Value added comments

Let's talk...

@tuwore (who has been on platform about two weeks I guess) mentioned:

I think you're the author who gives back the most to his viewers and people who actively participate in the comment section. You take your time to read, reply and upvote the comments on your articles, and by doing so helping your audience move forward on Steemit. So thank you for that too :) -@tuwore

Check him out as he seems to be putting a decent amount of effort into his start. Good work mate.

Yes, I do my best to engage in the comments section as I see the people who take the time and effort to read and comment well as valuable and I am grateful for their contributions and discussions. I see comments as little posts and will therefore generally bump them a percent or two to encourage engagement. It is not that I want people to only comment on my posts though, I am hoping they will use the little I give them to share on their own and other blogs also.

I write across some quite complicated topics and therefore get some quite complimented responses. What would be great is if people can discuss with each other in the comments section too. This would be a win/win as it takes a little pressure off me but more importantly, it builds strong relationships between users. Many of my follows have been because of engagement with people who comment well and I know many others who do the same. You can tell a lot about a person from their comments and this is a great way to connect.

The other benefit of engaging is it is a great way to be visable as thoughtful comments will slowly get noticed but, you shouldn't only aim to get seen by the article writer. Read other people's comments and comment there, it is a very valuable resource. The comments section in general is the best place to build your profile, but it takes time and work.

Currently, my 1% vote is between 11 and 14 cents. That doesn't sound like a lot but I post 4 to 5 times a day so a decent commenter could earn around 50c but, I often bump 2 or 3 percent, sometimes a lot more if I think them important. so with conversions, that starts to become significant in a week.

Now, this comes with some caveats, I will not upvote every comment and in fact, here is a warning; I am going to flag a lot more. I am tired of having random spam comments pour in. It seems that because I often upvote comments, people think it is a little tap and I have attracted a lot of Spam. I have done clean ups before, it is time for another. Comment well, don't bother or risk flags. Ignoring them hasn't helped so far and the clutter makes it hard to find others so, I will push them down. Hopefully in time, people will learn what is a poor comment and improve or stop. I also rarely vote on large pictures, especially random ones or flashing gifs.

Also, I am not so keen on voting on self-voted comments, occasionally I do it but, I prefer not to. The reason is that it can push them to the top even if they are not so great. I would love to have a fraction comment slider at Steemit to give 0.5 and 0.25 votes too. Not that I would use it often but for the much larger accounts, I think it would encourage them to reward comments more often.

One more thing...

I am not your boss, Sir and certainly not Dear. I sign my posts Taraz so that or the @tarazkp tag is fine. Perhaps this is cultural and an acceptable way to greet people in some places but, it is not a great one for an international community.

For the smaller players

One other thing for the smaller accounts to do is reward comments too, even if your vote is worth dust. Push the good ones to the top at least so they can be seen. Even though it seems so little, it is the gesture that is important and acknowledging those who put in the effort is important. Small accounts should always be answering well every worthy comment they get and be spreading their value also.

Also try not to post and run. Stick around for 30 minutes if you can or at the very least, don't wait days to answer comments as it is essentially bad service. Also, if you wait days, the chances are that post has already been forgotten since no one engaged with the comment.

For the larger players

Now, one thing for the larger accounts. Answer some of your comments, acknowledge your audience, reward them for taking the time and making the effort to visit, read and comment upon your posts. Too often I see large, heavily rewarded accounts with almost zero engagement with the audience and if there is, it is only on the large rep accounts. Sure, it takes time and effort to comment a bit but, don't preach community and engagement if you aren't engaging with the people who visit and comment on your own content. Essentially, the large accounts have influence and power and should be leading by example.

Thanks

I am grateful for the thoughtful comments I get and I apologise if I don't always get to them all and without notifications, it is even harder as I generally have multiple posts getting commented on at the same time. But, I do try to read them all and upvote what I can.

I am also thankful on behalf of my followers to @blocktrades who occasionally vote up some of the comments a touch too. I know the support is very appreciated by the community.

Okay, if you have any comment related comments, fire away. But, it is after 2 am, I have to be up at 630, our daughter is in our bed since she is very ill which means I have to sleep on the couch so, I will likely answer them tomorrow. :)

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]