The Comment Revolution
Rise Up And Revolt!The Comment Revolution has been thoroughly written about in 3 journal items. Please read all 3 before making a comment.
The Comment Revolution The Comment Revolution: Part 2 The Comment Revolution Progress: Slow And SteadyWelcome to the Comment Revolution. What exactly do I mean by that? Well, sit back and read on.
You've noticed the rating system before. Maybe you don't use it, maybe you do. Perhaps you ignore it, wondering "what's the point?" Perhaps you are the type of person to leave the kind of feedback that deserves a "1" and therefore you don't rate other comments because you are lazy.
What I'm looking to do is to change the way people comment here at deviantART. I'm not talking about personal comments. User pages and journals are a place to have fun. The only time I've rated a comment there is when it's either very very good or if it's rude and worthless.
I'm talking about deviation comments. There are very few times when I receive comments that really make me happy to read them. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Few deviants take the time to write worthwhile comments on other people's work. Sure, it takes a bit more time and a little thought, but those comments are worth 100 of the "very nice, I really like it a lot" comments. We, as artists, learn from these. You, as critics, look somewhat intelligent and gain respect.
What I ProposeEach time you go to comment on a piece of art, think before you write. Look at the piece for a few seconds (I usually spend 10-60 seconds looking before writing). Then write.
Be specific about your likes/dislikes. Use positives and negatives, not one or the other. Give ways to improve the piece. Use examples. Sound intelligent. Use proper grammar.
It's not hard to do, really. It takes you a minute or two more than usual, but the results can be quite satisfying. You get better at analyzing art, and the artist learns from your critique.
I am thankful for every comment I receive, but many of them don't do much for me. I reply with a "thanks", but what did I gain? Another pageview? Another comment? Meh.
What You Can DoI've outlined what you can do as commentors, but I would like to do more. I'd like to highlight those deviants who go above and beyond the call of duty for leaving useful comments on deviations. I want you, the deviants, to point them out. Let me know who they are so I can let everyone else know.
Last month, `justthorne received the Deviousness award for his outstanding comments. I'd like to bring to light more deviants like this. Send me a note if you know someone like this. Maybe you have someone who added you to their devWATCH and they always leave outstanding comments. Maybe you noticed someone like this commenting throughout the site. Tell me about it.
I'll offer up subscriptions to those deviants who are worthy. I'll spread the word of their excellence. I'll get their name out there.
And don't forget: Help them by rating their comments. The comment threshold doesn't seem important, but it is. People who have something meaningful to say will be brought to the front of the pack. Help them out by taking a few seconds to read their comments and rate them.
In ConclusionThere you have it. Let me know of anyone who can "comment like a banshee." What does that mean? I don't know, but if a banshee left comments that were well thought out, gave relevant advice and critique, and were above the threshold, then those are the type of banshees I'm talking about.
Do your part. Make deviantART a better place.
Update (Monday, May 3rd):
It's Spreading!After I posted this, it seems the word is being passed along. It helps that both *blind-ice and `justthorne have posted links to this entry in their own journals as well (*blind-ice has also added it to his signature). Much thanks to them as well as anyone else who is linking to it. The more the better!
Also, I have received a few (8-10) suggestions of deviants who are good comment givers. I shall be checking them out (I have looked at a few) in the next few days and posting them here. Stay tuned!
Update (Tuesday, May 11th):
The Comment Revolution: Part 2 has been posted! Update your links!
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=splat
Patrick Haney
splat@deviantart.com
http://splat.deviantart.com
Hot!
To Do List
Inclusive Guide to Commenting
Blue Groove Dance website
Cut posterhanger tubes to length
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The Comment Revolution!!! 
RAfFbza_eHslU7PwZ-DGAW4FZc 
Devious Comments
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"Forgive me,
I have but two faces
One for the world,
One for God "
Emppuaholic
member of ~bb-lovers
I agree... And if anyone needs more tips on writing good critiques,,, I have a begainers tutorial in my gallery to check out!!
I've been thinking about writing an advanced users guide to good critique writing... what do you think??? Perhaps.
Well,,, I think this is fabulous... I know one person I'm going to note to you right now.
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People learn more when they try to find answers.
I agree.
Two thoughts to offer here (off the top of my head...)
One is that, yeah, rating comments becomes more and more valuable the more it's done. We should all work on that as a "best new habit." Surely it'll become second-nature the more we do it, so let's all start doing it more. And don't just do it for comments on your own work, just do it whenever you see one that stands out! "Cultivate the habit."
Second is my primary piece of advice for anyone who wants to comment better: treat every piece as a learning experience. When you see something that dazzles you or touches you, try to figure out why. When you see something that doesn't seem to live up to its potential, try to figure out why. In this way, a comment is good for you even if you don't get acknowledgement in return, and it'll surely benefit your own art to examine the successes and shortcomings of others.
Of course, always be considerate and treat others like you'd like to be treated. But we all know that, right?
Anyway, I'll try to add some fuel to the fire this evening - my current journal needs replacing anyway!
I have started recently, also mostly when I have much time, to rate the comments I see around, when commenting myself, very much alike the way you do, rate every single comment, and then write your own comment
I think this way of doing it is nothing but great, more people should really do it, I'll start doing it every time
By the way, if you need financial support on this project, if you actually want to give out subscriptions, feel free to drop a note
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Hi, I'm Mikkel!
Yes, I should've mentioned this. Personally, I try and rate as many comments per day that I can. Sometimes I just don't feel like it to be honest, but most of the time I go down the page of comments (on news articles, deviations, etc.) and rate each one. And yes, that requires reading the comment first. I usually just do the first page if it's got more than 50 comments (my comments per page setting is 50), but I've been known to go through 200+ comments on popular news articles to rate every single one.
This is a great point. I forgot to mention this as well. Not only will you get respect by leaving well thought out comments, but you'll learn a little by trying to analyze the piece you're looking at. It's amazing how much I've learned from doing just that. I can pick out little details here and there in photos, designs, and even writing that I might not have if I hadn't done it a million times over.
Sounds great. The more people who read this, the better the chance that we'll effect some change here in the commenting system at deviantART.
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`splat
Patrick Haney, not a sausage
Designer, developer, deviant
It's not easy to do it all the time, but if you can rate the page of comments at least a few times a day, it really helps. Plus by reading the other comments you'll get an idea of what other people have touched on and you can build your comment around that. If someone mentioned something bad, you don't need to say the same thing over again. You can either add to that comment, or you can forget it all together.
And thanks for the offer on helping with subscriptions. I'll keep that in mind, definitely.
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`splat
Patrick Haney, not a sausage
Designer, developer, deviant
I think that would be great. A lot of people seem to not know how to critique things, and I think a guide to doing good critique would be useful to all deviants.
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`splat
Patrick Haney, not a sausage
Designer, developer, deviant
Lots of good ways to do this, and I'm sure that if the rate system gets extended a bit, it will be used to it's full too
Normally I actually don't see anyone but you rating full pages, think I've seen it once or twice, but I'd say that doing it that way, also draws a lot of attention to it
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Hi, I'm Mikkel!
fun
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