Leaving nothing but a :) as a response to a Review (not mylot but an article)
By vivasuzi
@vivasuzi (4127)
United States
August 3, 2009 3:18pm CST
This discussion isn't about mylot but about review sites. I write for a few article/review sites where I post thoughtful articles and reviews that take me a good amount of time to write.
Whenever I get an email that I have a comment, I get so excited! I think "yay! My article really inspired someone to respond!"
Then I open the comment and see....
:)
AND NOTHING ELSE! Worse is that it's the same people who do this. They read all my articles, but leave nothing more than a :). Ok, thanks for the hit, but if you don't have anything to say - don't say anything at all!
So I know what they are trying to do. They hope that by leaving a comment, I'm going to return the favor. But here's a newsflash for you. I'm not into click circle type deals. If you leave me a :), I'm just annoyed and kind of disappointed to find not a real comment. A :) says to me that you didn't read the article at all and just want to make sure I know you were there. On the other hand, if you leave me a thoughtful comment, I most likely will go check out some of your articles and comment back.
What do you think about this activity? Is a :) a valid comment? I mean, you don't HAVE to comment on every article you read (although I try to) but if you are going to comment can't you at least muster enough energy to make it relevant? Thoughts??? Does this annoy you or do you welcome the hit??
2 people like this
5 responses
@master101 (223)
• Indonesia
3 Aug 09
Yeah, kinda annoy to bump into that. But did it ever occur to u, that the one leaving you msg may not able to write in english (though probably still able to read it). Or perhaps confuse on how to write.
Anyhow, bottom line is, i still agree, that people must appreciate the author by leaving relevant comment that really genuine.
1 person likes this
@Fracker (177)
• Pakistan
4 Aug 09
Sorry to disagree with you, But i think you are totally wrong in this occassion. I myself am writing from sometimes, but when i ever i read an article of a class. I always find my self "without any words". I have to think about what to write under the article so atleast it don't disrespect that article. And also there are 100s of people whose 1st language is not English, but they learn somewhat english, so they can read or speak, but wont able to write much.
you might be annoyed by the smile, but isn't smile stands for an emotion, and have you ever tried to find what is behind this emotion?
@Fracker (177)
• Pakistan
4 Aug 09
Sorry to disagree with you, But i think you are totally wrong in this occasion. I myself am writing from sometimes, but when i ever i read an article of a class. I always find my self "without any words". I have to think about what to write under the article so atleast it don't disrespect that article. And also there are 100s of people whose 1st language is not English, but they learn somewhat English, so they can read or speak, but wont able to write.
you might be annoyed by the smile, but isn't smile stands for an emotion, and have you ever tried to find what is behind this emotion?
@master101 (223)
• Indonesia
6 Aug 09
Yeah, in general, all the author have a right whether they want to follow comment or not. I gotta say i always try to follow every comment possible even if it sounds "spam", only to settle the curiosity whom might be behind the comment's posting.
Seeing sign like :) it truly destroy the whole idea of creating useful content. As if like the reader mocking at us. But true, sometime there is genuine emotion behind it.
For what i c, it is still deserve our gratitude for atleast leaving "trace" that they had once visiting our post.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
4 Aug 09
I don't know exactly which site or sites you're talking about but I do know this happens to me at Associated Content and yes there's someone who leaves only a :) on the comments section of my articles and YES it is annoying and does make me wonder if the person read my article at all or not.
1 person likes this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
3 Feb 10
Somehow skipped you when responding to this thread months ago - oops!
Yes it is AC where this happens. A few people do it. Sometimes I get the :) within minutes of posting an article. It really seems like they are just out to get hits and don't really care what I've written.
@Fracker (177)
• Pakistan
4 Aug 09
I think ":)" is pretty good response, since this stand for an emotion i.e. Smile. To me smile shows that "He likes your article and so excite but unfortunately can't explain his feeling, so he left ':)' A smile for you".
Some Years back, i also couldn't understand what emotions stands for why somebody just smiles at you, why he don't speak to you and tell you about his feelings. Then God gave me a kid. He always smile at me, when he 1st time sees me (After getting awake or when i return home). I know he can't speak, he can't explain his joy. But i also find he shows his feeling of joy & happy to see me, & this is one way to express his feelings i.e. ":)".
So i will say friend, look at this way, "not everyone is good in words, not everyone can explain his feelings, so they leave a smile under your article to show how much he likes your article. How much he is impressed with your article".
Ps: I was also thinking about leaving ":)", since i couldn't copy paste what i wrote in notepad. Any how, i retyped it for you!!
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
14 Aug 09
I'm with iakulchen on this one, especially since most sites I write at also have the "recommended" link or the "is this helpful yes/no" link. If the article was great, they can just say Yes it was helpful and move on. Leaving me a :) just disappoints. I know it means smile, but to me it means "I'm leaving you a smile so you know I was here and you come read my article"
Also, I know these people speak and read english very well because the people who leave me a :) have tons of articles under their own name. This is not a case of lack of understanding the language. It's a case of a stamp on my review so I come to theirs. If someone did it once in awhile to a review, that's one thing, but I have the same ppl who leave a :) on EVERY review I write. I welcome the hit, but I'm not compelled to go read their reviews because I really feel as if they didn't read mine if they can't come up with even a one liner.
Finally, the worst is when these people leave me that comment of a :) within minutes of posting. I spend an hour writing and 2 minutes later get a :) and you expect me to believe you read it?
@iakulchen (615)
• Singapore
4 Aug 09
I have to disagree with you. It's a comments section, it's not supposed to be someplace to leave a :). Comments section are for precisely that, comments. :) does not qualify as a comment. And saying that the person who left a :) left a comment because he liked the article but couldn't put it into words just doesn't justify it. If a person can't even write "I liked your article." or any of it's variations, he or she wouldn't have been able to understand the article anyway. Heck even spammers who go around posting in comments sections to create backlinks to their site bother to type out more than a :), usually things like "This article/blog is great!", "This article was really helpful!" If spammers who really have no interest in an article at all actually take the time to type out at least a one-liner, I don't see why someone who genuinely liked an article can justify just typing an :)
1 person likes this
@morgandrake (2136)
• United States
3 Aug 09
Hmmm...depends upon who does it. Most people who do this annoy me. But I definitely have an exception in play here.
I have one online friend (or at least I consider her a friend) who often leaves a smiling face on my reviews and articles that I do on Associated Content. But in her defense, she only does this some of the time; often she actually leaves an actual comment.
I must admit that I do the same to her when I doing a "reading day".
But I do understand the feeling. I used to belong to an Amateur Press Association, and the most common comment was RAEBNC. For those who do not know, that says "Read and enjoyed, but no comment". It didn't bug me too much, but it used to drive one of my friends nuts.
There is another possible reason for this behavior; they want other readers and the web spiders to know that they were there. It creates a weak link for their own stuff. Ain't the things we do for SEO just wonderful?
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
4 Aug 09
I guess it's different if it's a friend, and they were someone you knew was reading. But with strangers who are trying to become my friend, it doesn't leave a good impression on me. I wouldn't enjoy the RAEBNC thing either.
You could be right about them just wanting to get their profile link out there and spread around. However, I ALSO want that but I manage to leave a nice comment. Even if it's just very simple, I try to point out 1 thing from the article and at least show that I read it and found it useful.
Thanks for sharing!!
@allyoftherain (7208)
• United States
3 Aug 09
That does sound pretty dang annoying. Maybe there should be a rule that if you can't say anything relevant then don't say anything at all.
I don't have a review site or a blog or anything... but I have seen comments like that on YouTube. They drive me crazy too. If I want people to come check out my channel, I do leave comments but I leave comments that actually say something about the video I'm commenting on.
Is there a way you can block these people from commenting on your reviews? Technically, they are spamming you.
1 person likes this
@vivasuzi (4127)
• United States
4 Aug 09
I don't think there is a way to block people on this site. I guess I'm happy to get the hits! But it is just disappointing when I get an email saying "you have a new comment!" and I rush over to look at it just to see a :) Technically a smiley is nice, but if someone leaves me a smiley on every artice I'm going to start to get tired of them and not even care about the extra hit.
