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Strange Comments From the Weird World of Online Writing
Published by Paula Mitchell Bentley in Computer
November 15th, 2008
The more articles I put out there, the more I realize how much I like getting comments on my work. It lets you know what people are thinking, good or bad. They can offer inspiration or criticism to help you improve your work. But lately, I’ve been getting an awful lot of very weird comments. I hope this article doesn’t encourage certain commenters. I just had to get this article idea off of my mind.
I asked around to some of my favorite online writers here on Triond to see if they too have experienced weird and bizarre comments. Many had. I poked around online some and found some more weird comments. These comments can take many forms — funny, x-rated, juvenile, rude, bizarre or under the category of too much information! Online writing seems to scream out for comments for some reason.
Don’t get me wrong, I love love love getting comments on my work. But sometimes they just seem so pointless. On a recent article I wrote about personal ads, someone went out of their way to write on it not once, but twice that it was boring, zzzz. Unfortunately, I erased the comments as I found them juvenile, rude and annoying. This particular article has been my most viewed so far with over 18,000 views! I checked the commenter’s own page and found only one article. A poem about lost love. Maybe he was just a tad bit bitter and the personal ads really touched a nerve. I don’t know. Maybe he’ll see this and write something childish here, who knows?
That juvenile commenter has nothing on the one I found on flickr.
The comment reads: “Hi, Someone at RAMCON said you sell nude images of chicken on flickr (loldee, etc.) and I was just wondering (if this is true) then how much to you charge and what payment methods do you accept? Thanks.”
Gross and bizarre, right? And maybe a teeny bit funny. I just don’t understand the point. Is the “Add your comment” box just too tempting for people to resist? I think that this comment was a result of comment fraud which until recently, was an issue here on Triond. Luckily, they jumped on that problem right away. I wrote an article about the issue and they had a solution before it was even published! Those Triond guys are really great.
Liked it
oh my, sorry if I laugh, ut it’s truly funny with these Shticks from review … I just pictured them all KKK stalking you
do you think you’ll ever reach the $50? this review stream soungs just like stopping accepting articles from anybody when they reach $48
Great article, I also have been plagued a bit by the strange or rude comments on my posts. It doesn’t seem they come from anyone here on Triond. Can I ask how do you delete those comments? I haven’t figured that out yet.
Lucas: I don’t know if I’ll ever reach $50 — I’m still trying and plan to write another article when I reach it or give up. I haven’t heard the $48 thing. I guess I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m not giving up though. I can be a very stubborn girl!
Lindalulu — you need to go the the Content page of your Triond account. There’s tabs for published content, pending content, drafts, declined content and comments. If you click on the comments page, you can see all the comments made on all of your work. There’s a nice satisfying X to the right of the comment that will delete it. Use this with caution though as it’s not reversible. Good luck, I hope I explained it thoroughly enough.
naked images from chicken? What was he thinking????
I think he was joking… If he wasn’t joking then there is something wrong with this mind
Wonderful article x
Yeah its funny but iritating! I am only 6 weeks signed-in in triond and I am pretty satisfied with the comments from my friends. I feel weird of someone though, who posted with no identity in triond trying to give me negative comment. If she’ll do it again, I’ll give her grrrrawl!!
hhhmmm,very bizarre,i had some funny ones but nothing crude..i dont know about the money thing,i just keep writing,as far as that goes we all want to get paid and that is why there is other ways to put your work out there to network it…which mine is only throu myspace and email,i want to do more as liane schmidt always talks very positve about her reviews!well best of luck and some ppl.have noting else better to do!gabbi
I checked the link you gave to your review in ReviewStream which received such comments but I cannot find the comments now. Maybe they have read this article and have deleted it themselves.
This is really unprofessional of them.
Another unique and interesting article! I never have any of those comments though. Thank you very much for mentioning my article, I really appreciate it.
Great way of making light of a serious issue that many writers deal with at some time or another. In general, we all have to deal with the “extra” ordinary in the world, make sense of it, and not let it affect us in the very least. There is far too much good in this world to ever let anything keep you down.
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
Sorry if there’s some confusion…I’m submitting a fix to the article to link to my article on review stream. The link that is on that comment is to a review I did FOR review stream, not about them. For now, here’s the article I wrote about them…
http://www.writinghood.com/Writing/Why-You-Shouldnt-Bother-Writing-for-Review-Stream.321429
Their comment is #12.
Thanks for all the great comments everyone. It sure helps knowing that there are supportive, creative and inspirational people on here as well as the less helpful ones (i.e. minions). It really helps me to keep my head up and keep writing knowing you’re all out there too!
Those are really weird comments! Very interesting article.
I haven’t experienced this yet..well, just once. Maybe I’m not popular enough
But I bet ladies get them more than men do. Sorry about that, ladies.
Right, sooo not popular, I’m sure. Some of them are just sooo funny. I’d definitely recommend reading the content section on some of the articles.
Gosh as funny as it is, it’s quite scary to think people would go out of their way to write these comments.
Very interesting and fun article Paula
Interesting article, I think any horrible comments should just be ignored. After all if the person writing them is so disrespectfull to do so, then who really cares what there opinion is.
hi paula. i KNOW what you mean about reviewstream! they are very vengeful to anybody who says anything negative about them and yet they don’t even seem to realize how RUDE they are when they reply to polite questions!!!