Giveaway of the Day Forums

1. 

   MSC
   Member

   I have tried to comment on a few different giveaways over the past couple of weeks, and i will always get "you're comment is awaiting moderation" or something to that effect. Even days after posting the comments is still not there. What is the problem?

   Posted 15 years ago #
2. 

   watcher13
   Member

   Hi MSC, welcome to the forums. I expect you'll get a better answer from one of our moderators, soon, but I can say this much. They have had some server problems that occassionally cause a comment to be lost, although normally you don't getting the "awaiting moderation" message if it gets lost. The other thing, of course, is you could occassionally be moderated out. That's not likely, since the moderators try to be as liberal as possible. However, there is one technical possibility. The server automatically screens out certain things. The main one is it will kick out any comment that has more than a couple of links. I assume that doesn't apply here, but if you're putting a lot of links in, that might explain it.

   Posted 15 years ago #
3. 

   GMMan, Hexadecimal Blacksmith
   Blocked

   I guess the thing is that the mods can't sit in front of a console all day and wait for comments. That's probably why some comments don't get approved until hours later. Also, comments for old Giveaways aren't approved because there just isn't any point to it. It is quite unlikely to have many people flip through old Giveaway pages. The majority of the comments on old pages are hidden, requiring you to click on the expand link. This is probably a hassle for most people.

   Posted 15 years ago #
4. 

   watcher13
   Member

   You're probably right, GMMan, though they used to approve comments a day later, although I haven't tried it since January.

   Posted 15 years ago #
5. 

   MSC
   Member

   Thank you for your replies. I don't usually put any links in my comments or comment on older posts. Most of the comments I have tried to post are during the middle of the day. I have yet to see one appear on the giveaway page, yet others who post around the time I do are almost instantly added to the page. I am wondering though if the server could be the problem as you were saying watcher13. I guess I will just keep trying on other days, and if I can't get anything on there, I will contact the GAOTD team. Thank you again for your replies.

   Posted 15 years ago #
6. 

   watcher13
   Member

   You're welcome. I don't know where you are, I'm assuming USA, so I'm not sure what's your middle of the day. I mention that because the moderators do indeed take the middle of the day off, at least in my EST timezone. But I thought the posts usually got through, eventually??? But I haven't posted a lot lately. Maybe it is a tech problem. Have you tried another browser? Maybe that'll make it more friendly to you. Good luck.

   Posted 15 years ago #
7. 

   RosnSC
   Member

   I don't co-moderate the main page, but 'just' the Forums section, but I'd say it's likely a combo of what watcher AND GMMan said.

   Sue

   Posted 15 years ago #
8. 

   BuBBy
   Teh adnim

   ditto @ RosnSC.

   This is just a rant on my thoughts on the comment section. I'm not implying the comment by MSC is what I am referring to - but as I do have the ability to moderate the comment section (or clean up moderation mistakes - when something 'inappropriate' slips through). I do sometimes see comments that are in the 'spam' bin or comments that have not been approved - yet subsequent comments have been approved. The reasons exactly why an 'unspoken' moderation rule has been applied is not always clear (sometimes it is clear - at least to me, if not the user who gets no feedback why).

   The most common comments that I am aware of being binned are either.

   1. Abusive, Offensive or Trolling.

   2. Blatant plugs for another website or a commercial competitor of the giveaway product.

   3. Posts that are a complete and total waste of time (perhaps small children trying to kick of a career in comedy. Epic Fail).

   As long as the post has something original and useful to offer other readers or some value to the giveaway developers - it should appear. Remember the comment will appear because hopefully it is interesting/useful to other readers.

   Of course this is my editorial view on what appears (when I can spare a few hours of my free time to watch and moderate the comments page). When I do - I read every comment and a lot of repeated questions will be removed and I will actually answer questions (or research the answers) where I can.

   Other moderators may take less direct interest in the individual posts and the discussions - or more.

   I feel there are two schools of thought on how the comment section is moderated.

   1. Focus on quality of content & comments. Not everything gets through - but the comments are directed towards reviews, tips, installation assistance, and suggestions for other free alternatives.

   2. Post what you like: This looks nice. I've been waiting for this. I missed this last time. Doesn't work on Win95. Is this better than the other program. I love GOTD. and the number one comment on software for today "This is useful! thanks".

   mmm - I know thousands of users' decision to install the software (or not) will be made a lot easier by that last comment. Perhaps the benchmark should be - Do I feel less stupid after reading the comment, than I did before?

   Of course it is a balancing game - if everyone can get their name on a real interweb site posting a comment - then more traffic, more ads, more money... but the regular users will come to view the comment page as crud and just ignore it altogether - and that would be less traffic, less ads, less money.

   I guess when it comes to moderating a comment page on computer software someone needs to stand up and ask "what is the point to this?". Once they sort out what the actual point of comments are - they can move onto the voting, and at least state what a thumb up or down represents - and if it doesn't represent anything... get rid of it.

   I think the best idea of the thumbs up and down should be replaced with a "Thanks" and "No Thanks" vote button (as that seems to be the use that most peoples votes are based on - do they want/like the giveaway software).

   Posted 15 years ago #
9. 

   watcher13
   Member

   See MSC. I told you you'd getter a better answer from a moderator. :) Thanks for the interesting clarification, Bubby, and allow me to say in response: banana, banana, banana (semi-inside joke, MSC).

   Posted 15 years ago #
10. 

    MSC
    Member

    Thank you for your reply BuBBy. I do avoid all of the things that you mentioned get comments erased, and try to make my comments as useful as they can be. I do however wonder if there is something wrong on my end, as I have seen comments appear on computers that are not in connection to the computer I use. There could easily be something wrong with the cache in my browser or in another part of my network. I will try posting on today's giveaway and see what happens.

    Posted 15 years ago #

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