Defying the Odds: Thoughts on Commenting
It made me start to wonder... how many great comments never get written because the person knows they probably won't get upvoted on it? When you look at a post and the first 15 out of 20 comments are benign comments with no substance how does that make you feel as the OP? I know the ultimate goal with Steemit is a place to create and curate meaningful content. It is a place where a community can interact, grow and thrive. Much of that takes place by commenting and starting discussion with each other post-post if you will. On another level though part of this community exists as a way of gaining validation or recognition. The same is true with any social media platform.
That being said I can think of a couple reasons for comments without substance:
-The person is trying to get the attention of a whale and/or followers
-The person is participating in a contest where they get points for commenting (as a noob, I am guilty of this, though I am making a focused effort to do better)
So is there a solution? Start flagging comments without "meat"? Offer SBD for thoughtful comments(this might be hard for people who are still minnows)? I don't really know as though I have an answer. I long for my whale days when I can visit a post and tag the 45th comment with a nice juicy upvote.
Until then, I am going to try my best to put some thought into my future comments. Let's not let fear, doubt, or the odds keep us from posting that reflective comment on someone's post. No matter how many previous comments there are. What do you think fellow Steemians? What patterns have you noticed with comments? What frustrates you the most? Do you have any thoughts or missives on comments in general? I promise you, I will read your comments and though my voting power is pretty low, I will upvote ones I feel have some "meat", even if it is the 50th comment.
I have authored a follow-up post to this one accessible here
I, for one, am glad that there were only four comments previous to this one, so I hope you'll actually read this! haha I'm mostly joking, but I always appreciate posts on comments, so I wanted to add my two cents.
I think you're right about there being a barrier to commenting, especially on a post that has a ton of comments already.
I personally always upvote meaningful comments on my blogs. If the comment is particularly thoughtful, I'll give it a larger vote so it ends up at the top. I'll say that it gets easier once you have higher voting power and you can scale down the percentage of your votes.
I also believe that GINAbot has made it easier for me to know when people comment so I can respond. I think it's always great to respond to every comment you receive that isn't blatantly spam.
Thanks for your thoughts. I found this post from the post promotion channel in The STEEM Engine. I think you'll find the more you participate in that group, the more engaging comments you'll get. Keep up the good work!
Haha pretty funny. I hope I can get more than five comments before my seven days is up... That is a good point about it getting easier when you have higher voting power. I definitely am looking forward to that day. I will have to take a look at the GINAbot and I will for sure try to keep active in the STEEM Engine Discord. Thanks again for the comment.
Don't worry too much about it. Personally I like going through all my comments on a post. I could miss one or two, but it's not intentional. I even reply to comments that look spammy, because sometimes English just isn't that person's first language (isn't mine either).
Also, this issue exists on other Social Media channels as well. Facebook also puts popular comments on top, which aren't always the best. I think having your heart at the right place and writing a honest comment is the way to go. You do it for yourself first, the rest of us second. If you think you should comment, just do it.
The fact that you care about this enough to make it into a post makes it worth a resteem :).
I think you make a very valid point about English not being everyone's first language. I have considered that as well. I for sure try to take that into account when I am reading he comments and deciding if I want to reply to them or not. Thanks for your input. I appreciate it!
You're welcome! Btw, we tend to forget that there is a 'beta' under the Steemit logo on the top left of your screen. Steemit's about 2 years old. When Facebook was 2 years old, they hadn't invented the like button yet ;)
That is one way of looking at it, but there are certainly those out there who read all comments left on their page, I am one of those people. If you never write the comment you will certainly never get a response. The large majority of my interactions here have been through curating and commenting on other peoples posts, I have been able to grow my following and my own rewards through this process. It takes time and it can be frustrating, but its worth it.
Here is a perfect example of what I am talking about, over 250 comments on the post, but if you truly leave a good comment chances are you will get interaction
Thank you for the comment. I agree that if you want a response you should comment. Great example of a well written constructive comment.
I am not deterred by being t the bottom ,however; I agree that there should be a solution for those of us who devote energy into interacting via comments only to feel lost in the sea of one sentence comments. I am not sure of the reward system itself needs to be tweeked or we need some of us to actively promote these comments. I dont like the idea of downvoting but maybe we downvote this behavior out of existence? It definitely is set up for those who are putting little effort into this system to be rewarded by being spammers. We could start a' weak comment hit squad'. We go around 'hitting' spam comments by downvoting or pointing out the obvious spam. RESPECT
Thank you for the thoughtful reply @fracasgrimm. I understand where you are coming from. It has been posted by others that flagging or downvoting could end up becoming just as detrimental as fluff comments if we tried to go down that road. It's just funny to go through the comments and see how the rewards kind of trickle down to nothing even on that lower comment that is actually decent. -@bozz
During my first few days, I was definitely guilty of leaving some pretty half-ass comments as means of just using the site. Now that I have found a handful of users I like to check in on, I have noticed the same thing you cover here.
Many more powerful users do seek out the thoughtful comments to up vote as OPs. However, it doesn't stop whales from swooping in and upvoting other comments, nor does it stop users from upvoting their own.
It sucks.
Hopefully someday there will be a solution for this. Thanks, @bozz
Thank you for the comment. I still feel like comments get lost at the bottom of the stack even when a Whale votes on some of the earlier ones.
great opinion, I don't look as much on how many comments are on a post, I feel like it's always good to leave an opinion even if the person doesn't read it. I always try to respond the comments and upvote them, unless there aren't much to respond haha
Thank you for your comment.
yeap thats happen afew times to me too bozz thank you
With love,
harj : ) xoxo
Abstract artist
(My latest artwork is "Government")
Exactly my thought. Thanks for letting me know I wasn't alone.
I agree! Comments should have some substance to them, so they don't bog down the post! Glad you on here keeping it thoughtful!
Yes, flagging the meatless noise is the best option, but it takes the SP. Either way, a very discussed strategy and necessity being hashed out among our witnesses. I could only imagine how time consuming it will get once hundreds of comments get posted to my blogs posts, if I'm ever blessed with that kind of audience. I'd be posting, responding, producing, repeat. All day, every day, lol.
From what I hear that is pretty much the life of someone who has made a serious commitment to Steemit. I too hope that day arrives at some point :)
Cheers to that!