Tips for comments

By KYLE GEISSLER   Monday, October 19, 2009 - 8 a.m.

We get a lot of questions and opinions about the comments section of our Web sites. It’s an active community engaging in our stories. Here are a few tips for using our comment system:

--You can comment on more than stories. You can also comment on photos, audio, videos, and polls. Stories and blogs are more popular for our users to comment on, but there are plenty of opportunities for your feedback. You can also leave comments on all the stories, blogs, photos, and video on WCLO.com and WJVL.com.

--You can make comments easier to read by breaking up long comments into paragraphs. You can do this by hitting “return”, typing a space, and hitting “return again (we will make this easier when we roll out an upgraded version of the site). If you have more than one point to make, breaking each of them up into a separate paragraph makes your comment more readable and easier to follow.

--Avoid the spelling and grammar police. If you read the comments a lot, you know that users with poor spelling and grammar get taken to task. No one is perfect, but pre-reading your comment and running spell check on it before you post will ward off the spelling and grammar police and improve your credibility.

--Comments are comments, not “blogs”. This is a common vocabulary issue in our comment community. These are blogs. Comments are not blogs.

--You don’t need to read the comments. The comments are at the bottom of the story. This means you can still enjoy the content without having to read the comments. If you don’t like the comment system, ignore it.

--Ignore annoying users. If you find the comments made by a particular user annoying, you’re welcome to respond, but the best way to keep them from annoying you further is to ignore them.

--You can do your own credibility research on other commenters. If you’re not sure how much credibility to give a user, try this: click on their name. It will take you to a screen where you can see how many comments they have posted. If you click “view all”, you can see all the comments they’ve made and a link to the page they made the comment on. You may quickly find out that they are either a knowledgeable user or clueless.

--Flag it, we’re watching. If you see a comment that breaks our guidelines, click “suggest removal”. It will get our attention.

reader COMMENTS
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(62)
annasmith
Oct 2, 2010 at 12:09 a.m.
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nice post, Thanks for posting, Please keep posting.

My page: <a href="http://experiencedtaxattorneys.com/">IRS Tax Attorney</a>.

jessicabronson
Jun 7, 2010 at 1:06 a.m.
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great,thanks please keep posting. This is a useful post.

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megantamono
Jun 5, 2010 at 1:46 a.m.
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nice post thanks.

My page : http://embroiderysewingmachinesonline.co...

chrisperkins
May 2, 2010 at 10:40 p.m.
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Hi everyone, thanks for visiting my profile page. About me, ummm, I don't really know what to write here, I like computers, building websites etc, I run a website teaching people how to make money from home through various different ways. That's about it really, anything else you want to know, just ask.

My site: http://www.101waystomakemoney.com

chrisperkins
May 2, 2010 at 10:39 p.m.
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Hi everyone, thanks for visiting my profile page. About me, ummm, I don't really know what to write here, I like computers, building websites etc, I run a website teaching people how to make money from home through various different ways. That's about it really, anything else you want to know, just ask.

My site: <a href="http://www.101waystomakemoney.com">Make Money From Home</a>

shermanson
Feb 20, 2010 at 4:38 p.m.
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Do you people realize that these comments are on the internet, and everyone is reading what you write? Seems obvious you should know, but rules #1 are #3 should be read. It is not up to the Gazette to "police" good judgement. That is what you should be controlling as individuals.

w8nc
Oct 21, 2009 at 9:07 p.m.
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My point was that some people would probably find that word vulgar, as I did. Hannah, again I would like to point out that if you want your comments taken seriously and not to be "picked on" by others, you should be respectful. If you're tactful, diplomatic and respectful of others people are a lot less likely to attack you. What you just wrote on this article would have been a perfect way to sum up the point you were trying to make, without making a snide remark. Since you don't know who is going to read what you write on here, you should try to keep it as clean as possible. And even though you may have heard that word on TV, does not mean it's appropriate. If you wouldn't use the word in a professional setting, you probably shouldn't use it here, as using that type of language will make you sound less intelligent that you probably are.


Again, I wasn't trying to personally attack you, so please don't take offense. If I were trying to attack you, I would have called you out in my original post. That's why I linked it... because I didn't really care to mention your name because to me it was offensive no matter who wrote it. I don't really care to degrade people like others do on these comment sections. Not everyone is out to get you.

w8nc
Oct 21, 2009 at 3:46 p.m.
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I don't think it matters what they were referring to. The word used at the end of pizza is vulgar. And do you really need to refer to a business like that? It's about benig respectful. Read the rules... the first one is KEEP IT CLEAN! If you want your comments taken seriously and not to be "picked on" by others, you should be respectful.

Zoom
Oct 21, 2009 at 3:40 p.m.
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Why is it inappropriate to call an inanimate object "pizzaslut"? You really flagged that?

w8nc
Oct 21, 2009 at 3:39 p.m.
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Hannah, in retrospect, I wish I would have used some symbols (*@$%) to replace letters, because I really don’t think your comment was appropriate. Live and learn, I guess. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

w8nc
Oct 21, 2009 at 3:25 p.m.
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I figured it was ok... I mean it didn't get deleted in the first place. I was hoping that someone at the Gazette would see it and delete both my comment and your comment, because in all actuality they are both inappropriate. If the comment didn’t get deleted, I wanted to prove that their system was flawed. Which as of yet, I have done. Believe me, Hannah, I am one person who believes you don't have to say vulgar things to get your point across, and nowhere in my post am I condemning it. Don’t take it personally. Plus I linked the story. Which means anyone who clicked on the link would see it anyway.

tomerguez
Oct 20, 2009 at 6:49 p.m.
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--Avoid the spelling and grammar police. If you

Hmn... might I suggest taking a look at Spell Check Anywhere (SpellCheckAnywhere.Com). It is a terrific spell checker that works in all programs, including blogs. Also comes with a grammar checker.

w8nc
Oct 20, 2009 at 3:42 p.m.
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Funny. I 'flagged' a comment twice in which one user called Pizza Hut, pizzaslut and that didn't catch anyone's attention. The comment is still there. Here's the link. See for yourself. http://www.gazettextra.com/news/2009/sep...

gazettefan
Oct 20, 2009 at 11:22 a.m.
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A problem is: what constitutes an insult? The reasons some believers give for those who don't believe are very insulting even though those reasons are couched under the ruse of sympathy and concern.

CIM
Oct 20, 2009 at 9:43 a.m.
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There should be an "Ignore User" option. Then if a person is signed in, they wouldn't have to read chronic mean-spirited comments by certain people.

danniipatterson
Oct 20, 2009 at 12:47 a.m.
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nice story , realy great

Zoom
Oct 19, 2009 at 11:02 p.m.
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NeoBartly, this is the definition of devolve I was thinking of:

3 : to degenerate through a gradual change or evolution <where order devolves into chaos — Johns Hopkins Magazine>
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionar...

janesvillecomments
Oct 19, 2009 at 9:54 p.m.
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DiGriz, Google oversætter er min ven.

Would that be James Bolivar DiGriz (aka Slippery Jim)?

prevention
Oct 19, 2009 at 9:46 p.m.
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THANK YOU, JANVESVILLECOMMENTS!!!

mrsjoe
Oct 19, 2009 at 7:50 p.m.
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Sometimes comments about drunk drivers or domestic abuse cases get absolutely KA-RAY-ZEE! Perhaps the comments section on these stories could be limited to two days or something. Or not have comment section at all for these types of stories. Just an idea.

NeoBartly
Oct 19, 2009 at 7:19 p.m.
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New word for me Zoom---your rite it werx.
Devolve: (V): to assign part of one's task to another in the same organization.
And I thought spell checker missed it. Thanks.

gazettefan
Oct 19, 2009 at 5:27 p.m.
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I would only suggest that the devoutly religious be held to a higher standard of courtesy, given that they claim the moral highground.

gazettefan
Oct 19, 2009 at 5:25 p.m.
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Just kidding.

;~)

gazettefan
Oct 19, 2009 at 5:24 p.m.
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Zoom, don't start!!!

Zoom
Oct 19, 2009 at 3:43 p.m.
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"--Ignore annoying users. If you find the comments made by a particular user annoying, you’re welcome to respond, but the best way to keep them from annoying you further is to ignore them."

That's the best advice in the list. Some of the more frequent posters should take that advice. Often, the comments section devolves into childish arguing, with someone always wanting to have the last word. I can't believe these people are even adults.

pack
Oct 19, 2009 at 2:46 p.m.
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Janesvillecomments...you may now come to my house and wipe the pop off my computer screen. Thank you so much for the needed laugh!!!!!

janesvillecomments
Oct 19, 2009 at 1:58 p.m.
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Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

Northman
Oct 19, 2009 at 1:20 p.m.
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sannio/fool_on_the_hill:

I didn’t know Firefox had that feature, thanks for the heads-up!

sannio
Oct 19, 2009 at 12:28 p.m.
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Northman - Get the Firefox web browser, and your misspelled words will be underlined. Right click underlined words to see suggestions. Don't forget to get the Thunderbird email client while you're at it.
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

fool_on_the_hill
Oct 19, 2009 at 12:21 p.m.
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Northman, Firefox automatically spell-checks as you type in the comment box by flagging the misspelled word with a red underline.

Vector
Oct 19, 2009 at 12:20 p.m.
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How about this one: Commenters are really not smart or exceedingly clever when they swear in a language other than English, they're just boring.

Also, thanks for appropriately correcting commenter's 'vocabulary' after a caveat about the spelling and grammar police. Your blog link is broken, currently.

Northman
Oct 19, 2009 at 11:57 a.m.
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When you “roll out an upgraded version of the site”, it would sure be nice if you added a kill filter ability. Yes, you can ignore annoying users, but some posters are so irredeemably illiterate, or consistently inane, you really wish you could permanently screen out their comments.

Northman
Oct 19, 2009 at 11:52 a.m.
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Typing directly into the Comment box on the web page doesn’t give you the chance to spell-check your work. So, open Word (or whatever you’re using for a word processor), type your comment there, fix the errors, then cut & paste into the Comment box. The odd error isn’t a problem, but if you’re reading a comment and hit more than two or three, you tend to stop reading. If it’s not worth somebody’s time to make their work reasonably literate, it’s not worth my time to read it.

Sandman
Oct 19, 2009 at 11:51 a.m.
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The first rule about comments is that you don't talk about commenting. The second rule about comments is that you don't talk about commenting.

localboysince1968
Oct 19, 2009 at 11:20 a.m.
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I would like to make a comment.......

garyprimer
Oct 19, 2009 at 11:10 a.m.
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Commandment #7 infers that questions are indeed comments. Has anyone else noticed that there are Ten Guidelines?

Lost_city
Oct 19, 2009 at 10:54 a.m.
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What do I do if I don't have a comment?

fool_on_the_hill
Oct 19, 2009 at 10:31 a.m.
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Aren't questions comments?

garyprimer
Oct 19, 2009 at 10:09 a.m.
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What is your comment?

fool_on_the_hill
Oct 19, 2009 at 9:11 a.m.
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So, would this comment be a comment on comments about comments or a comment on a blog about comments on a blog?

Before you post a comment, consider this:

Note: GazetteXtra.com does not condone or review every comment. Read more in our User Policy Agreement
  • Keep it clean. Comments that are obscene, vulgar or sexually oriented will be removed. Creative spelling of such terms or implied use of such language is banned, also.
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  • Harassing comments. If you are the subject of a harassing comment or personal attack by another user, do not respond in-kind.  Hit the "Suggest Removal" button on offensive comments.
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