove. You can't disapprove because a commenter does not write what you are expecting to read. If the comment is related to the content, if it engages you to reply, and it shows that the commenter read your content, I don't see any reason to disapprove.
Exactly, Christine, you seem to be the same type of commenter as me, I always try to think of some genuine question after reading the content thoroughly and providing my experience (if I have any). I actually think I'm a good commenter :) But I can't please everyone, of course.
I got over it, one comment out of many disapproved is not a bad result.
Thank you for your insights! I also love the fact we can provide and receive comments through Site Comments.
Hi Lenka,
I totally share and agree with your view. Actually, I have heard such an experience before and I wrote about it: Stop Disapproving Comments Merely Because They Aren't Long Enough - Stop It! One thing I would say is... don't be discouraged, you have to discipline your disappointment by understanding that you can't always please everyone, and by adapting your approach to giving comments. One thing I do now is I don't give as many comments anymore but I am selective about the articles I want to offer comment on - limiting it to what I like really really to read about.
But ultimately I understand how you feel as do many others who have experienced the same. Here's another member who wrote of her experience so you can see you are not alone: Different Take on Site Comments Debate! Best regards
Femi
Thank you Femi, I thought I would definitely not be the only one. After all, I don't think it's that bad to have one disapproved comment out of 10 approved ones.
I've been giving genuine comments, I always appreciate the author taking time summing up something. When I have experience with that topic or product I say something about it and then ask a genuine question. I'm not gonna change that. I like this kind of comments myself so I guess I have to do what I like to get the same, as Kyle says.
For me, it's even a challenge when I sometimes read a long article that is not written well but I still provide a valuable comment and it works well, apart from this one.
I can't be bothered thinking about this experience anymore, to be honest :) I will keep commenting and let's see how it goes.
Lenka
I see nothing wrong with your comment. This could definitely have gone on to some more discussions.
But I do things like you too; if I see that somebody has put some effort into the comment, then I will edit it and approve it. Sometimes, there are a lot of "thanks for this review" or "thanks for this information post" and I don't want too many of them.
If the rest of the comment is good, I just edit the parts that I don't want and leave the rest and approve the comment.
Even if grammar isn't good and I can't understand anything, I approve the comment and reply by asking to type again or try to answer based on what my understanding is, especially if I see that it has something to do with the specific content of my site.
But anyways, I guess some people haven't gone through the pain of getting disapproved. It's really bad for some people who are really trying because they could eventually get banned from SiteComments.
I just think that everybody should keep that in mind and think twice about disapproving somebody. Maybe they are really trying and you disapproving them might be the last chance for them.
Thank you for your insights, Reyhanna. You are right, people are probably not aware of that at all. I'm glad that I only had one disapproved comment out of ten. If that's the statistics, I have to accept that.
It still doesn't feel right though when I put the effort into reading and trying to think of the best question the person could elaborate on which I always do, to make the comment as natural as it can be.
But I can't please everybody, apparently.
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Absolutely agree with you 100%. The same has happened to me. I try my best to be engaging and ask questions about a subject that I really have absolutely no knowledge about or interest in, but I do make the effort. And yes, I have been disapproved twice. In fact I was even BLOCKED at one stage, so I had to ask the service support to unblock me and allow me to use the comments section again (I submitted evidence etc of what I had written).
I also have the delight of being "reported" by certain members because my niche is over 18. Nothing dodgy, in fact I have had nothing but positive responses from people who have actually bothered going onto the website and reading my articles. Before entering the website it clearly states IF YOU ARE NOT OVER 18, then you should not view this.
But, they instinctively think that because it is an 18+ site, it is illegal and should definitely not be on WA. Thankfully I have clarified everything with Kyle, who confirmed any niche is acceptable.
So instead of continuously REPORTING the site, just decline and say it is of no interest to you. I certainly do it to others. Yes, it increases my "skip" rate, but rather that than put someone else in jeopardy.