How to Foster Good Comments

Comments on the internet are generally subject to a lot of abuse. Spammers post spam comments, links, and inappropriate content, and users engage in childish bickering and name calling. It all boils down to the fact that many sites don’t monitor comments effectively.

There are two major things I see causing comments to fail on most sites:

1. Sites fail to moderate comments.
2. When they do moderate comments they rely on feedback from users.

Sites fail to moderate comments

It’s hard to tell whether or not sites monitor their comments. There are plenty of large blogs and other sites that have shoddy comments throughout, but in these cases it could be due to sheer volume of content and visitors; in other words it may be difficult for them to monitor every comment for every post/piece of content they have. Good comments come with this trade-off unfortunately, and it’s a necessity in fostering good conversation.

When they do moderate comments they rely on feedback from users

I doubt there is a better example of this than YouTube. We all love YouTube; it provides countless hours of entertainment, but you’d be hard-pressed to find an intelligent conversation anywhere on the site. Rather than having moderators enforce the rules and maintain decent conversations, YouTube relies on users to to report inappropriate comments. The problem is that most people don’t care to report comments, and so the problem perpetuates.

Commenting on normative beliefs

In psychology normative beliefs are described as social norms or constructs; they are not what is true or correct about a situation, rather what is expected or required by it. Normative beliefs are further broken down in descriptive and injunctive normative beliefs:

descriptive normative beliefs: an individual’s perception of what is commonly done in a situation by others.

injunctive normative beliefs: an individual’s beliefs about what behaviours others approve or disapprove of.

If we think of a typical website commenting system with these concepts in mind it becomes easier to understand how it can become so derelict. Imagine a site that relies on user feedback to moderate comments. A shoddy comment is made and nobody bothers to report it; then an equally shoddy reply is made. After a few comments go back and forth it sets a new normative standard: that it’s okay to act childish and bicker back and forth. Before you know it the number of shoddy comments far outnumbers the amount of decent conversation. By effectively moderating comments you are enforcing the normative standard that childish comments are not accepted, and subsequently fostering more engaging conversations.

So how can I foster good commenting?

Be diligent in your comment moderation. In order to foster good commenting set standards and enforce them. Create comment guidelines or rules for your commenter’s and make sure they are accessible (for instance, include them beside the comment form). And most importantly of all, if someone does not follow the guidelines then delete or hide the comment; the last thing you want is for other users to think it’s acceptable to continue the childishness.

Tips for being a good commenter

I think Chris Pirillo said it nicely:

• Actually read the post.
• Post relevant information.
• Word Count – make it an acceptable length.
• Spell Check.
• Be Respectful.

Cheers to good conversation,
Chris Hayes

IE7 background-position quirk

I have been slaving away on a new design for a site I am creating. Low and behold, as I make the design more complex and the site more accessible, IE7′s quirks start to show.

The last quirk I defeated was a problem with the background-position property. I had a container that needed a background image to repeat vertically, and it needed to be positioned 700px from the left side (in order to form a border for a side bar). IE7 was not having it…the image would not tile vertically. I tried a few different things to no avail, and then it dawned on me that (stupid) IE probably needs a height defined, so I defined the height as 100% and it worked!

So, in summation, if you are having a problem in IE where your background image wont repeat vertically and you have not set the height of the element, set the height!

Regards,
Chris

There’s nothing like working with the proper tools

For the longest time, since I first started designing websites back in 2003, I have been using Photoshop 7 and notepad to create my websites. It worked great for many years, and I accomplished many things, but I recently picked up the Adobe CS3 Web Premium suite, and it is sweet.
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Web page design with content in mind

This is a topic that has been written about many times in the past, but it still holds true. It is easier, more efficient, and yields an overall better result when you design with content in mind.

It is extremely difficult to open up your favourite imaging software and start building a design without having any previous planning or thought. Web pages are most efficient, cost effective, and take the least amount of time to design properly when there has been sufficient planning. You must design your site around your content, but more specifically:
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