Have you been here for a long time? Have you been here for just days? Has writing a comment been easy for you or is it pretty hard?
Only in Steemit are comments rewarded at the moment and that's quite revolutionary. Knowing that, it's very important that you learn the art of writing comments in Steemit.
- Write it like it's hot! Praises can always spice up any mood. Praises motivate, encourage and build another Steemian's writing confidence. Spice up your comments by always writing about the good points you could praise about the article you are commenting at first!. Praises packed comments always appeal SEXY.
Write it with grace. Although being straightforward is cool and it shows much guts it's a thread line away from being vulgar at times and the last word could have an offensive effect on the other author. Before you write something too straightforward, put yourself in the other author's shoes and ask yourself - how you would probably feel if what you're about to type on your keypad would be thrown to you. If just the thought of it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth - keep those words till the tip of your fingers.
Write it as you mean it but ADD SALT. We all know that we're on the web. The only thing you can see is the other author's work. The only reality you think you have is whatever impression their work has given you. In other words, you don't really know who the person is on the other side of the comp . You might want to step on your comps' break and think things through before you let your words out and press that enter button to post your comment because you have no idea whether that person could take whatever comment you are going to throw them or not .
We don't know what the other person is going through or has been through and even if you want to be real and comment without pretense, don't forget to add salt. If you have a hunch that it would just hurt the person, leave a negative emotion, insult and most of all hit their ego - better keep it to yourself because in Steemit, IMHO, we want to build another author, not break them.
Anything that would not help them - just keep it to yourself or if you can't help it send it in a private message in the chat rather than write it as a comment. Extend more of kindness than wrath for the first one has no enemy.
Let your words spell - CLARITY. Some comments could lead to misunderstanding because we're not live and it's hard to tell what the other person is telling you exactly. Long comments with high fallutin words could lead to this so if you can't help it writing like a smarty pants, kindly remember, not all of us went to Harvard and phrases like "What I mean is ..." or "What I'm trying to say is .." or "Please let me clarify that." + straight to the point written message could repair the damage and deliver clarity even if a misunderstanding has already started.
Write it in the simplest way you can. We're all aware that we're dealing with people from all walks of life with different cultures and mother tongues. Not all of us write fluent English so if you could write it concise and precise .. understanding is easily achieved through this.
- Remember, words could cut like knives sometimes so if necessary choose to give feedback rather than critique. It's so easy for people to throw mud on another person's work without taking the efforts the other person took to accomplish their post into consideration.
True, someone's food post, art post, photography post or story post may come so mediocre to you but who are we to weigh and seek ourselves on the other person?
If you think you really need to say something on any post - choose feedback.
Tell them what is good about their work first or acknowledge their effort (you have no idea how much guts the person must have pulled to brave and post their work on the web) then suggest .. yes make it clear to at least write; "May I suggest that ..." or any positive comment that would - like I wrote above .. help build the person, not destroy them. If you know your comment would just appeal like an attack to the other person again, keep it to yourself. It won't kill you holding that comment back. It's better to be tame than read "too brave". Our emotions are like children rolling on the floor trying to get a cookie you are depriving them to have - if you let it overcome you .. it might cause you regret. If it would scorch someone's self esteem better not write it.
Let it be RELEVANT. Remember, the star of that page you are looking at is the post and the author of that post you are about to comment at. Landing on that page is like being invited in a party where in the host could be celebrating something and having their shining moment. You surely would not want to take the limelight off them by writing something nasty or not tasty more so - way out of topic just for the sake of commenting or worse - to get attention and promote your own post. It's like stepping in the line in a basketball game - you'll get a whistle from the referee for doing that. It's foul baby so remember - it's not about you - it's about the post. Write something related to it or if you feel like posting a picture or a gif - make it an appropriate reaction to the post.
Keep it REAL. Some people could be very sensitive that they could read words and be able to tell whether the comment was meant for real or forced or someone's just faking it. No one likes "FAKENESS". If you yourself don't believe what you want to write - again, keep those words till your finger tips. Just be you - when commenting, those who have been here a long time, they could tell whether you're just faking it or meaning it. Forced comment stinks.
- Write with the right energy. Perhaps not all of us realize that when we comment we leave the author of that post we commented on something. I don't know with you but I'd rather leave encouragement than discourage.
Which would you choose - love or hate? I always return upvotes to those who upped my post and yes, most of the time I read their posts and interact - but that's my own righteousness and honestly, I long for a longer interaction. Some authors do that and some even gave those "hahaha" moments so I really enjoyed most of my Steemiting moments. However, if the many of you have already experience me commenting - then you also know that most of the time I sent out positive vibes (most of the time - yes .. I'm not a saint and I have a short fuse with rudeness overload), in my experience here, most of those positive vibes came back to me in a stronger positive vibe as well. It made me love Steemiting more specially if the comment came from an older Steemian.
When one Steemian who is an expert to a certain tag - say.. photography - writes that the pics I took on my post look very professional, or they like one of those pictures, although I am aware that I did my best in taking all those pics - those comments come to me like pats on my back and even though I don't need validation from other people, I can't deny that those comments really fatten my heart. It keeps me inspired and feel like I belong here.
Just think about it - if you send something that you know is negative to the other person - can you expect something positive back? Of course not! It's like wearing an shirt you sweat on to a party and expecting to smell like a Passion flower. It's like rubbing a two week old towel to your newly washed face and expecting it to be bacteria free. If you decide to write any comment, remember - you are sending out energy. Send that other author the right energy - keep it positive only.
Steemit is a year older and we want to keep growing. In my almost a year of being here, I've seen that collaboration works better than competition. Even the challenges here did not only make people collaborate but connect to a different level, encourage each other and lend a helping hand to help the other grow or catch up. Some even call others their friends and treat them as so - for real - there's no fakeness in most of those.
These are what I have experienced here the most and it's by choice. I want it to be so, so I stayed away from the negativity (yes, that's part of the Steemit reality) specially from writing comments that would hurt or break another Steemian's writing soul (what would you gain from doing so?) because we want to grow. We want to grow and spreading love and positivity would always help us achieve that goal to grow.
Shall we keep our comments positivity - packed Steemians??
**Disclaimer: I am not an expert in Steemiting and these tips are purely based on my experiences in my almost a year of Steemiting. The comment samples on the pics above are all just a product of my imagination and if it happens to be similar to any comment thrown to someone by a certain author it's just coincidence.
I took each pic with my Samsung Galaxy A3 2016 .
Are you new in Steemit? Kindly read the Complete Steemit Etiquette Guide Revised Edition authored by @thecryptofiend to help us all get along well with each other. Hopefully you do get to read it now since there's nothing else that comes after it except that picture below.
