Poor quality comments with Site Comments?
Anyone else receiving poor quality comments with Site Comments?
I tried it out for the first time today and my first two comments were pretty bad. The first one was almost good enough to approve, the second one was just complete crap.
Do people understand the difference between the site feedback and the site comments?
Site feedback is where you leave feedback about the structure of the post and website. Site comments is where you leave feedback about the content of the post and maybe leave a question or two about the content. The comment shouldn't say anything about how they liked your use of hyperlinks and images within the post.
I had one comment where the guy literally said "I didn't have time to read your content..." and then went on to say that "he did feel like continuing to read". If you didn't read my post then why are you trying to post a comment? He then proceeded to tell me about how he liked the structure of the post and he thought it was laid out.
That's the type of comment that belongs in the Site Feedback section and not the Site Comment section.
The most frustrating thing is I don't get the credits back for those comments I had to reject. If I keep getting crap comments I might have to just abandon the site comments section completely.
The Site Comments feature was almost tempting enough to bring my websites back to WA's hosting, but my initial experience with it hasn't been so good. Hopefully, the comments improve.
Recent Comments
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Wow, I hope they get better for you. I have been using it dail6y and so far had not had to turn any down. (crossing fingers )
Yeah, it got better, I have three good ones now. I was just amazed that the first two comments I received from the system I had to disapprove.
I think I'll follow the advice from your post and just request one at a time. It does look a little odd if you have 10 comments all within minutes of each other.
Also, I really don't like how they use the same date and time of the comment for the date and time of your reply. That definitely looks really weird.
Yeah, that's the right thing to do. The only reason I can think of people trying to comment on things like your images, page layout, and hyperlinks is because they can't think of anything else to say. At that point I think they would just be better off waiting and coming back later and commenting on a different post.
I usually have nice comments. But one day, received 3 really strange ones in a raw that has nothing to do with the content and even invitation for a critique via PM. I tried my best not to disapprove it by sending PM messages inviting people to amend their comments, nobody replied. So I had no choice but to disapprove and send them the link Using the Site Comment Feature Correctly . It's a really good blog by Leese. Maybe you can do the same.
Milla
Yeah, I actually thought about editing the comment myself, but then I started thinking that I shouldn't have to manually edit comments myself just to make them suitable to post. If they aren't going to take the time to right a decent comment, then I'm just going to disapprove them. Hopefully, they will eventually figure it out.
Thank you for sharing that post, there are some really good tips in it.
There is an option for you to edit incoming comments. You can just delete the part that is not relevant.
And if the entire comment is irrelevant? Do I just delete the entire comment and write my own? At that point I'm better off just posting my own comments directly to my website making up different names. Then I would get 3 comments instead of just 1 comment.
I'm not going to spend the time writing 2 comments on other people's websites for the "honor" of having to edit one alright comment in order to make it suitable to post to my website.
I did not say to edit a comment. All I said is of deleting the irrelevant part if the rest of the comment is okay. As Bluette mentioned she used to PM people to amend their comments (obviously the comments are not entirely irrrelevant) but received no response, so I merely reply to her that she actually can do it herself since there is such edit option there.
As for the comments that are entirely irrelevant, I delete dozens each day because everybody knows these are just spams, so to my mind there is no point to discuss this kind of comments and further to contemplate what to do with them. And I certainly would not offer any suggestion in terms what you should do about them.
Yes, I agree with you, we should not edit the comments. I felt terrible at first disapproving, but I guess it will be a learning curve for some people.
Leese blog is great.
Deleting part of a comment is editing a comment. When you say you delete dozens a day are you referring o comments you received through WA's Site Comment feature or spam comments posted directly to your website by bots? This discussion is about the WA Site Comment feature.
I believe WA comment system putting an edit option there must be for a reason. I think this answer from me should end my discussion with you over this subject.
I agree with what you say, Thomas. I too get annoyed when WA members tell me "on my blog" that the website is well layed out etc....
People from the search engines will be reading our content and the comments that go with it, and they can already see the layout and structure for themselves, so don't need to be told.
Peple want to see real comments that offer value to them on the subject of the content :)
Yeah, I don't know how people would think that someone from the search engines would comment on hyperlinks and my use of images, it just blows m mind.
There have been a lot of blogs about how to leave good quality comments and the difference between site feedback and comments. Hopefully the more there are the more reach there'll be.
So far, I've had mostly good comments. What you can do is refuse the comment and then explain why, this is the only way people will learn. When I first started here my comments were pretty poor because I didn't know any better. After I read a blog on how to leave good quality comments I learnt how to comment properly.
Hi Kathy, I did leave comment about why I disapproved the comment.
Do you know for sure if this feedback goes to the person who commented or if it's used by site admins to find out if someone is routinely submitting low quality comments?
One of them submitted another comment directly on my site asking why I disapproved his comment. I'm definitely going to let him know why.
I'm pretty sure the person gets the feedback, this is what Kyle said in repsonse to another member complaining of poor comments.I can't find the discussion now though.
Maybe a quick pm to Kyle to clarify 100%?
All of my comments have been excellent, although I can tell sometimes they only read the first few sentences.
I have found the system frustrating when it INSISTS that I comment on certain posts even though I know nothing about the subject matter, or when I get 4 Jaaxy reviews in a row and I run out of things to say.
But I'm muddling through and I get 3 to 5 comments on my site per day, which is good since my site is brand new.
When I get a site review instead of a comment, if it isn't too bad I will keep it, but if it isn't appropriate for the page I will delete it and PM the poster and thank them for their input but ask them to use PM next time.
Yeah, I don't know why they would design the system in such a way that you are asked to comment on a post that you've already commented on.
I think if there are no other sites to comment on, they should just display a message saying "Please check back later for more sites to comment on". No one wants comments from the same person on one post over and over again.
I think I will start PMing people telling them why I deleted the comments.
That is such a disappointing thing to hear. So far I havent asked for any comments but I have left a few and most are about the length of small posts anywhere from 300-500 words...I tend to be a bit wordy. And I always take time to read everything, sometimes browse the rest of the site and think of at least one question to ask so that the person has something to respond back to if they so please. I think people forget the give and take mentality that should be occurring. Don't give something that you wouldn't be happy receiving on your site...gosh
Jean (that being said if you would like a comment feel free to pm me!)
I think 300-500 words is excessive for a comment. I think that time might be better spent on writing posts for your own website, but I do appreciate the time and effort you put into writing quality comments for people.
It has improved since I posted. I think I'm just going to have to take the good with the bad and just accept the fact that I'll get the occasional poor comment that I will have to disapprove.
only a waste of time if it took me more than ten minutes to write. it is much easier to give an opinion on something someone has written than it is to do the research and write your own articles. big difference in time.
It's good to hear that the majority of the time they are good. I must have just had bad luck at the beginning.
Yeah, I probably should have toned the post down a bit, but I was frustrated. Since I posted this I did get two additional comments without having to use credits for them, so I guess you don't lose the credits if you disapprove a comment. That makes me feel better about the system.
That would make sense considering the idea is to use the credits to get comments, so if you refuse them then you didn't get a comment. At least they thought about that lol. It didn't even occur to me until I read your post.
Sigh, you are a prophet! I just had to trash a comment that suggested I needed more visuals. They were right, lol, but as you said, comments are not the place to say it.
I felt bad disapproving it, but at the same time I think it was laid out pretty clear how to use the system.
I think it's just going to be one of those things where you get good comments and a few bad ones.
Maybe if a person gets enough of their comments disapproved they will realize how to write them properly.
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Sorry, I have not had that experience with them yet, but you are not the first one to say this.
Others have posted about what a comment is and what it isn't. Quality comments talk about what the article was about and ask pertinent questions regarding that particular content.
I thought this would be more clear, there are a lot of newbies here, please be patient with them, they are learning how to be a good steward of the training, I am sure you remember those days as well.
San
Hi San, thank you for your comment. You bring up a good point of there being people of varying skill and experience levels. I think I did lose sight of that and I will try to be more patient and understanding in the future.
When I get comments like that I look at it as a moment to teach them something and take it as that. I had one I got rejected, I just couldn't give it what it deserved, the person was very nice about declining it but he was right, I did not give his article the review it needed, if I had it to do over again I would read something specific about a boring article, and this one was very long and boring, and target that.
San