Entrecard and SezWho… What do you think?

I’d like to know what other think about the partnership between Entrecard and SezWho? (check it out here.) Basically, Entrecard is getting together with SezWho in an attempt to encourage bloggers to start commenting. But it goes further than that. The system will encourage us to leave “quality” comments by using the SezWho comment rating system. Now normally I love the rating system… for hotels, restaurants, movies, and books, or whatever… but NOT for comments!

Graham of Entrecard says that people aren’t commenting enough and some aren’t commenting at all, so this is his solution. His motto for this partnership/campaign is “Comment or get out of the Blogosphere”!(and he says that should be our motto too!) I understand and I agree that comments are important to bloggers because the more you comment on other blogs, the more exposure your blog gets. But if he’s trying to encourage people who haven’t been commenting to start commenting with a rating system… I don’t think it will work.

We’re dealing with people and you can’t force people to comment with a rating system. It might work for ones who are already making the rounds, but there’s no way it will encourage those who don’t comment to start commenting. In fact it could have the opposite effect. (By the way, he’s not forcing anyone to comment… he’s rewarding them with extra Entrecard points if they participate and if their comments are rated highly!)

No more Mr. Nice Guy.  With this system, “nice post” or “nice blog”, and comments like that are frowned upon and will be considered spam and get a low rating. Long comments and debate is encouraged and will get a high rating.  Personally, I see nothing wrong with someone saying “nice post” on my blog because I don’t expect my visitors to write an essay about my posts. When a college professor reads your work and says “Nice Work!” or “Well Done” you know he liked your work and that you’re doing a good job. There’s nothing negative about “nice post” but I know that some bloggers go around and just leave a quick generic comment without reading a post and that’s considered a problem in the blog world. I don’t really see it that way. Every time a commenter says  “nice post” it doesn’t always mean he didn’t read the post. (maybe he just thinks it’s a nice post… ‘nuf said! lol)

Also, what about people who speak English as a second language? It amazes me how well they write and it always reminds me of how we expect others to know English, yet we rarely know another language. I know a little Thai and some high school French, but I would hate to be rated on my commenting skills in those languages. (Do they take second languages into consideration with the rating system?) 

Posters rate the comments. It sounds like the poster gets to rate the comments, and I really would have a problem rating people’s comments. Who the heck am I to say what’s a good comment or not? A comment is someone else’s thought… it may not be what I want them to say, but that’s the beauty of comments and opinions.

Commenters rate the posts and other comments. On the other hand, SezWho is basically a way for the commenter to rate a blogger’s post AND other comments. So the poster rates the comments and the commenter rates the posts and other comments. We could be spending all of our whole day rating each other.

SezWho allows commenters to rate anonymously. From what I’ve learned of SezWho (which is very little) a commenter can rate a post anonymously. I don’t know the details of that, but does this mean they don’t even have to comment to rate posts and comments? I guess I don’t understand how a commenter can rate anonymously…  But anyways, with commentators being anonymous I think a little sabotage could take place for bloggers who are competing. If someone doesn’t like you, can they affect your blog with ratings?  I’ve had someone who I guess isn’t happy that I bought a blog. He or she keeps coming on with different names but the same IP number to make remarks about my incompetence. With this system, is there a way for him to sabotage me? I haven’t seen him/her around lately, but these are things I wonder about when it comes to anonymity.

What about non-bloggers?  I wonder what effect the rating system has on non-bloggers. Non-bloggers are very important readers. I love seeing people who don’t have a blog making comments on my blog because I know they have the “blogging bug” and soon they’ll be wanting to start a blog and monetize it with ads. The fact is, non-bloggers are potential customers for most of us who have blogs. Will seeing a rating system on comments scare them away from commenting and participating in the blogging system? (If anyone already uses SezWho please let me know if you get a lot of non-bloggers making comments… I’d like to know about that.)

Being a beginner to blogging myself, I know that it took me a very long time before I even dared to comment and I’m one of the most extroverted people you could ever meet in person. I love people and I talk to everyone I see. When I make eye contact with a total stranger, I can’t help but smile and say something. (Let’s just say I’m not shy! lol) Yet, for some reason, I was very hesitant to comment on blogs. It took me months before I made my first comment and it was a big deal to me. There were many times I didn’t comment when I wanted to because I wasn’t sure how the system went. I would not comment on blogs with stars and rating for fear I’d be rated low! lol I think seeing a rating system would turn off non-bloggers and that’s not good for any of us.

Comments aren’t everything!

Not everyone will comment and that’s all right. Studies have shown that usually LESS than 5% of those who read your blog will comment. Comments are nice, but they are not the “be all and end all” of your blog. There’s nothing wrong with people reading what you say, absorbing it and not commenting. You can’t force people to comment, you can only encourage them. I think having rules and regulations and ratings is not the way to encourage genuine comments. 

I’m also thinking of the time and effort we’d be expected to put into making comments and rating things. It seems like we’ll be rated on our reading and comprehension skills when commenting. I take my time and I pay close attention to grammar and sentence structure when writing a post… but when I’m making comments, I just let them fly! lol If you want to make money with your blog, you need to find a way to spend LESS time on it.. not more.

Entrecard has been a great experience and it’s a wonderful way to get yourself out there and get noticed, but I’m not sure if I like this new system they’re encouraging us to use. I think it will only encourge bloggers who are already commenting to make more lengthy comments on other blogs. I don’t see how a rating system would encourage those who aren’t already commenting to start now. I really think it will have the opposite effect.

Please let me know what you think about this partnership and if you plan to participate in it. As you can tell from this post, I’m very hesitant to get into it. I’d like some feedback from other bloggers and non-bloggers alike so I can make a decision. Thanks!