That's a good point. I love getting constructive comments, but simple compliments are appreciated too! More than just a smiley anyway :/...

I thought of that. It may discourage them, though.

An automated bot can be made to make comments of any length. While I don't think a 15-character limit would do any harm, I don't think it would do any good, either.

I never said anything about point farming, myself...I don't care why they're doing it, I just wish they wouldn't. I don't see how a character limit would be off-putting or frightening! This sort of requirement exists when writing reviews for EF, as well as all over other parts of the internet.

Is there a way to flag individual comments on reviews or on product pages? Do you flag the person's profile? I have never done so. Is this sort of behavior grounds for flagging? What are the consequences of a person being flagged?

This is true, but don't you think it's kind of a trivial thing regardless of the reasons why they may or may not be doing it? Do you get mad at people when they smile at you while you're in public? Water off a duck's back.

There was mention of reworking the point system and that there will be changes coming very soon in the Gift Card Update thread. It takes time to write code and work out bugs in any program and I would imagine even more difficult in a program as comprehensive as this one is.

The Community Planning Meeting thread from last week is focused entirely on changes people are or have been asking for and what the progress of those things are.

Just give EF admins some time to work through these things, I'm sure they have a master plan for the community with really great changes in store for us.

agreed

When you see a comment or post there is the option to flag on the right side of it. You simply push flag and you can choose if you think it;s spam or offensive, etc. There is also the option to leave a comment.

If enough people flag something, the person will get checked out. I flagged a couple of smilies on my profile page and they got removed. You can also notify kristi or JR if you suspect someone of doing some serious spamming, either via message or email.

Just to clarify, you only have to flag an item once and it will be investigated. Multiple flags on the same item actually creates more work for Kristi as she then has to contact each person that created the flag.

I'm of the belief that forcing people to actually think about something is a good thing, and having even just a small character limit would do that. Even if you just stick to "good review" at least the person leaving that comment had to actually stop and think for a moment and decide that it was a good review. If a review is good enough to get a person thinking about if they should get that product or not then it would be nice to know that, in my opinion. I see smileys as being purely lazy. If you take all the time it takes to read a comprehensive review, then it would be nice to show appreciation to the reviewer by leaving a thoughtful comment rather than just a smiley.

Lol... I thought about doing the smiley thing too.

Ugh now every time I make one I think about this!

Anyways.... I also dislike the short "ty"s and "great review"s because, well, I know it's a good review, the 20 people that voted it U or EU know it's a good review, so why are you telling me?

I thought it was a bad review... that's why I posted it! Lol

This thread isn't about those short, but sweet comments, although the subject keeps veering that direction I don't mind those comments at all. It's the smileys that irk me, for their laziniess and emptiness. I think kttynblurbs summed up my feelings on this very well.

I didn't realize this would stir up such dramatic feelings in everyone! Yikes. Thank you for commenting and keeping it civil (for the most part).

It wasn't directed towards you, really. After almost 11 months of being here, I've come to learn that smileys and comments that aren't review-specific are just part of having a community that is open to everyone. I'm not asking for people to LIKE that part of it, but to understand that it's just part of the territory.

Sapphire Storm hit the nail on the head when she talked about it being off-putting. This has been discussed, to a degree, in several other threads. The thing is this: controlling what people can or cannot say, how long it has to be, and whether or not what was said is useful makes people feel like their input isn't appreciated. Even if it is "lazy" or "pointless." If it's not a bot, the people who posted it didn't feel it was pointless or lazy. They already took (if they actually did it) 5-15 minutes to read your review. They voted on it. And whether it was for points, or just to be nice, decided to put something in the comment box.

Regardless of the content, all comments on your review help you out. So it's really of little consequence if it's a smiley, a 5-word comment, or a 3 paragraph critique.

NO ONE should be called out publicly. If you are concerned that people are abusing the points system, flag them for "Spam" and Kristi will look into it. Whatever action is taken from that point is up to the discretion of the staff. (which I am not)

It's completely unacceptable to publicly humiliate someone to make your point.

As a staff member, I second this. If you (anybody) see something that you think is spam or an abuse of the points system, either flag it or email Kristi with links. As mentioned in a few other places, sometimes things may look like spam to you (general you) when they're actually legitimate postings. Do not under any circumstances publicly call somebody out on anything. It is completely uncalled for, and everything can be handled privately.