SiteComments. A Little Disappointed.
This Is My Business
We are all here because we found something or someone explaining how you can have a wonderful opportunity to work from home and help people. Somewhere in the middle of all that, it becomes a real, complete business.
Not just any business.
This is a business that just about anyone can feel proud and happy to run.
So, when you come across inferior elements that would impact your business negatively, you avoid it. That's your reputation online, right?
Comments WastedI LOVE the idea of SiteComments and SiteFeedback. Pay It Forward was one of the greatest concepts and most amazingly inspirational movies to ever have been written and produced.
However, when I spend an entire day providing insightful, quality, engaging comments to my peers to help round out their wonderful websites and promote more engagement from organic traffic coming from Google, I have a certain expectation when I use my credits to ask for the same.
So, I post a request for comments, and get bombarded by something that almost resembles English, but has absolutely nothing to do with the actual article. Then, I happen to have a second article at the same time to request comments. I receive more of the same people regurgitating virtually the same comment with equally irrelevant structure and content.
I Implore YouI beg of you, please, please, please, if you are accepting someone's hard-earned comment request, READ THE ARTICLE. Read every word. Be the person it is directed at. Then, think about it. Figure out how it has or will affect your life from this moment on.
Then, carefully build your comment as though you are posting on your own page, because this is someone's BUSINESS you are involved in.
Also, if you receive these garbage comments on your hard-earned requests, Disapprove. If they are spamming to get paid, disapproval will inhibit that. They can only survive if you approve the comments they randomly throw at every opportunity that arises.
Don't just disapprove them. Make it clearly known that they are STEALING a legitimate opportunity that was EARNED by someone to build a part of their site, with the help of others.
Today was the worst I have seen, when I posted an article that is part of a multi-part tutorial, which had absolutely nothing to do with the first part of the title, but the preliminary setup. I received multiple comments saying how they learned new ways to do what the title said.
My promise to garbage commenters, as of this moment, is you will not get credit for not doing what is asked on my requests. I truly and honestly hope your certified commenter status is revoked until you give full, meaningful, AUTHENTIC comments.
Rant over.
Recent Comments
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Before I give comments, I read the whole article first. I even click links in it to get the whole picture. Two comments I gave recently were disapproved. I’ve learned it’s best to be brief and only say positive things. Giving constructive feedback seems to stand the chance of being disapproved. What are your feelings on this Tyler?
I recently hit Certified Commenter status with 100% approved comments, of which I am quite proud.
My first disapproved comment was a little closer to something that should have been posted in SiteFeedback and I learned very quickly and adapted.
What I find works best is to find something the author didn't think of to bring a positive light to the subject of their article (or negative if that is their objective). Use your life experiences with something similar or the actual product. Be honest and thorough to validate what they are portraying with their time and words.
Or, if you don't have personal experience, ask a relevant question that they definitely didn't answer, but most likely can, and make sure it doesn't take away from what they are saying. (Don't promote a different product on a review that they worked hard on)
Thanks Tyler. Can I ask a question about Certified Commenter? Can I get paid to give comments when I qualify as one? How can I qualify?
Thanks!
Yes, you can!
There's a counter when you click on SiteComments. It tells you your comments for the last 30 days over 50. In order to maintain Certified Commenter status, you have to have 50+ comments for the last 30 days (it keeps going, so make sure you comment at least 3 a day), and keep an approval higher than 80%.
Also, you have to keep your skip rate below 20%, which shouldn't be difficult if you have your interests set properly.
Comment for everyone and make sure it helps them and their business.
there are some here who can give you concrete comments. you can meet them along the way. that's true there are some comments that are far from the content.
Oh, I'm definitely not saying that all of the comments that I receive are bad. Far from it. It just seems that about 20% are spam artists that just type gibberish to get the minimum number of words so they can get their $0.50. Some of them copy huge portions of the article itself as well.
But to those that give insightful, helpful and authentic comments, THANK YOU. Keep doing what you are doing, even if we don't get paid for it. The ability to help others and earn the help you need for good comments is an amazing part of this community and shouldn't be ruined by the few.
Thanks for this post!
We have completely steered away from Site Comments because of all the things we have been reading.
You have Carson's attention now and we are sure he will investigate further and take action.
What a relief!
C & P
Just don't give up completely. It truly is a beautiful concept that allows serious business owners to earn and deserve help with their endeavors. The kinks are the only problem, not the entire platform.
Hi! Sorry man that's bad. But hey remember it's not posted until you approve it. Close that door and keep posting to your audience.
Hear, hear!
I suggest to everyone, to always, and I mean Always, disapprove low quality comments. I do, and I don't feel bad about it in the slightest.
If I do give comments I make sure they are relevant, add significantly to the word count of the article, mention the keyword, ask a question to encourage the dialog i.e. more comments.
And I expect nothing less when I ask for comments.
Thanks for writing this post and very glad Carson is going to step in to help out with this issue.
Best,
Alenka
I am incredibly appreciative of this response. Carson jumped on this really quick and I believe completely that something is being done.
I try my best to do the same when commenting. I always give an opportunity for author engagement, either ask a question that adds to content, without detracting from the quality of the post, or give personal experience that increases the reason that the subject is important or goes along with what the person writing is saying about it.
For me it just makes sense to add to someone's business if you expect the same.
Tyler, i feel for you luckily i have not had your bad responses otherwise i would have rejected them .
I always read thru someone's post cause they have put a lot of time in them usually and i always make positive comment's with positive feedback.
I was in sales for 30 years and about the same in property management and repairs and it's always the 80 - 20 rule 80 % of the people give you 20 % of the problem and 20 % of the people give you 80 % of the problems, once you understand this you can ignore them give them hell and forget about them .
One day when i was managing about 70 salespeople a man came into my office and said he went knocking on doors to try and get a listing and this man told him to get the hell off my property and don't come back , it bothered him so much he went back to the office and could not. stop thinking about what happened !
So, i asked him if your friend said the same thing to you what would you think ? He said i would think he was having a bad day, exactly and would this bother you all day thinking about it ? Again he said no !
So, this man yelling at you, you don't even know him he is not your friend or relative and it bothers you ?
He looked at me kind of funny and said your right John when you put it like that what do I care I don't even know this guy and he went out and started to knock on doors again .
Just keep knocking on doors you will be ok don't let what other people are doing wrong bother you too much.
They use to say plumber's made some of the best salespeople cause they would work around toilets and get splashed with dirty water from time to time but they would be on the job the next day no pun intended ha ha .
HAVE A GREAT DAY !!!
Hi Tyler, definitely frustrating if you're offering really great comments and not getting the same in return. I'm going to reach out to you via Private message to discuss. I'd like to have look at the comments that you've received so that I can see exactly what you're talking about. It'll help us to make updates to the system going forward.
Check your Private Messages.
Carson
Like I said in the private message, thank you very much for the prompt and professional response. You make it possible for all of us to maintain an unwavering confidence in WA. I'm definitely a proud member of this community.
Hi Carson
It's encouraging to see you personally responding to the critical comments about the Site Feedback. Many WA members are disappointed by the crappy feedback they got and have vented their frustration on this platform.
I'm sure you will look into this issue and make improvements to a very good feature of WA.
Hi Tyler,
I'm truly sorry about your experience with Sitecomments. Lately, there seems to be a serious issue when it comes to receiving quality comments.
So much that I have accumulated credits but I literally fear to ask for comments that my site so desperately needs.
I agree with you when it comes to disapproving bad comments.
That can work to deter the bad practice.
Perhaps our approach should be to ask people in our networks directly for comments and we reciprocate? I don't know.
I agree. I have been complaining about this for months (since shortly after the transition to paid comments when this became a problem). At first others here thought I was just being harsh or didn't know what I was talking about. Then many people started to get that we were being played but the problem persists. I finally gave up and haven't used Site Comments for the last month or two.
I agree we all need to disapprove these junk comments. If we all do that, the problem will end.
See more comments
Hi Tyler,
One other thing to remember is that the SiteComments platform gives bonus comments. So, in many cases you will get up to 5x or even 10x the comments that you requested.
If a comment is low quality, the best way to prevent the author of that comment from doing this to others is to disapprove, but provide them with a reason as it'll help them learn.
You want to be careful about wanting the "PERFECT" comment because the is the real world and comments are written by humans. There is a way to respond to every comment and turn it into a great opportunity to add highly relevant content to your post in the form of a reply - so use comments to your advantage to rebut, or ask the user what they meant while including facts or information about your post. That said, a comment that is not at all relevant to your post is something that should absolutely be disapproved.
Carson
I most definitely use every comment as an opportunity to extend the reach of my post, either through links to other articles or a separate way to teach a different concept.
I assure you, I don't look for perfect comments, but they do need to be relevant and actually reflect the content they are left for.
I have gotten 12 or more sometimes and that is DEFINITELY appreciated. Don't worry, I have been self moderating, but I just hope that others are doing the same.
Thank you, Carson,
That was very insightful. I will become more actively involved in site comments. I am sorry to say I have not gotten very active with that part of WA. This a wake-up call for me. I will start getting more involved with the site comment requests.
Sandy
I empathize with Tyler because I've been down the same road. And, it's not only frustrating - but, it takes up a lot of time to try and fix some of the comments to make them relevant or, at least, understandable - in English.
I occasionally have to disapprove comments. But, before that happens, I send a PM to the "bad commenter" and explain why their comment is not valid - giving them a link to Kyle's training on SiteComments. Then, I allow them some time - anywhere from a few days to a week - to edit their comment and avoid the disapproval.
Most of the time, I will get a much better comment from them. However, sometimes, my PM is ignored - and I have to disapprove (with an explanation).
I know when I was a newbie, I "foot faulted" a couple of times making comments. So, I understand that the same thing may happen to others.
But, as Tyler says, there are still a group of WA folks that think they can "make a living" as a "certified commenter" - which, of course, doesn't make sense. And, it is this group that tears through each commenting opportunity at record speed - in an effort to maximize the number of comments they make - and they just don't care if they understand or comprehend the web page they are supposed to be helping.
Just my 2 bits worth!
:-)
Jim