I couldn't agree with you more. When I read the content of this post the first thing that came to mind was "this is seriously a very, very bad idea". No one deserves the right to judge the comments I leave.

If someone doesn't like the simple comment of TY or thank you or great review, too bad. It's just a way for us voters to say "hey, I was here, thanks for taking the time (and pleasure) to give us information on toys". less

And yet a large majority of people have stated that they would like for "comments [to] consist of more than just those four words (Thanks for the review)" - Should comments on reviews be more interesting?.

I suspect that many people find comments like a generic "TY", "Good", "Nice", etc. to be somewhat offensive - especially since there is no indication that the review was actually read and there are many who leave large numbers of "thanks for the reviews" on different reviews over a very short period of time, made by the same commenter (which also shows that they never read the review). Just the other day, I noticed one person who left "thank yous" on TEN different reviews in less than two minutes - there is nothing friendly or congenial about that.

If a review really is good, then why not just write a simple statement that explains why you like it? That also shows that you read the review and are not simply point farming. It also tells the writer of the review that you actually read what was written. As a rule, I try to make my own comments a bit more personal to show the reviewer that I really did read what they wrote. At the very least, I try to refer to something that was stated in their review. Doing so is a LOT more friendly than a generic "TY". less

To me it's coming across as censorship and being told what I can or cannot say and it seems to completely go against everything this community is about. I realize I'm new 'round these here parts but I don't see how this will not alienate people from commenting.

Annnnd I think that for new users who come to the site and get involved in the community having such a rule may be off-putting so they just won't bother to participate at all.

I'm more in favor of ditching and/or lowering the point value for comments rather than voting/down-voting/cri tiquing/censoring comments. less

I agree with you for all the reasons you said and more. I basically think it's an all-around bad idea.

Do I wish that people would comment with more substance? Yes. Is it the end of the world or the end of your ability to grow as a reviewer because 35 of 50 comments on your review are "nice" "thank you" or "good review"??? Absolutely not.

I usually don't comment on reviews unless I have something to add to the discussion. Or if I want to be a smart ass and give reviewers I have a good rapport with a hard time. For example, if I'm reading one of B8trDude's reviews or Tim's reviews or someone like that, I'll make a smart ass comment about how they pound it or about how they use their icicles. If it's a newer reviewer, or one with whom I am not as casual, I will try to either ask questions or point out a part of their review I liked (if I don't have a critique). If I'm impressed with their writing, I might say something like, "Great review. You have a lot of potential as a reviewer." But if I don't have something to say of that nature, I will just abandon the commenting altogether. less

50 comments? Boy, am I jealous! I think I've had a handful on each review, some none at all. In due time, in due time! I plan on kicking around here for quite awhile.

Right now, as a new reviewer it's really uplifting to know that someone is reading the review because I don't always check to see how many votes are on it.

I don't want to step out of line by saying this but the arguments for "censoring" it from more advanced reviewers kind of comes off as "I don't have time for your kindergarten responses, say something more important!" and that's not endearing at all. less

I agree with you for all the reasons you said and more. I basically think it's an all-around bad idea.

Do I wish that people would comment with more substance? Yes. Is it the end of the world or the end of your ability to grow as a reviewer because 35 of 50 comments on your review are "nice" "thank you" or "good review"??? Absolutely not.

I usually don't comment on reviews unless I have something to add to the discussion. Or if I want to be a smart ass and give reviewers I have a good rapport with a hard time. For example, if I'm reading one of B8trDude's reviews or Tim's reviews or someone like that, I'll make a smart ass comment about how they pound it or about how they use their icicles. If it's a newer reviewer, or one with whom I am not as casual, I will try to either ask questions or point out a part of their review I liked (if I don't have a critique). If I'm impressed with their writing, I might say something like, "Great review. You have a lot of potential as a reviewer." But if I don't have something to say of that nature, I will just abandon the commenting altogether. less

There was nothing nothing nefarious about the original question - the only intent was to encourage more personal responses and decreasing point farming. Perhaps it might be better if people could provide only a POSITIVE "yes" to the question, "Does this comment to the discussion?" That would eliminate any concerns about being negative while also encouraging people to say something fun, creative, or more personal. Are there any other creative suggestions? Any ideas? less

B8trDude, the questions "Should comments be more interesting" and "Should we be able to vote on comments" are two totally different things. Just because it should be more interesting doesn't mean anyone has the right to dictate the content of a comment and that's exactly how this is coming across.

Why do you not see this? I can understand wanting to have a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" for a comment, like they do on Yahoo. But, with everything else being rated on here, it's just overkill.

If you choose to build your rating by reviews and ignore what the comments do for you, that's fine. For others, they need every contribution to their rank they can get and having a comment rated based on content or usefulness is alienating. less

I'm afraid that they are not two entirely different things - as noted, a large number of people think that comments should be more interesting than the generic "thanks" or "thanks for the review" and that some people are very clearly using to point farm. As is very easily observable, some people leave ten or twenty "thanks for the review" comments in a matter of two minutes or less - they are clearly NOT reading the reviews, nor are they making an effort to.

By asking the simple question, "Should we be able to vote on comments" does not, in any way censor or dictate the content of a comment (I'm not sure where you get that idea that it does). There is nothing wrong, per se, with saying "thanks" but how much effort does it really take to say a bit more, such as, "Thanks, you really put a lot of thought into the review, I especially liked the part about ___"

Again, the number of generic "thanks" is overwhelming and many can be found at any given time. It would be interesting to see what percentage of comments are posted on reviews that are little more than that. I think that might be very interesting!

As an example of how prevalent generic comments are, here's a screen shot of one example that I just took:



You'll notice that leaving "thanks" without stating anything else, actually buries many reviews, especially when someone is point farming. Something that might be of even more importance to EF (which we all dearly LOVE ) is whether the above example makes someone want to look at any of those reviews. As there are many times when one item has many reviews - and all of them have received the same generic comment, there is really nothing other than the same picture that shows up ten or more times, that makes one want to look at a specific review. Again, this buries really great reviews (which also inhibits new readers of it) and elevates really poor reviews (or even reviews that no longer exist).


I mentioned previously that I recently came across a "thanks for the review" comment for a very old review that had long since disappeared (the actual review had been posted on a blog, linked to from EF). In fact the entire blog was long gone! The person was "thanking" someone for a review that hadn't existed in a very long time and was point farming (as evidenced by a large number of "thanks" within just a minute or two. I came across the item while looking through the "latest comments" section that was similar to the above.

I think you've misconceived what was suggested (or not suggested) by the original question too - at no time was it ever implied that voting a comment as "useful" would contribute or subtract from one's rating - that would not serve any point. No one would be penalized for anything. As others have noted, your rank is affected (slightly) by the number of comments your reviews receive. I'm also not sure where you get the idea that some people "need every contribution to their rank they can get and having a comment rated based on content or usefulness is alienating?" First, I don't think that anyone has suggested that that content is being rated - only a comment's usefulness. Second, no suggestion has ever been made that voting on a comment's usefulness would be tied, in any way, to ranks. In fact, it should NOT be.

I know other suggestions have been made regarding how commenting might be improved - do you have any suggestions? Thanks less

Certainly. When people leave mindless "thanks" by cutting and pasting one word comments to reviews they haven't read (as evidenced by the large number of posts by the same person within less than a minute), all of the reviews that do have meaningful comments are pushed out (disappear/buried) from the recent comments lists (for example, here's the link a page that includes the section called "Recent comments on male toy reviews").

This occurs because the most recent comments appear at the top of the list and the older ones are pushed down lower. Eventually, the "older" comments disappear from the bottom list. When a serial "thanks for the review" attack occurs, the list of "Recent comments" quickly fills up with "thanks for the review" comments. Reviews with meaningful comments vanish from the list, living it filled with "thanks".

One must assume that EF wants to sell toys and keep people on their site. When using the "Recent Comments" list to find toys that others find interesting, toys with interesting comments are more likely to catch your attention so that you'll look at it. When these lists are filled with "thanks for the review", there is nothing to distinguish either the toys or the reviews to make one want to look at them (other than the photograph). This can be easily seen in the following screen capture as well as in the one I previously posted:



Is there anything in the above that makes you want to read a review about one toy instead of another? Is there anything that makes you want to read one review instead of another?

Hope this clarifies things. less

Now I know why I didn't understand what you meant. I don't really use the Review page much. I see what you mean, but I would argue that listing recent comments on reviews is only marginally helpful to someone browsing. As I'm looking at the page now, half are comments from Dwtim's latest Fleshlight review. They are not of the "Thanks" variety but still would not draw me to the review necessarily. Most are the typical witty variety which I personally don't think "contribute to the discussion," but perhaps that is only my opinion.

I think the page would be better served if the comment section was removed and instead recent toys reviews under that category were listed. less

I agree with you on that. I used to use that page all of the time but lately, am just getting too frustrated with it as the comments section can fill up, nearly instantly, with "thanks for the review". I think changing that section would be great although with comments below (new reviews are already listed on the right side of the same page).

I've also wondered how others usually search the site for reviews - in the past, I've used the page I mentioned but I also look at the "new toy" reviews listed on the side of the same page. less

I half agree, I don't think comments should be voted on at all. For the very reason you mentioned. People who obviously don't want constructive criticism could wreak havoc with your score, when you were only trying to help.

I think voting on comments would stop people from being honest with their comments and they'd all end up "GREAT REVIEW!" less

I agree with you on that. I used to use that page all of the time but lately, am just getting too frustrated with it as the comments section can fill up, nearly instantly, with "thanks for the review". I think changing that section would be great although with comments below (new reviews are already listed on the right side of the same page).

I've also wondered how others usually search the site for reviews - in the past, I've used the page I mentioned but I also look at the "new toy" reviews listed on the side of the same page. less

There seems to be an endless number of comments on reviews that say nothing more than "thanks", "nice", "good", etc. Amazon allows readers to vote on whether a comment "adds to the discussion." Would you like to see EF allow visitors to rate comments? less