Fake or Genuine? - Comment Types With Names & Descriptions (Humor)
Hello Steemit peeps! I thought I would take a moment and give my “2 cents” on a topic – commenting.
When I make a post on my Steemit blog, I am very excited to get comments on my posts, hoping to get some insight into what my followers think of my content. The more followers I get, the more comments I have been getting on my posts – which is (mostly) good! But not all comments are equal. I thought I would break down the different types of comments to give you an idea of what I am talking about.
The “Copycat” Comment:
This comment usually is a plagiarized comment – usually copying the highest voted comment on the post (but not always.) Some of these comments are simply copy/pasted, while others cleverly attempt to disguise their comment by changing out a few words. Either way, they are always unoriginal, and do not get my upvote.
The “Highschool Essay” Comment
This comment gets its name from the mindset used to create it. These comments try to camouflage the fact that the commenter didn’t actually read the post by either using the information in either the title, tags, or last sentence of the post to create the body of the comment. For instance: A post titled “The Silence” could get a response such as “Yes, quiet time is very important I totally agree.” (Even though it is a short story about embracing life’s noise). These type of comments always make me stop and go “Hugh?” before not leaving an upvote.
The "WTF" Comment
This type of comment has absolutely nothing to do with the content in the post. You have to wonder what dimension they rolled in from before writing this one. While these are almost worth an upvote purely due to the shocking humor factor, they are still best to not upvote.
The “Basic” Comment – Also known as the “One-Size-Fits-All” Comment
These comments usually are, well.. basic. Examples of these types are:
“Good Post!”
“Awesome!”
“Upvoted, followed, & resteemed”
“Very interesting!”
“Nice!”
“Great one!”
“Really Good!”
“Thanks for sharing!”
“I learned a lot”
“Wow!”
“Amazing post!”
…and the list goes on and on. These comments can sometimes come from good commenters who use these only on occasion, but much of the time are used by those hoping to get a nice upvote for each of the 65 comments they left on different posts in the last 2 minutes. It is often good to check these commenters' profiles to see how many comments they make in a short amount of time (and how many are the same comment). If they are simply basic, no upvote needed!
The “Ulterior Motive” Comment
These are usually “Basic” comments with the addition of “Check out my post” or “Follow Me” attached to the end. These hopeful comments usually are never genuine as their only purpose is to attract others to their own blog. These comments never get my upvote.
The “Broken Record” Comments
Played on repeat, these comments simply repeat again and again and again and again and again on each one of your posts. Like a broken record, after hearing (or reading) the same thing over and over again, they start to lose their sincerity and don’t get my upvote.
The “Personalized” Comment
For no reason at all, these comments will tag the poster in an attempt to personalize the comment and hopefully make their comment stand out above the rest. These comments are not always bad, but sometimes are used as a tactic just to get attention. It is pretty easy to tell the use of the tag, and if it is just attention seeking, no upvote is given.
The “Visual” Comment
These comments usually consist of memes or gifs. Sometimes they fit the post and deserve a nice upvote, but many times are used as a distraction from the fact that they did not actually read the post. If they aren't related to the topic at hand, they do not get an upvote.
The “Genuine” Comment
These comments tell me that the commenter read the post. Usually these comments are longer than three words – most often a sentence or two! They have no ulterior motives and don’t use really any of the sly tactics above to earn an upvote. They are genuine comments showing genuine interest in the post, and because of this, they deserve a nice upvote.
I know I am not covering all types of comments, but this list should get you thinking - what type of comments do you give? For the post creators out there: do you upvote every comment? Or do you look for some clue that each comment was placed by the commenter for a reason larger than gaining upvotes/followers. I think it is important to tell the difference between these comments to discourage the excessive amount of fake comments, and to reward the genuine ones. Let’s reward the real comments that add value to our posts! 😊
Thanks so much to those of you that read my post! :)
Pretty funny... I think you covered most of them here. I would also add the "google translate" comment that's from a country with a not yet well-developed dictionary... it leaves you scracthing your head, thinking "I wonder what that MEANS?" Perhaps they are a special variation of "WTF."
There's also the rare version of (usually) the genuine comment which I call "Wall of Text." Somebody writes about 500 words, but it's all one long sentence with no paragraphs... and it's almost impossible to read, but you really want to give it an upvote because the author tried SO hard, and GAAAH!
Yes, I have gotten a few of these comments you described. It can be difficult to figure out what they are saying, which makes me hesitate on whether or not to upvote them. I have had a few of them that were almost backhanded compliments but I couldn't tell if it was on purpose.
I know what you mean with "Wall of Text" comments, but grammar and punctuation aside, I appreciate anyone that leaves a comment on my post that is longer than just a few words. Usually you can tell if they tried, and if they did, I definitely give them an upvote :)
Thanks for your Genuine Comment!
Yes... you can tell when someone puts effort into a comment. I upvote them too. I often will reply as well. Good advice.
And then, of course, there's the "I appreciate the fact that you actually read my comment and followed up" follow-up comment...
OK, so that was sort of facetious, but engagement is one of my ambitions/goals on Steemit. Sure, this is a place where we blog and get rewarded, but it's also social media, so that makes it a place to interact and get to know people, in the electronic sense of the word.
So I say thanks for creating an Engaging Post that actually invites audience participation. A lot of posts don't...
Do you think bots are the cause of most inauthentic comments? Maybe language barrier? I get a lot of spanish comments "gracias amigo" but there is a hint of indication they read my post at the same time.
If I feel a person didnt read my post I dont upvote.
Its kinda got me down lately how steemit seems to have a lack of content creator and curators who really care... Who actually comment, who dont just bot there every comment and gimmick there way up the social ranks. Maybe im being naive but I was thinking I could, one could, thrive here with frequent quality content...
Thanks.
Bots and language barrier could result in some of these types of comments, but I think many of these comments are done in the hopes of gaining an upvote. Each time I get a comment that makes me think they didn't read my post, I check their recent comments. A lot of these like "nice post" or "follow me" comments were left on many posts in a short amount of time (showing me that there was no way they had time to read my post - they were too busy copy and pasting comments).
I think it is definitely possible to thrive on Steemit with quality content. It just takes time.
As far as my Steemit adventure so far, I just post and enjoy the ride. To me it isn't about the number of followers I have, but the quality of followers I have. These "follow me and I'll follow you" people may have more followers than I do, but they are just a group of tiny accounts that will most likely get downvoted into oblivion by trying to cheat the system. 1 real follower is better than 1,000 fake ones.
Just keep on posting and make sure you are having fun doing it - that is what it is all about! :)
Thanks for your Genuine Comment!
I did what you said, I received a comment that seemed kinda copy and paste-ish, so I checked the comment history of the sender, the results were disappointing:
Yes, It is unfortunate. Eventually they will get downvoted for that behavior, making it less appealing for them to continue commenting like this.
It is always good to check those type of comments lol - no need to give them an upvote and promote the behavior :)
Go back to@artist1989 thread about comments. Some good discussion has evolved about the same subject you just talked about. (I replied with my views, but I can't repost it as a reply to you)... but if you'd like to read it, I just added one that starts out with the sentence: I do this too by curating my comments with special scrutiny.
I am also under the mindset of trying to find a couple of comments in my own blogs and sometimes in others that I like to reward with an upvote. It just helps bring the good ones up out of the bottom of the dumps where all the spam goes to die. Always disappointing when you get into a blog with dozens or more comments and zero of them have upvotes by the author so trash just sits there as the first person who put out a spam comment. Even worse they are all just “such and such paid for an upvote” great that what I want to see when I get to bottom of your blog that you spent a bunch of money.
The comments that drive me crazy are ones where time was spent into creating a somewhat vague but almost believe paragraph(s) of a comment. They tend to target a certain tag or even certain topics within a tag. They are almost believable and so close to getting an upvote then you go and check and you see they are just copy/paste spam.
As someone who enjoys comment sections, those tend to be very disappointing as you keep running onto them. The effort was spent but only once to try and lure in upvotes. Some of them are getting very clever in trying hide they are just copy/pasting I won’t go into further detail of some smarter ones I ran into as I hate for it to spread even further.
I usually spend a few minutes on my comment so sometimes it’s just hard to avoid being yet another “broken record” by the time I get it posted. When I started those type of comments where not yet made and I’ve already invested in the time. I’m not a speed writer and I have to spend some time on formatting/ editing/ rearranging thought.
I know what your talking about when you talk about the almost believable complimenting copy/paste comments. I have gotten those thinking "Wow, they really enjoyed my post!" But my smile fades quickly when I see they left the same thing on many other posts seconds before and after (meaning they never even read my post).
When you mention the smarter copy/paste comments - I have gotten ones that steal others comments and change a few of the words to make them seem new. I got one today on a different post of mine, and like deja vu, I was sure I read something similar before. I had - It was a mimic of the highest voted comment on my last post. I almost posted a screenshot of the comment they copied in a reply to their Copycat comment but figured it wouldn't fix anything lol.
I wouldn't worry about falling into the "broken record" or any of my categories above. You seem like a Genuine Commenter and I am happy that you took the time to write such a thoughtful comment on my post! :)
I fear comment thief is going be a big issues down the road. I’ve noticed some of mine get used from time to time. Thankfully most of these people are not very bright and they copy/paste them into places where people get that feeling it’s an “enjar” comment so they go and look if it was stolen from me. Other times I have to waste time dealing with the scumbag myself if I run into it.
The logic some of them use is just mindblowing. It’s like I get there a culture difference and somewhat of a language barrier but no you can’t go around doing that nonsense. We are not a YouTube comment section or a back alleyway in whatever country you live in. We have standards (least some of us lol).
You nailed it! I have noticed there was a person who keeps commenting on my posts. I try to reply to anyone who comments on my post as I appreciate the feedback and want them to come back. I noticed this person never actually upvoted my posts, so looked them up... not only had they been doing vague comments on lots of other posts, they have a 100% self votes record!!! After seeing that, it's hard to want to upvote them again.
I used to reply to each and every comment on my posts. As I learned that many of the comments were not genuine, I stopped and only responded to comments from people that seemed like they read my post. I used to upvote every comment on my posts too, but after learning that (for example) they left the same compliment on 27 other posts in the last few minutes, I started only upvoting the genuine comments.
I appreciate you taking the time to read my post and leaving a Genuine Comment!
It's funny how the various social media platforms all have their different comment patterns. In Reddit, a common reply you find is "THIS," used to emphasize support of a comment when someone thinks their single upvote does not sufficiently bring it above the competition. I could see that same reply being used here differently as a way to cleverly--or not so cleverly--siphon upvotes from a well-crafted post.
THIS.
(is true), so it can be a challenge to encourage better communication on steem. However, since payment is involved here, I think it is acceptable to be a little more demanding of what is considered a good practice here... especially since people vote with rewards for decent comments.
"This" would be an example of a basic comment like "Awesome Post" or "Nice." I think people should leave comments when they have something to say about the post. The comments should be a response to the post for the author, or a response to another comment. When I look at comments, I hope to see someone saying something about my post to show they read it :)
Thanks for taking the time to leave a Genuine Comment!
@artist1989 sir...
Actualy I think comments are for appreciate tool our blog or posts...
Comments are very important to us...for we can get any idea about our post...
Thanks sharing defferent ideas about commenting....
You are correct. Comments help authors to know what people liked (or did not like) about the content of the post. It's not just about votes. Knowing what your readers think is very important.
Good point! I happily upvote your comment @dini1
1000% agree with you @intelliguy sir...
Actualy.....What I learned here :
Steemit is not only about UPVOTES & Money
It is about writing..
It is about reading..
It is about knowing people and their side of the story..
It is about learning..
It is about finding a path to follow..
It is about keeping yourself motivated to write better..
It is about broadening your thinking..
It is about spending your time productively..
It is about making you think from a different perspective..
It is about writing without any expectations of UPVOTES..
Thanks...Followed U now sir...
YES!! You get it. Nice breakdown. 100% upvote for it. (I'm running out of vote power, so while I rest, yours is the last one for tonight I can upvote).
What a nice way to end my curation today. Loved it.
This is just a whole new level of laughter, my neighbours are listening to me screaming in laughter, this is really amazing, I swear it is wow so I'm searching where do I really belong on the list?
Seeming as it looks like you read my post and are asking a question, I would say your comment is Genuine :)
I resteemed this post to my followers. It's great advice. Everyone needs to realize how their comments can be interpreted and classified.
It's put in a fashion that can make sense to new users. Thanks again.
Every once in a rare while I’ll get a comment in a language I can’t even identify, much less read. Sometimes translate.google.com will give me some clue about what was meant, but sometimes it seems like word salad.
I see them too. It would be nice if people would give a comment in their native language and then maybe do an english translation. This way we could get the comment the way it was intended.
I'll reply to you in spanish the with a translator for spanish people:
Te responderé en español con un traductor para españoles:
Yo también los veo Sería bueno que la gente hiciera un comentario en su lengua materna y luego hiciera una traducción al inglés. De esta manera podríamos obtener el comentario de la manera en que fue diseñado.