Poll: Do You Comment on Websites?
Thursday May 17, 2007
Comments are becoming more and more common as designers try to incorporate their users more directly into the Web site experience.
But I wonder how many people actually take the time to comment. What makes you want to comment on a post or article? Do you enjoy the arguments that sometimes happen in comments or do you think they detract from the posts?
Do you comment on websites?
- Vote Now
- Yes, all the time
- Yes, but only on important topics
- No, but I enjoy reading them
- No, most of them seem pointless
Of course, if you answered "No" you probably won't be interested in commenting here on why, but you could make an exception and let us know why you don't usually comment.
Comments
The reason for posting is sometimes good for sharing knowledge, learning or laughing about topics of interest. Sometimes I love the arguments in the posts, but I think they get out of hand when the name calling begins.
Yes, I enjoy the lively debates, but name calling gets old. And my rule for this site is that I expect courtesy. I will leave up posts that aren’t nice, but if they are too troublesome, I’ll delete them. However, most of the time, even the name calling can result in interesting conversations.
I like commenting on posts that ask readers for their opinion. I love polls
I like expressing my opinions and its just fun to comment. Also, I like debating (not arguing!)
When I initially read the title of this post, I was thinking it was about adding comments inside your code. What do you think about having a topic/poll on the importance of adding comments in the code?
I like to leave comments if I think I can add something. What I’d really like to know, since this a site about web design, is how do you prevent comment spam?
Yes, I do comment. The flame wars on some sites reminds me of the old days on usenet and BBS dialups. Sometimes, the comments point out legitimate things to consider or give links to other sources. I guess I lurk here too.
No never
I like commening on sites or artilces.
I don’t like
By only on important topics. I mean topics that interest me.
Funny poll.. hehehehe
Cya.
Jason Champion: good point, look for a poll on using HTML comments coming to this site in a few weeks. (Most likely June 7th…) Thanks for the suggestion!
Dean: you asked how I prevent comment spam. Well I have a number of things I do:
1. There are a number of filters out there that can be added onto the top of the blogging software to filter comment spam. I believe there are 2 filters on top of the Web Design site blog (since I don’t manage the blog software, I don’t know precisely.)
2. closing comments. When I have an old post that is attracting a lot of spam (even though it’s caught by the filters), I close the comments on that post.
3. vigilance: I delete any spam or inappropriate comments as soon as I see them. And I check my site every day – even weekends and holidays (which makes me really popular with my family – heh!). Luckily this doesn’t take too long.
4. On other sites I manage I use “captchas” (those annoying images or text that say “please prove you’re human”)
I and a number of other About.com Guides have been asking for that here – but the danger with those is that they can be annoying and inaccessible if done wrong.
5. On one site I maintained, I required a login to comment. That cut down on the comment spam, but it also cut down on the comments as a whole.
As it stands, I think I do a decent job with comment spam, but as regulars will tell you, some of it still sneaks through.
My biggest technique for dealing with spam is not to let it bother me too much. It’s like ants at a picnic, they’re annoying, but I just move the food and make sure I’m not sitting on a fire ant nest.
Not usually, but I felt compelled to this time!
one of the best comments i have ever read was made by a person replying to an extremely rude user (no seriously this guy’s comment really sucked), telling him his post is somewhere in the league of a spambot.
love reading comments myself, and often making them as well…)
I take the time to comment when I have time. Being on the internet (information highway), its easy to get destracted… so it really depends on what I am doing.
I comment on technical stuff only if I can contribute. Flaming gives me tunnel vision, so I avoid.
Forgot to mention… How about letting your readers flag spam? Sure, you’re bound to get someone flagging posts as spam based on their bias, but for the most part I think users will be willing to support your blog (provided that it’s a good blog).
I’d assume that popular blogs attract more spam than unpopular blogs, so the incentive for the users to police a good blog site should already be there. After all, spam exists only because there’s an audience.
It is very important to be albe to express your opinion! Thanks for providing this opportunity!!!
I love the freedom of expression. The internet is a great way to express yourself in a positive way.
-Christina Amodie