Forced Reciprocity
One of the things I love about Wealthy Affiliate is the community. When I joined I immediately noticed how helpful everyone was to each other. All day long people were offering solutions, posting blog posts like this one, and generally supporting each others' quests for improvement.
I love that you can ask for feedback on this site, but recently this has been an area of discomfort for me. You see, I am someone who will randomly go help other people. If someone asks for a comment on their site or for feedback I will do it if I have time. Sometimes I comment and say I did it and sometimes I don't. I don't necessarily need to receive credit for things I do.
Some of the assignments in the courses here have you request for comments or feedback on some of the forum threads. One thread in particular is set up to ask for people to read and comment on your blog posts. I think this is great. The suggestion on there is to comment on at least two people's posts before you ask for comments on yours.
This sounds like a great system in theory and I was excited about it until I posted. I went in and commented on a bunch of blog posts and then posted my recent blog post. What happened afterward was that people responded to me and let me know that they commented and now wanted (expected?) me to reciprocate. Some commented in the thread and then also sent me a private message.
Here's the thing...if you commented on my post in here and just said "commented," I would likely feel appreciative and return the favor. When you comment on my post and say "comment. Here's my site, please return the favor," it feels like a job and outside of what the original feeling from WA was for me.
What if we were to agree to just pay it forward without needing to then ask for something in return? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind when people ask me for help. I'm happy to do it if I can. But when it feels like I HAVE to go and reciprocate because someone did me a favor, it does not feel like a favor. It feels like WORK. It makes me reluctant to participate.
I think it is important to remember that sometimes giving isn't a back and forth and instead you give to one person, they give to another etc. When you are a giving person you attract people to give to you. When you insist others pay you back, it has a different flavor.
Thoughts?
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You are right. You just share your opinion on something and don't ask for in return. Let them read what you wrote and it's up to them if they will respond or not.
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I completely agree, Marlena.
I found it the whole situation uncomfortable as, to be honest, I didn't want to comment on some people's sites as I didn't want to be associated with the content.
I chose which sites to comment on as the content was appealing to me and I felt I was able to leave a meaningful comment.
Great point!