Wiki Life: Commenting on Comments... Care to Comment?

This article is an editorial to think through some more ideas around Peter Geelen's #6 topic (Comments), in his great sarcastic blog post here:

Wednesday - Wiki Life: 10 ways to become the most hated Wiki ninja on the planet

   

Care to Comment?

This article is me commenting on comments. If you would like to comment on me commenting on comments, please leave a comment, in the Comments section below!

 

Comments on a Wiki?

First of all, we are very fortunate to even have comments on TechNet Wiki! Think about this...

What makes a Blog a social media site? What makes Blogs social? For one, it's the profile name, avatar, and link. And sometimes you even get the hover card with more info!

But you compare that to Wikipedia, and the profile links are harder to find. It's not quite as easy to see who did what. You can still find it, but the point isn't giving credit. But in Blogs, the Blog author almost always gets a link and some kind of credit. Well, TechNet Wiki has got that!

And what's another thing about Blogs that makes it social? The social networking links at the bottom (to easily tweet it out, post it on Facebook, etc.)? Well, TechNet Wiki has those too! RSS feed? Yup, the Wiki has that too!

But there's one other thing that shines to make blogs truly a social platform... and that's comments!

You don't see comments on Wikipedia, but you certainly see them on blogs! And sometimes, you get to know the personalities of the posters and the commenters, and that makes it even more fun!

Well, by having comments on TechNet Wiki, we bring another aspect of social engagement and collaboration to the Wiki! Comments are fantastic!

 

Comments Can Be Used for Good

So why are comments so great? What can you actually do with them?

  1. Ask a question! Don't understand a topic? Curious about a specific scenario? Well, ask away!
  2. Suggest an improvement! Is it missing a TOC? A See Also section or other Reference links? Well, make a suggestion! Of course, this is the Wiki, so if it's a simple but important improvement (typo, version number, product spelling, etc.)... then you can edit it yourself for almost the time it takes to write the comment!
  3. Explain what change you made! You can leave that in the comment box while you're making the change, but you can also leave info about your changes in the main comments!
  4. Encourage the author! Was it a good article! Let the author know why it was so helpful! And remember, it's more genuine and helpful if you give more details than just "Thanks!"

 

Ways We Can Improve Comments

Try to keep the comments specific to the article!

  • Instead of "Thanks!" ... try "Thank you for this solution! I was looking for it today, and it got me out of a bind!" Or, "Thank you! My friend ran into this, and I was able to help him because of your article!"
  • Instead of "You forgot to mention that this works with the new version," try this: "I just edited the article and added the newest version since I verified that your solution also works on the latest version!"
  • Instead of "Nice article," write this: "The images were especially helpful so that I understood what you were referring to in the instructions!" Or, "The code snippet was perfect! I was able to use it today!" Or, "That References section was great! I learned a ton from all these resources!"

 

Overall, having comments on TechNet Wiki brings new fun, engagement, and collaboration that you're not going to find on the other wikis. So enjoy!

   - Ninja Ed