Site Comments - I am in tears.
There's been a lot of posts about Site Comments recently and I've been involved with most. I have had some great comments on my site so I know WA members can produce really good comments.
My stance has been, if a comment is low quality and adds nothing to the post, reject it. You are paying for it, after all.
Today I asked for several comments over a range of posts. I have spent the best part of the day reading them, editing them, trying to see where they add value, thinking of how I might construct a meaningful reply.. I totally understand the members who have agonised over rejecting a comment. I am almost in tears... 😢
I have rejected over half...
I have accepted some so-so comments but time and again, the same type of issues occur - not reading the article, ONLY praising the site or post, reiterating what's in the post, talking about something not related to the post... And short. Some were only 2-3 sentences long. Which I guess would be fine if they made good, relevant or interesting points.
Nothing was rejected for typos, bad grammar, bad spelling, lack of or poor punctuation, or the complete absence of capital letters. Non-native English speakers - please, please, please note that the first person personal pronoun "I" is written with a capital I.
With the masses of posts and training on comments, it's difficult to believe that so many members have not read any.
I wonder if I'm being too demanding. I don't think I am but when I'm hovering on the brink of a decision it would be good to get a second opinion.
UPDATE - bpais1 (Jim) below has commented on how it IS possible to do this. I'm sorry I didn't discover this sooner.
And there's no way to contact the commenter directly. You can only see their gravitar. Maybe identifying the commenter and website owner would cause problems but I wanted to get in touch with a few to suggest how they could improve their comment. In fact, I tried to do that in the Disapproval box. Some of my comments were longer and more detailed than theirs!
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I have never felt so disconnected from the WA community as I have when going through these comments.
Ian
Recent Comments
156
I believe we all have had the same issue. And it is sad, we work hard to produce quality content, and then to have this happens, I totally understand your frustration.
I had one article I wrote, "the Best Medicine", and it was on how laughter is indeed the best medicine. And I had one gal tell me how difficult it was to take her night meds. I went ahead and posted it, in hopes that it would give others a chuckle.
Try to not let it get to you, I know it's hard. And only accept those comments that pertain to your article. When you don't accept a comment, it gives you a chance to tell the commenter why you didn't approve their content. That hurts their percentage. Maybe then, they will take the time to read the content.
One can always hope. The very best to you, Ian,
Laura
Hi Laura - thank you for that. After reading everyone's experiences here, I might be toughening up :-)
But it's still a massive waste of time, especially replying to each rejection.
I like your 'chuckle' comment although I'm afraid if I had posted it I'd have been temted to say something unflattering about the commenter :-)
Ian
I think it would be helpful to make commenting a full course component, to be learned at the beginning. Learning how to craft a decent comment can be helpful to writing blog posts.
I also think that there needs to be a way to make sure people are doing the work and not just skipping through to say that they are done. If someone leaves me a "great post" type comment, I just delete it.
I totally agree, and lately have taken to offering comments first and then requesting, through PM, that the person comment on my post. I can then monitor who leaves comments, who does not, and the quality.
If it is a new blogger, then I let them know that comments are supposed to help the post gain credibility and to put some effort in.
When people see quality comments on their post, they are more likely to come back for a comment exchange, and we all win.
Hi Irma - thanks for your contribution, much appreciated.
There is loads of training out there on how to leave a good comment. It could possibly be added to a module and that would be no bad thing but it really shouldn't be difficult.
I've done a few comment exchanges but often feel I'm getting the short end of the deal :-(
Ian
Sorry you've had that experience....it happens to me too! It's unfortunate some folks just don't take the time to even read the article, much less, give a thoughtful quality comment. I always try to do both, read it, and think it out and write something relevant. Send me a PM whenever you like and I'll be glad to check your post out and comment. Thanks.
Hi Terry - that's very kind of you. However, now I know how to contact the commenter (see UPDATE to post), I will do so rather than rejecting a comment outright.
Ian
You are definitely not alone on this. A comment was left on my site that was so bad I had to edit more than half of it. I had absolutely no idea what the person was talking about and I had to spend more than 15 minutes editing the comment.
In fact, I was even confused on how to edit it because I did not even understand what was been said. It's just frustrating sometimes and I hope Kyle and Carson would be able to do something about this.
Hi AJIRI. Yes, I think a lot of us have had more than our share of poor, lowquality comments.
I have never tried to 'edit a comment into shape'. That defeats the object of the exercie and it ought to be rejected. I have spent a whle tidying up grammar and punctuation and that takes long enough.
Ian
Exactly why I no longer use comments.
I think the intention of giving people credits for commenting was a good one but it has been abused (inadvertently or not).
For each comment that you rejected it cost you 2 credits. I believe that those should be reinstated and two credits removed from the commentator's account. This might discourage bad comments and encourage others (like me( to start asking for comments again.
Who has a day to spend rejecting stuff!?
I do not use the site comments because too many people take the opportunity to leave feedback as well, and that is not what it is for.
The credits are a pay it forward thing. I do wonder now, though, if some see it as an easy way to earn credits and $. Well, if myself, alas, and other members keep rejecting low quality comments, the commenters may start to improve their game.
You don't lose any credits if you reject a comment, instead it goes 'back in the pile' and you get another one (which, of course, you can still reject). So you don't lose anything. Just, as you say, time...
I sort of like the idea of penalising a bad comment :-) but I'm not sure how popular it would be. Even good omments get rejected for strange reasons.
Ian
Couldn't agree more. I reject any no good comments and don't think too much about it. I always give a good reason and an explanation why the comment was rejected so I get one other instead.
Let's hope there is a better way of inspiring the community to give better comments, or not do it at all.
What people often don't realize is that comments count as content - the author's content, so it's super important that the comment adds to the value of the post.
On the other hand, I have seen some posts while posting comments, that were so poorly written that I had to reject giving them a comment. There was nothing positive to say.
I didn't, however, leave a negative comment either, because it's someone's site, someone's business, and if I can't help, I'm not going to make their life even harder just to earn 50cents.
Great post, btw lol
Alenka
I also am a newbie, but I like your attitude towards people and the regard you have for their posts. Looking forward to working with you at WA.
Thank you, Alenka :-)
It seems like you have got it sorted. This is only my 3rd comment request (and a big one) and I do admit I was expecting better :-(
I have also read posts which were terrible and declined to comment on them. As my Gran used to say - "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all!"
The only thing I can think of to improve matters at the moment is for Kyle/Carson to put a link at the top of Site Comments to some training with a MASSIVE headline saying HAVE YOU READ THIS?
Does WA have a suggestion box? :-)
Thanks for your contribution and support.
Ian
Welcome, Sevenk to WA!
Very much hope you enjoy your training here and the best of luck with your site :).
Do reach out if ever you need any help here.
Best,
Alenka
Hey YanFellow, as a newbie, I have a lot to learn from highly experienced people like you. I am touched by your feelings, and I shall try to follow comments from other community members closely. Thank youfor sharing what has com deeply from your heart. God bless you richly. Good day.
Joseph.
Thank you, Joseph.
Leaving site comments is really not rocket science but it is NOT a quick and easy way to earn credits and make $.
There is a huge amount of training on how to leave a good comment and it's EASY to follow.
Good luck to you and much success.
Ian
Ian,
It's very easy to find out who the commenter is and be able to contact them.
The little bell in the upper right side of your WA page shows notifications. Click on it and make sure "comments" is checked under "change options."
Then, when someone comments on one of your posts, it will show up here and you can go to their profile page.
I actually have all of the choices checked - so I can be "notified" of what is going on in WA.
Jim
P.S. - I've gotten some comments that also were not top quality. But, I always PM the commenter, giving them a link to Kyle's training on using SiteComments. Then, I give them a few days to either edit their comment or PM me their changes before I reject them.
Ah....! That's brillinat, Jim! :-)
However, in the case of Comments, clicking on their name or avatar takes you to their gravitar page.
But, if yopu hold your mouse over their avatar, a window pops up and you can see their name and go to their profile from there.
Great! I will ammend my post to point to your comment here but many, many apologies to the people I disaproved :-( who I desperately wanted to get in touch with.
Ian
In all honesty, if we've made a mistake in the comment section, we may be upset with being disapproved, but for those who are still trying to learn, we're gonna learn from our mistakes anyway. Sometimes we need that disapproval so we can learn from it and get back on track. Hopefully, we've learned enough to be more constructive and helpful. I would personally appreciate it if I was contacted before being disapproved so I could edit something. Sometimes, I may get ahead of myself and if anything distracts me, I may not write everything I was meaning write. And I don't catch it before clicking accept.
So don't worry about it. Mistakes happen. I'm good with being contacted. I'd rather that anyway :)
I can understand not wanting to disapprove, though. I don't want to hurt someone's feelings. But, sometimes, it has to be done.
Hi Kay - thanks for your contribution.
The solution is quite simple - read the training before posting a comment! :-) It really is not difficult but you need to pay attention to what's been said and what's required.
I reckon you probably leave good comments coz you sound thorough and want to do a good job.
Of course, we can all get it wrong ocassionally but I'm talking about times when it's obvious the commenter hasn't read the post, when they leave generic 'fab post, loved it, great stuff' comments, when they reiterate what's already in the post, when they leave feedback ionstead of a comment...
Mistakes are easy to forgive and to correct but it's like trying to ride a bike - it's not difficult but you need the training wheels first! :-)
Ian
Ian, I wrote a similar blog post a couple weeks back. I have a baby sleep niche blog, and people were leaving me comments like "If I had a kid, this would be really helpful, but I don't, anyway great content" - why would I accept a comment from someone who doesn't have kids on my mommy blog? How would that look to an organic search visitor coming to my article to find help on how to help their baby sleep and they see this comment from some random who says, "I don't have a kid but this was a good read" - you know what that would do? That would decrease the validity of my site! People will wonder who are these randoms that have nothing to do with the content, leaving comments. It just will make my site look less.... legit...
I totally feel where you are coming from. A lot of people who leave sitecomments are such in a rush to get as many comments as they can done, they don't really take the time to READ the article. I myself am a certified commentor, I make a point to relate to the content and pretend that it has something to do with me even though it doesn't. If its a article about training your dog, even though I don't own a dog, I will pretend to for the sake of leaving a quality comment, "My dog was chewing everything until I came to this site and read your article on how to prevent your dog chewing everything and it really helped me alot,"
I have had to disprove MANY comments - lol and like you, I also leave longer "disaproval" reason responses longer than the person who left a comment. I have 27 comments in que right now to be either rejected or approved, and honestly, I am putting it off because most of them are low quality comments and I just don't have the patience to go through all of them and tell everyone why their comment sucks.
Hi Sophia - a fellow suffere :-(
I've just read your blog post - wonderful! :-)
Alas, I don't think you commented on my site day :-(
As you say, you'd think it's mainly common sense, anbd there is soooooooo much training on it. Ah well... I need to toughen up a bit :-)
At least, thanks to Jim, I now know how to contact commenters.
But I still hate hitting the Disapprove button.
Ian
Agreed.
When I do not know the subject matter, I usually google the pros and cons of the subject and then ask a question based on what I read, hopefully something thoughtful that adds to the information in the post.
Me too. I feel like a jerk. But then, I remember the person really wasn't considerate enough to either click "I'm not interested" or leave a decent comment, when I say decent, I say please don't make me look like a jack ass at the end of my own article by leaving a lame comment, please? that is all I ask. So many people leave comments that would otherwise embarass me, so why the heck would I publish that? lol and I know that I can edit it, but why put the effort into re-writing an entire comment and make it up in my head and approve it just so the person can get the approval? That would basically be doing the persons job FOR them. HELL NO, i'm good off doing another persons job I have too much to do myself. You have a kind heart I can tell. Just don't feel too bad about it, people need to leave better comments, its as simple as that
Here's where I have to disagree with you....to a point. Just because someone doesn't have a kid doesn't mean that your site and posts aren't beneficial for them. They could be there doing research, they may be soon to be parents or in my case, they could be searching for things for first time parents who happen to be friends, acquaintances, or family who could really benefit from it and would be happy to share that information that's provided, with them.
You don't know the situation of why that person is there and comments should not automatically be disapproved just because that person is not a parent. As long as the comment relates to the post by pointing out a tip or guide that was an eye opener and ended with a question that could be answered, it should not in my opinion be disapproved.
I also think people are forgetting that you can edit a post if there is something you don't like in it. I think if more people did that, things would be a little better off.
With that being said, here's where I DO agree with you and even with what some others have said on this blog thread. There are definitely times that a comment has to be disapproved and I agree that there is starting to be an influx of lower quality comments than what was on the original SiteComments platform. You do make a valid point that if there is suddenly a large influx of comments such as "I don't have a kid but this was a good read", it would start to look weird especially if there's comments that are really that short.
I think the big issue is that people are now focusing more on earning money rather than focusing on making a quality comment and I will admit....I've been guilty of this at times. I had a comment of mine disapproved a few weeks ago and when I read the reasoning of it, I went back to read the full article and my comment and I felt like an idiot because my comment made no sense and I realized I was in a hurry when I did that comment and didn't fully digest or understand what the article was about.
I know in the end, you are trying to run an online business, and you have the right to reject any comment that you don't see fit to be on your website. While SiteComments is getting much more use, I think it's a catch 22. You're seeing many more comments, yes, but are the comments truly relevant to what you're looking for or are people making them just to earn money?
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Thanks for sharing Ian,
I've noticed this too where people have not read the post and have written something that clearly shows that they didn't land on the page organically - which is what our comments are supposed to show - or am I wrong in thinking this?
I've read comments such as "I've never heard about this before but thanks for sharing" How did they end up on the post if they hadn't heard of what is being talked about?
Comments should be written as though you arrived at the page organically so that others who do land on the post/article can see a genuine flow of comments.
I see this when I'm generally looking for an answer to something technical; judging by other comments left, I can tell that the commentators were genuinely looking for an answer and they found it.
Let's try and do this here.
Jackie,
WA sends emails to members with links to posts that comments have been requested for, supposedly based on interests that we choose to comment on...doesn't always work.
Two of the last three WA selections for me to comment on were one on Breastfeeding, and the other on Raising Infants...I am 69 years old, widowed for three years, and have never had children. Needless to say, I did not leave comments.
Now you know where the "I've never heard of this" comments come from, so please don't blame those offering comments.
Best wishes,
Joe
Hi Jacqueline - yes, it seems that everyone who has requested comments has had this experience. I thought it was only me and my uber complicated blog a bout dogs... :-)
Yes, the comments are supposed to be natural and written by someone who arrived at the site organically and therefore knows the subject or wants to discover something in particular about it.
Maybe if the 1001 blogs and bits of training don't get them, this wil...
I don't have any kids but...
if I did I'd certainly want to read your article
I don't like dogs, but...
if I did I'd find your article fascinating
I know nothing about this, but...
your article has made me want to go out and buy every book on the subject
I don't have a garden but...
your fantastic review of the Zylo lawn mower made me want to buy one!
Ian
Hi Joe - yes, this has happened to me as well. I'm wondering if, by the time you get the email and click through, that the original comment has gone and you're now seeing a new one.
I ask because if you click on an old email, there may be no comments required at all.
The point about leaving "I've never heard of this" comments is that if it's not a topic you're familiar with you should ignore it, regardless of the email :-)
You can't always relay on technology :-)
Ian
The WA email says there is a post for me to comment on, then, when I click on the link, it says something like "while there are not any posts on you selection of Animals, here is one that we think you can comment on"...and voila, there it is--"Breastfeeding"...I don't pass on it, I just click on the X on the tab at the top.
Hi Jackie
Regarding your rhetorical question: "How did they end up on the post if they hadn't heard of what is being talked about?"
I have organically landed on many pages where the topic discussed is not exactly what I have Google searched for.
Google picks up my search term in the LSI keywords of the website, and when I see the results, I'm curious to know more. I have learned some amazing things this way.
So yes, people do get to your page organically, even though they may have no prior knowledge of your topic. Thank Uncle Google for sending them! ;-) LOL!
Different story of course if it is a WA member, of course...
I just wanted to point out that it does happen in organic searches.
Hope that helps!
Sharlee (Chocolate IceCream)
Sometimes the window of opportunity is very small. If you're not at your computer when the email arrives it's often too late.
Yes, that's the way to avoid a Skip penalty.
Ian