Vibe Why A Comment Isn't Just Text

[Ashez]

Why A Comment Isn't Just Text

Recently the topic of comments has been brought up on Vibe so I've decided to throw something together explaining why they're so important. To many reading this you'll think a comment is just a line of text with little impact in the big picture, however in this thread I will explain the importance and the power a handful of words can have on your content providers. 

Motivation

This is the obvious one which is often discussed as a comment is the best way to boost the morale of any content creator. Posting content in any line of work is hard going but especially for a fan site who only get "paid" by their fans appreciation.  I'm sure many journalists and the like are happy with views as that leads to money, however when it comes down to fans doing this work for free their cheque comes in the form of interactions with the community. Anyone posting content here is doing it purely because they enjoy posting but that has it's breaking point, especially when most updates have hours of FMM gameplay behind them before the content becomes a wall of text and screenshots. One simple career update can take between 3-8 hours to complete including gameplay with ease and that's a lot of time for people to be donating to this community. A small comment takes seconds but it shows the creator their effort is worth while. It shows them you're enjoying whatever they are posting and the fan interaction is the key to motivation! A simple comment can motivate the creator to play faster, to update more frequently, to continue with new ideas and it really is a vital aspect in keeping our community not only active but strong. 

The Power Of The Bump 

Posting a comment has the side effect of bumping the thread in question which might be it's most important role in truth. There is nothing worse than having your content buried within hours of posting but one single comment will push the thread back to the top of the list and back into the communities eye. Keeping a thread relevant will bring more attention to it's topic while naturally bringing in more views which in turn brings in more possibilities for bumps/comments and followers. The more views and activity your thread receives the bigger it will grow which will lead to more people discovering it and so on. Trust me your power to bump what stays relevant shouldn't be underestimated (or abused) as it plays a vital part in deciding which threads flop and which ones go on to greatness.

Shows The Demand

A thread receiving comments will show everyone else what type of content the community is after, in simple terms this is one reason why bandwagons can appear in the careers community as when people see an idea is popular they also want in on it. If a thread receives no comments and little attention people will assume that type of content is unwanted and will avoid posting it, however if a type of content is being ambushed with activity people will naturally flock towards that idea or ones of a similar nature. Your comments help shape Vibe as they show the creators where they should be focusing their attention while also showing them which ideas might not be the best to pursue. For this concept to work people also need to take risks and to test the waters which thankfully many of the people here do but those ideas live or die on the fans reaction and no comments will likely mean those ideas are put off or not considered again in the future. 

Feedback 

While the above section somewhat covers this on a basic level the comment section is the ideal place to leave feedback in an attempt to help the creator improve their content. Vibe is all about being creative and unique and due to this some ideas work and some don't so it's important you offer constructive criticism to help the author make the right decisions, be it relating to the posting style or the content itself we all appreciate being told how we could possibly improve things. Feedback however can also be positive which links right back into the motivation topic as if you're enjoying what you're reading make sure you let the creator know as it'll make their day! 

Getting Yourself Known

Posting comments can also have a more selfish motive as the more you post the more well known you will become within the community. If a new name pops up with content it can take them a while to establish themselves as people might not head to their content, they might not want to risk getting invested in some one they don't know they can trust or there might be more established posts on the forums people would rather read. A lot of Vibe does come down to reputation as if you have a reputation for good work you'll gain a following and one of the best and easiest ways to get noticed is to just be active. Vibe isn't comment for comment but if you post on someone's thread they're going to be more likely to check out your work and return the favour. That comment made them notice you and it shows you are here supporting the community, it's only natural that they'll be more curious in you and that they'll want to read/support your work to. It's no coincidence the most popular members here have always been the most supportive of others and the more active you are the more noticed you'll be. This will also soon blossom into friendships which will make you not only feel more involved but will make you want to be more involved, seriously whatever you put into Vibe is what you get back. 

Closing Statement 

I appreciate this is an odd article to be writing but I felt like it needed to be said, we often hear about how important comments are but we rarely discuss why they're so vital. The truth of the matter is comments make or break this community and it's an area I'd love to see improved upon but the only way that'll happen is if the casual members spend the time to leave comments. If you can spare the time to read the content I'm sure you can also muster the energy to leave a few words. Vibe can seem busy with ten or so active commenters supporting each other so just imagine what this site could be like if we unlocked it's potential and had the more casual followers getting involved. I'm not asking for essays or articles I'm just trying to show you how massive a simple "well done" or "good work" can be. Sure it might seem redundant rephrasing a comment from someone else in the thread but to the creator that comment will mean just as much to them as it's truly helping them. 

For anyone who's invested enough to still be reading I'm for once actually going to ask you please continue reading in the comments as I'm sure more excellent points will be made there. If you are a more casual fan of the site why not post saying why you don't feel the need to interact? What can we do as a site to make you want to support us? I'm sure hundreds of you would be gutted if we all decided to stop posting content so why not meet us half way?

As always thank you for reading and if you have any views or opinions I'd love to hear them. 

[mcandrew003]

Great write up Ash, you really pinpointed the effects of commenting. I agree with most points you have made here, and as a content/career poster myself I can't stress just how motivating comments are. Getting 1 or 2 is incredible, as it gives you that feeling of accomplishment and you then know that someone else is enjoying what you are doing, which then leads on to more confidence and friendships, as you say.

When I first joined, I knew nobody from here. However, there were people like Anders, Brenty and Bati who consistently commented on my work, and that has since lead to me becoming a more active and hopefully 'important' member, but also some great friendships with hundreds of messages just between the three I have just mentioned. 

By the term 'important', I personally think even casual members can become important after one post or so, as long as you show the right attitude we'd love to chat and discuss with you all. 

Great work Ash. 

[Nick11]

@mcandrew003 Mate you told everything i thought to post in comment . I guess we both know the value of comments & how it helped us to know each other a bit . 

@Ashez  Nice write up mate . You wrote exact same same things i felt . Initially whenever i posted career .. lack of comments forced me to avoid doing careers & posting it here  . I think comments lay the foundation of a career. It helps content creator get going ... try to do better ... implement new ideas that he gets . 

 

[Harish]

Smashing write up mate. Definitely agree with all the points you stated.Even getting a single KIU is something which would hugely motivate the OP to carry on.Many casual guest users come here,see some of the careers,tactics, challenges etc and get a new idea of playing the game but they never consider to thank or show their support to the person concerned.

I am more concerned about this as I myself once was one of the lurkers who never bother to post.But I saw how much effort the more active members were putting in their work and when you addressed the issue(way long back in the days of FMM16)it was the last straw for me as I immediately created an account and since then I have never looked back.My first career did not take off the way I wanted but in a short time I had a lot of support from Taff,RealRandom, Bati, mcandrew,Anders,and of course most importantly,you.

It soon turned into a very pleasurable experience and now I am happy and proud to say that I am an active member in Vibe and I will be like that for the foreseeable future.

I just hope that guest users read this and catch the seriousness of this problem and of course I would also love to see the dormant older members active once more.

Once again, Fantastic write up mate,You have hit the nail right on the head.

Cheers.

[BatiGoal]

Couldn't have said it better myself, Ashez.

Really hope it opens more than a few eyes and helps people understand how incredibly important such interaction is for a community like Vibe. You summed it up perfectly!

[Brenty92]

Can always count on you @Ashez to post about what 90% of the more active members are feeling, me and @mcandrew003 have recently called it a day on our assistant manager challenge in the H2H and tbh now I think of it, the main reason I weren't feeling it was a serious lack of comments! Something simple like 'keep it up' or even a good luck message can spur us on for another couple seasons lol, spoiler alert, our next h2h challenge is a classic, all you Lurkers head on over to 'The Clash Of Titans' and click follow ?

Great write up Ash! Couldn't have said it better myself!

[Ashez]

Cheers lads, as expected you've all made excellent points! I would reply to you all but I'd just be repeating myself. Thanks for spending the time to leave a comment but as expected it's the core members willing to interact, I had hoped a few new names would be willing to chip into the discussion. 

[Putzy]

Good post, and yet again some great discussion points brought up.

We've come up with a few ideas that have been discussed with a couple of "core" members of the community which, although they don't directly deal with the issue at hand, will hopefully help nurture the community into one which treats discussion as a very valuable tool for everyone involved.

There will be some small changes brought in over the next couple of days and weeks which will hopefully start to improve that. I'm not promising immediate results, but we're well aware of the situation and totally agree that it can't keep going on as it is.

[Ashez]

2 hours ago, Putzy said:

Good post, and yet again some great discussion points brought up.

We've come up with a few ideas that have been discussed with a couple of "core" members of the community which, although they don't directly deal with the issue at hand, will hopefully help nurture the community into one which treats discussion as a very valuable tool for everyone involved.

There will be some small changes brought in over the next couple of days and weeks which will hopefully start to improve that. I'm not promising immediate results, but we're well aware of the situation and totally agree that it can't keep going on as it is.

Sounds good  

[Real_Random]

Couldn't agree more @Ashez, I found that the more I posted the more relevant I became. I agree totally with the motivational aspect of comments but a question I ask you is when is it appropriate to bump a thread because I have seen many new members criticised for bumping old threads. All in all fantastic article 

[Ashez]

30 minutes ago, Real_Random said:

Couldn't agree more @Ashez, I found that the more I posted the more relevant I became. I agree totally with the motivational aspect of comments but a question I ask you is when is it appropriate to bump a thread because I have seen many new members criticised for bumping old threads. All in all fantastic article 

Thanks  

I'm obviously not staff anymore so they might have a different opinion/guidelines/rules to me but personally I think it comes down to context. If you're bumping an old thread with a reason for it like an on topic question I don't see the harm with it as why start a new thread when you can keep relating information together, however pointless bumps can be a tad annoying. Bumping when relating to careers enters more murky waters though IMO as those sort of bumps usually are of the pointless kind months after the fact or a question which is likely more suited to a PM (9/10 tactic related tbh). I genuinely feel almost embarrassed and guilty when one of my old careers gets a bump as I'm done with that career, it had it's time to shine and I feel bad that it's clogging the forums and blocking more current work from people, in these cases I'll usually just like the post but not respond and do my best to bury my thread by commenting in others lol. Typically unless it's the author bringing the thread back with further updates I'd say a career thread should be done with after a a few weeks or so, it's still there for anyone wanting to read it yet it really doesn't need bringing back to life. That's just my opinion though and I'm sure others will have different views. 

[Real_Random]

3 hours ago, Ashez said:

Thanks  

I'm obviously not staff anymore so they might have a different opinion/guidelines/rules to me but personally I think it comes down to context. If you're bumping an old thread with a reason for it like an on topic question I don't see the harm with it as why start a new thread when you can keep relating information together, however pointless bumps can be a tad annoying. Bumping when relating to careers enters more murky waters though IMO as those sort of bumps usually are of the pointless kind months after the fact or a question which is likely more suited to a PM (9/10 tactic related tbh). I genuinely feel almost embarrassed and guilty when one of my old careers gets a bump as I'm done with that career, it had it's time to shine and I feel bad that it's clogging the forums and blocking more current work from people, in these cases I'll usually just like the post but not respond and do my best to bury my thread by commenting in others lol. Typically unless it's the author bringing the thread back with further updates I'd say a career thread should be done with after a a few weeks or so, it's still there for anyone wanting to read it yet it really doesn't need bringing back to life. That's just my opinion though and I'm sure others will have different views. 

I completely agree with your guidelines there. It can be annoying when posts from 2015 are being bumped but of their insightful why not.

[Ashez]

27 minutes ago, Real_Random said:

I completely agree with your guidelines there. It can be annoying when posts from 2015 are being bumped but of their insightful why not.

Bumping something from a different game year is different though unless you're on about that game. I wasn't thinking on that scale but more in terms of the yearly forums. I wouldn't recommend randomly bumping a thread that's years old as that will just annoy people lol. 

[leecutler]

Love this article brings SO many brilliant points to the table, From a poster comments on a thread mean a lot of things, Comments spur on the poster to remain pro active and gives you the drive and determination to post more, But lack of comments on a thread can be quite some what draining Lol.

Also lack of comments can almost make a poster not want to continue with their post, As after all when you post something you're looking for feedback/recognition 

 

[BatiGoal]

Some great points here.

Another thing I'd like to add is that it really encouraged me to do better. To become a better writer/poster. To deliver more quality guides and articles and yes even careers. Apart from the motivation and pro active bits it really gives the OP an incentive to up his "game" to the next level as it's certainly been the case with me.

Having that said, I'll even go as far as saying that comments can really push posters/writers to deliver higher quality content, which ultimately Vibe and thus all of us benefit from.

[Ashez]

7 hours ago, leecutler said:

Love this article brings SO many brilliant points to the table, From a poster comments on a thread mean a lot of things, Comments spur on the poster to remain pro active and gives you the drive and determination to post more, But lack of comments on a thread can be quite some what draining Lol.

Also lack of comments can almost make a poster not want to continue with their post, As after all when you post something you're looking for feedback/recognition 

 

Spot on mate! You can see new content posters get disheartened by the lack of activity and I'm sure they might not understand that we're all in the same boat there. I wonder how many potential legends we missed out on purely because they weren't supported enough, never mind the actual greats of Vibe who packed it all in once the activity nose dived. 

5 hours ago, BatiGoal said:

Some great points here.

Another thing I'd like to add is that it really encouraged me to do better. To become a better writer/poster. To deliver more quality guides and articles and yes even careers. Apart from the motivation and pro active bits it really gives the OP an incentive to up his "game" to the next level as it's certainly been the case with me.

Having that said, I'll even go as far as saying that comments can really push posters/writers to deliver higher quality content, which ultimately Vibe and thus all of us benefit from.

I agree with this 110%. 

[Kyle]

Thought i do have a little gander from time to time on the forums, i am busy working on grahpics and i dont really do careers etc apart from the yearly Vibe things i do as you know so im not that active on communicating. Great Write up @Ashez very true.

[Ashez]

14 minutes ago, Kyle said:

Thought i do have a little gander from time to time on the forums, i am busy working on grahpics and i dont really do careers etc apart from the yearly Vibe things i do as you know so im not that active on communicating. Great Write up @Ashez very true.

Cheers, it's just something that I felt needed to be said so hopefully it inspires a few to leave the odd good work comment from time to time haha. 

[Taff]

Can't really add anything that hasn't already been said, I know some might look at this and think or their just after more praise, but I was a lurker during FMM 14, then during 15 I felt it was time to sign up and give props to the people who's guides, tactics etc that got me into the game in the first place, but my first ever thread was very slow in gaining comments and I thought about packing it in then and there, and it wasn't about getting praise it was about knowing my work was appreciated, even with a simple KIU, because otherwise what's the point in spending days on the carrer hours on the post if no one was willing to comment and tell you they enjoyed your work, yes it's nice to get praise, but getting that little one line of comment is what makes all the days/hours worth it, and I'm thankful to people who did get behind me especially my friend @AndersJ who has been a close friend here on Vibe from the get go and is always the first to welcome any newcomers to the site, but then more people commented, I commented on theirs and discussions were had, ideas shared and just good times

I'm thankful that I didn't pack it in because now I'm here as a very active member of a fantastic community of like minded people, and we all worship the ground that people like @Ashez and @BatiGoal walk on as to us they are the true Vibe Legends, but I'm sure they appreciate their content being liked, commented on the same as the rest because without the interaction and motivation other vibers provide to your or others content people will simply stop posting and the community dies

No one wants that, and yes it's difficult to follow everything and I am as guilty as the next person for not commenting on multiple careers but I am trying to be better and apologise if any newcomers if I've missed your threads and will try to do better to get more comments, ideas and likes out there

"Mic Drop"

 

[BatiGoal]

I appreciate your kind words @Taff but I gotta be honest and say that I don't yet deserve to be called a Vibe Legend. I've only been here 3-4 years whereas people like Ashez have been here twice as long. He's the real veteran of the community and truth be told he's done way more for this site than I have. 

And to go back on topic..it's the comments that make us grow. At least for me personally it feels like being on a football pitch back in the day. You see those guys, your team mates grow, become better, faster, more technical and it pushes you to be better and more competitive as well. Comments spur people on to get to that next level. Having that said, it's US, the Vibers, who made Ashez who he is. If it wasn't for us he'd be nowhere. We're waiting for that long-awaited Thank You @Ashez anytime after your holiday!

In all seriousness, comments tickle us for better posts, articles, guides, etc so I hope it encourages people to drop a line or two.

[Taff]

You do yourself an Injustice dude, I speak from the heart and everything you have contributed makes you a legend and I'm sure that will get seconded 

As for @Ashez I'm with you in waiting for the thank you for helping to build him into the Vibe Legend we all know and love

 

[Brenty92]

Always modest @BatiGoal it's not about length of time, it's about what you contribute during!

Quality over quantity, remember that

[Taff]

22 minutes ago, Brenty92 said:

Always modest @BatiGoal it's not about length of time, it's about what you contribute during!

Quality over quantity, remember that

@Brenty92

[AndersJ]

On 15/7/2017 at 15:53, Taff said:

Can't really add anything that hasn't already been said, I know some might look at this and think or their just after more praise, but I was a lurker during FMM 14, then during 15 I felt it was time to sign up and give props to the people who's guides, tactics etc that got me into the game in the first place, but my first ever thread was very slow in gaining comments and I thought about packing it in then and there, and it wasn't about getting praise it was about knowing my work was appreciated, even with a simple KIU, because otherwise what's the point in spending days on the carrer hours on the post if no one was willing to comment and tell you they enjoyed your work, yes it's nice to get praise, but getting that little one line of comment is what makes all the days/hours worth it, and I'm thankful to people who did get behind me especially my friend @AndersJ who has been a close friend here on Vibe from the get go and is always the first to welcome any newcomers to the site, but then more people commented, I commented on theirs and discussions were had, ideas shared and just good times

I'm thankful that I didn't pack it in because now I'm here as a very active member of a fantastic community of like minded people, and we all worship the ground that people like @Ashez and @BatiGoal walk on as to us they are the true Vibe Legends, but I'm sure they appreciate their content being liked, commented on the same as the rest because without the interaction and motivation other vibers provide to your or others content people will simply stop posting and the community dies

No one wants that, and yes it's difficult to follow everything and I am as guilty as the next person for not commenting on multiple careers but I am trying to be better and apologise if any newcomers if I've missed your threads and will try to do better to get more comments, ideas and likes out there

"Mic Drop"

 

WOAW - Thanks for the kind words mate, i really apreciate the words and i have it the same way with you my friend and i hope others also see the importaince in welcoming the new members :)!

[Ashez]

Haha! So there I am thinking it's time to see if anyone actually missed me and the first thread I come to is this one haha. 

@BatiGoal's point is right on the money as I wouldn't be here or posting if it wasn't for the support the community offers. I've said repeatedly Vibe is bigger than the game to me, without Vibe I wouldn't play FMM at all. FMM is a decent game but it's the gateway to this amazing community and that's like 80% of why I play FMM, especially in the last few years where I've lost interest in the games direction. 

I like to think I show my appreciation to everyone but of course I thank you all for not only supporting me but for supporting this community. 

Tbh I feel like I want to say more but I have no idea how to word it and the praise makes it uncomfortable for me lol. I'm not here for myself as I've always put Vibe first, even when I likely shouldn't have but this community means the world to me.