Site Comment Is Not Site Feedback! RANT!
Dear fans and readers, newbies,
Please if you decide in giving site comments here through Wealthy Affiliate, there is a big difference between site comments and site feedback.
Site Comments!
If you are requested to give a discussion about the topic, you cannot expect from the comment receiver to accept a website feedback or a general statement. A discussion about the topic means you talk about the story content, this can include videos then you watch those too, if it is a review you give your inputs to that review as well. You discuss about the topic!
I see too often that I just receive comments that do not discuss about the topic. Others think by reading the header they know all the answers! Are these commentors trying to game the Site Comment system to make the quick buck?
That is not the idea, you give comments to help others out, you get credits for that, so do your job as expected. Others can, so can you! I have decided to decline any comment that does not fullfil this requirement. In the past I gave all of you who did not do this a chance per PM to correct the reply, but seen the sheer of comments I am requesting, I won't have the time to do that anymore.
Site Feedback!
If you like to give a general feedback about the website, go to Site Feedback. That is for these kind of replies, in addition you give information about your user experience of the website and tips where you think the site owner can improve making the website better.
End Rant!
I had to give my thoughts on this as it seems to get worse by the day! I like to thank all the fans and readers from the community, who are giving comments and feedback the right way, it is well appreciated.
ToLiNoLi, Stefan
Recent Comments
104
Hi James,
It is getting worse by the day, all since people can earn credits $, and I think that is where the problem is. Sure there are many who do a good job, but I notice more and more are just looking for a quick reply hoping people will accept and bham they made another $....
And that has to stop.
Hi, I understand your frustration. I agree with @Helen123 that sometimes people may not quite understand what is required.
I also understand that English may not be the first language and sometimes things can be poorly written - it's a tough one. I think most people are genuinely trying to do the right thing.
However, I do feel that some may be just trying to receive credits quickly rather than actually reading the post and feeding back appropriately.
I guess it can be difficult when you have given great feedback yourself to earn your credits only to be given back something you didn't ask for.
I don't know if there is any way of moderating this before it lands with you.
In the past, I have let people know if there have been issues with the comments to hopefully help them better understand what I was hoping to see or expect.
I get the frustration for sure.
Unfortunately it is more as just sometimes, this happens almost every day and I also noticed it are often the same people I declined coming back at the very next comment request and repeat the same. How about that?
As in my comments below and in my blog post, I PMed the wrong commenter in the past, but it is getting more and more, it just can't be like this, that is not what the comment section is for, that we have to PM people continuously, because they do not understand or do not want to understand what "discussion on the topic" means.
Hmmmm.... I understand your frustrations and I too have had the wrong comments in the wrong places sometimes. But I think you have forgotten to take into consideration the background of the people who are offering you comments and feedback.. They may not have english as their first language, they may be newbies and do not yet understand the way things work, but are trying to take part in the community of WA. Some may not be great at writing yet, and do not understand the difference between comments and feedback.
One way to help with new people would be to direct them to a blog about how to do feedback and comments and what exactly has to be included. I honestly think that it isn't because people are trying to rush through and want get credits rather than give a good review, I think its because they are new and not sure what to do and they have to do a ton to actually get any money for them, so whilst I appreciate your frustration, we all get them but being part of this community is supporting and helping others, it is part of all our duty to direct where things are not quite right. So thats part of asking for a comment or feedback, you need to offer direction and advice if you get one that is not as it should be. We are all busy, we all need more than 24 hours in a day, but this community depends on each of us to do what we can for each other... Now I have had a rant...🤣
I don't think comments being placed in the wrong section is the problem. I understand if people don't have experience or mix up feedback with comments(which does happen) but the comment without thought is what is being targeted here.
My problem does not lie with mistakes in gramma as I correct that but when the sentence is either copied directly out of my post to fluff it up or the comment makes no sense, then people need to rethink the process....
If we request a comment there are 4 options to choose from:
1) Questions on the topic or overall article
2) Discussion about the topic
3) Offer experience with the topic
4) Opinion about the topic
As you can read, it is all about the topic, what is the problem that people do not understand these clear descriptions?
Then there are the sheer people, as Rich already wrote, who do not even read the topic, but take parts of your article to form a reply, or just give a really bad reply on it that makes no sense at all or it is not even close to the article topic.
If English is bad, standard based spelling and grammar mistakes we can correct that, but if the whole comment is not real English, that should not be part in our comment system I think.
And if it would be only one or two, I can live with that, but how about 5 on 1? I can tell because I use the system almost every day and this is just not acceptable.
People make mistakes and in the past I sent them a PM, but most of them do not even reply or reply with "I don't care", others gave the correct reply and hopefully learned from that. But it is getting worse, more and more comments come in that are bad and something needs to be done.
Just my 2 cents to it...
I understand your frustration. I clearly have been lucky as I have had very few issues. Perhaps the answer is that there is training on how to give feedback and comments. You cannot forget that there are people here from all backgrounds of education and grasp of english, and unfair not to offer them advice on how to make a good comment or good feedback.
I agree on that, but seriously have they never been to school? In school we learn to discuss about topics or am I missing something here?
Perhaps it is a problem with the Wealthy Affiliate platform that people get the wrong idea?
If that is the case for all the good people willing to give their best, then we must find a way how it can be improved so that it is clear to anyone from day 1 on. Let's lookup the platform and come up with a solution we can propose to Kyle to make the platform a better experience.
And let's also make work of it to those misusing the comment system to make the quick buck as they are giving our comment system a bad light of quality. These people should be removed.
Not everyone has the same education, or the same application, sadly... its what makes the world go round. We have a wide scope of people here, from all kinds of backgrounds and countries. It does give a diverse cross section of people with various skills. Some need way more support than others.
I was lucky. I had a very good education, my first language is english, I am fanatical with grammar, correcting WhatsApp messages because I cannot stand inaccuracies or spelling mistakes, but that's me. My way of writing a blog may be very different to yours or the way I construct a feedback review. But that doesn't make it wrong.
But I agree the way that comments and feedback are given does need review. I'm not sure whether there are specific people you see abusing the credit system or whether it is just lack of direction? They have to give a lot of comments/feedback before they can start making any money from it.
I would suggest having training, with questions that have to be answered in the comment/feedback.. and teach a way that with the answers they construct their reply. That would increase the quality of the remarks and everyone would benefit. Im sorry for getting a bit ratty with you, I want to find a way forward to encourage those that don't leave good replies to improve but we all must help them.
You cannot help those who are playing the comment system to make money, that will remain and get worse if we do not put a halt to it.
How do you want to teach people who do not understand what discussion on a topic means? Can you give some examples?
If they can discuss and reply on a blog post put up in Wealthy Affiliate, then why can't they do the same in the site comments, can you explain me that?
There is training here for people to learn how to make images clickable, or how to set up a plugin for auto responding, so I am sure its possible to show what has to be included in comments/feedback.
There will always be some who cant or dont think it applies to them, why do people walk their dog in my neighbourhood and not use the poop bins?
The only way to weed out those that aren't following the accepted format, is to have a '5 strikes and you're out' sort of thing, 5 unapproved comments/feedback reviews and you lose the privalege of using the service for your own website for a period of time. Concentrates the mind on the task...
Perhaps your suggestion of something along the lines of 5 strikes and your out would work. Currently there is a reward system without a balancing censor system. Censorship shouldn’t be needed, but sadly it looks like it is.
You cannot compare apples with eggs and you are not replying to my 2 questions I had. Maybe you should follow a course as well to know the topic of discussion? :P
As stated before, you cannot tell me that someone who is discussing a topic in WA due to replying on blog posts and or questions, or even live chat, is not capable to understand that a comment to a blog post on our website is different!
I rest my case!
Here are some suggestions:
1) How about we get a star review option, then we can leave our value how good the comment was.
2) How about a text field where we the requester can add some additional info what we expect to receive as comment, then there can be no excuse anymore people do not know how to comment.
3) Let us have the ability to mark our preferred commenter, in this way we select who can leave a comment and who not.
What do you think?
I think one issue is that many people don’t read the boxes you’ve checked. E.g., sometimes I don’t want questions on the subject ( I know, I know asking a question is supposed to be good as it gives the website owner a reason to respond) but honestly I don’t want to answer a question that is just not related to the topic ( goes back to the frustration of people not really reading the post).
So I doubt that adding more info about what we expect from the comment would help.
To be blunt..... bottom line people are using this platform as a way to make money. These problems did not appear in this number until the new system was introduced!
Exactly, I completely agree, it is now a quick making money niche for many. I think the making money idea should be changed in something else, how about earn credits for a free WA t-shirt, cup or whatever.
Hi Stefan - I think a lot of us can relate to this. It's not just feedback instead of a comment but poor comments, too.
I do think The Guys are planning an update but I don't know when or what. I sent Kyle a list of suggestions, one of which could easily be implemented and which would prevent this situation.
Meanwhile we must grin and bear it. Or not! :-)
Ian
Hi Ian,
Good job! Because something must change to improve the quality. We pay for this, so we should expect what we paid for. Perhaps the payment should be converted in something else, because if the payment for those who give the comments fall away, they get something else in return but no money, then surely many of the bad commenter people will disappear.
Looking forward to the improvements.
Yes,it's frustrating. And we ARE paying for them, which some people seem to forget.
One of my suggestions was to do away with the payment although I can see that might annoy and disapoint some good commenters but I think it can be done while still paying with a tweak or two,. K&C may have their own ideas.
We'll have to wait to see what happens...
Ian
Hi Ian,
Exactly, we pay for them, so we have the right at least to receive a topic discussed quality comment.
Here are my tweak proposals:
1) How about we get a star review option, then we can leave our value how good the comment was.
2) How about a text field where we the requester can add some additional info what we expect to receive as comment, then there can be no excuse anymore people do not know how to comment.
3) Let us have the ability to mark our preferred commenter, in this way we select who can leave a comment and who not.
What do you think?
I have found in the last few months that many of the comments I receive ask the exact questions that are detailed in my posts. Others are so badly written I have no idea what they are getting at.
While the WA program does it's best to screen the comments for length, there must be in my opinion a way that the program can rate a commenter or somehow improve that person's comments.
Just today I rejected 3 comments purely based on poor quality and worse yet, not even skimming the titles on what the post was about. Thanks got writing this rant cos it saves me from writing one too.
Rich
Same here Rich!
My first 3 comments of today were the same. Then there are also comments in real bad English, that is also something of concern. For now besides of trying to educate people, I think we have to start being strict and decline each and every comment that is no comment as discussion about the topic. Perhaps the system should be sharpened that if you get 3 Red cards, you are blocked for at least 3 months.
From many comments I receive, they look clearly to make the quick buck. It is the more important that we the receivers start to decline such comments, so that the people who give good comments stay in the system and the rotten apples are taken out.
That would be one way to do it. Carrot and stick principle will definately go a long way to improving the system.
Thanks for this post and I really hope people read this and up their game....
That is the idea, I hope the good willing people who are in the wrong will learn from this and improve doing it better.
Cheers,
Stefan
Stefan,
Well said!!
There seems to be confusion around this. I don't know why, but it seems to be a topic of frustration weekly, for many people.
Shaunna
Not only that, seen the comments I read, it is clear there are many trying to make the quick buck by just giving random answers. This has to stop!
No worries and apologies if I am one of those who have got it wrong ; 0 certainly not intentional
You would have received a PM from me if that would have been the case. I request comments every week and it is getting worse receiving comments that do not discuss about the topic.
My today's request: the first 3 were like that, it can't continue like that and if there is a misunderstanding what Site Comments mean, now is the time to give some education and lets hope it will improve.
See more comments
I felt the same way. Thanks for sharing this and I hope it's read by those who need to understand it. hahaha
Those who need to understand it and change is good, but there are also those as said who are looking for the quick buck.
It is important as a community that we find a way to stop those who are abusing the comment system in such a way to make money and do not care about the reason we have a comment system in the first place.