Lack of comments and ratings got you down? As one of the top authors here at Gather, I can tell you that the readership here seems to be a silent majority. So don't take lack of comments or ratings for lack of reading or low quality. Often I will have over 800 hits on my articles in a week, but I may only receive 100 or so comments, and perhaps only 30 will actually rate my articles. Perhaps this is tied to the fact that there are so many non-members reading here. Per Tom Gerace, CEO of Gather Inc, "the Gather community has grown to well beyond 10,000 members (and many times that number of unregistered readers)." With so many unregistered readers, who thus cannot comment or rate, it is no wonder there are so few comments and ratings.
I believe Gather will be adding a feature with the new release that will indicate the number of hits each article receives. This will help all Gather authors to feel more confident about their writing. It will let you know that people have been to your article, and though they may remain silent, they were there. Such is the nature of Gather now, so don't let it get you down or stop you from writing. I never imagined I would come as far as I have, and in the beginning I was so frustrated that it seemed no one was reading or commenting on my work.
I had to learn that to make Gather work for you, you have to work Gather. You want to get comments and ratings, then you have to network. Go read and comment on other's articles, and most likely he/she will come read yours. But don't be afraid to directly ask people to read and comment on your work. That is how I started. If you go to Christin Lore Weber's entry in the Gather Short Fiction Contest, James, you'll see my comment to her on December 4, 2005. At the time, I was a virtual unknown at Gather. I complimented her on her piece and then asked her to come read my entry. Of course that was before Seth Williams published his article How to Format Your Comments – so I didn't know how to put an actual link there, but it still worked. She came, and others who read her story came as well. Then those who came and saw my story went to read hers . . . It is a big circle.
Another sure way to get comments and keep them coming is to make sure you respond back to your audience. I try very hard (sometimes I miss a few) to comment back to each person that comments on one of my articles. By doing this, you build a relationship with the reader and they then want to read more from you. If you look at the top read authors on this site, they are all good at doing this. They value their readers' comments and by commenting back, they encourage further discussion.
Lastly, if you really want feedback and ratings, ask for it at the end of your article. Tell the reader why their comments and ratings on this piece will be important for you, and what you may want special feedback regarding. Perhaps you will coax some of that silent majority out of the darkness and into the Gather light.
On behalf of the Gather Authors, to those readers out in the silent majority:
We love that you are reading our work! We would all really love even more if you would take just a moment to let us know you were here, that you read, and maybe give us a little of your thoughts, if you don't mind. We are authors who thrive on feedback alone, and a few Gather points. Your feedback is more precious than any points we can ever earn. Please come out and let us know you were here! Thank you!
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Comments: 55
Leland - a part of the silent majority - what is up with that? Leland and silent do not go together - except when it comes to commenting here! You need to get some of your writings posted here so you can come knock me off the charts! You are so funny!
Jim - I am excited about that too -- and about being able to create groups other than the three we have now.
A small but mighty post;good job!
I would just like to add that it would be nice to see a more specific rating system. For example, someone may post a short but very enjoyable piece on some insignificant topic, while someone else may write a very an in-depth, thought provoking commentary or a heavy, descriptive piece of literature. Should I give them all the same rating?
I think there should also be a way to rate articles on different merit scales. For example, an article's could contain some interesting thoughts and ideas, but not be put together well. Another could be well written from a creative standpoint, yet contain grammatical or other technical errors. Perhaps we could do like the judges in the Olympics, rate on one scale for it's content and creativity and another based on it's technical merit.
1. This article is excellent and should be read by everybody in the entire world.
2. This article is very good and I recommend others read it.
3. This article is interesting and I agree with most the views expressed.
4. This article is interesting even though I do not agree with most the views expressed.
5. This article has merit but could do with some work to make it better.
6. This subject of this article is not one that interests me.
(You will note there is no option to say 'this article sucks it big time' which currently is meant by applying a rating of 1/10, something that to me is simply unnecessary.)
Then, instead of the average rating out of ten that we currently see at the start of an article we would see instead "Number of rating 2's received" etc. That way we can use the rating 2 the way we currently use the rating 10/10, which is to encourage and praise our friends, (Right? Hands up? Lol, yep all of us do this even though deep down we know that except for Nadia Comaneci a score of 10/10 is pretty much impossible to earn.) And then, very occasionally, when something mindblowingly masterful comes along we could give it a rating of 1 that would be meaningful.
Well that's my bit. I'm sure someone who hasn't gone without a drink for NINETEEN DAYS could perhaps come up with better and more inclusive options.
Thank you Monica for another thought-provoking submission that I'm sure will lead to better enhancements for Gather writers and even greater participation by readers.
When I first got on Gather I read a really naive political commentary. Without thinking much about it, I gave it a low rating. I've felt conflicted about that since then.
Carolyn's suggestion seems good to me. I'd rather rate things that way than with a number 1-10. My usual practice now is to not assign a numerical rating, but I do try to comment where I feel I can do so productively.
"Peer ratings are basically pointless. Too much emotion goes into them: friendship, jealousy, anger, mischievousness - and too little actual critique. Even if we give more detailed ratings, there will still be the emotional response -- those who are friends who will rate high, those who are feeling jealous of someone's ranking and rate low, those that are angry at the topic and not how well the piece is written and rate low, and those who like to play God and are just willy-nilly going through and rating without reading because they can. That is just a fact of life we will have to live with when leaving the ratings up to anyone and everyone.
I think the anonymity of the ratings makes this even easier, so perhaps, when you rate, it should show up with your name by what you rated it. Then people would be forced to back-up why they rated an article as they have done. Less would rate, I am sure, but is that a bad thing, when perhaps we would end up with more accurate ratings?"
I am not so much advocating rating and why you rate here as I am advocating that readers do make themselves known to the writers in SOME way. I am also giving advice, from my experience, to those Gather authors not getting rated or commented on about how to increase their chances in getting ratings or comments.
I personally pay little attention to the ratings my articles get other than to see that it shows activity on that article. If I did, I could very easily be devastated when I go back to my article, which had received 6 10's previously, and now, there are 7 votes and it is now rates at 6.1. I know when I see this there was someone will bad feelings not representative of everyone else, and generally, the rating slowly climbs again, but never as high as it once was. Was my article worthy of a ten? In reality, there are probably some errors and things that can be fixed that make it not worthy of a ten. So this is why I go more by my comments and the number of readers I have. If I want ratings on something, I will come out and ask for full critique - not a number - but specifically, "will you point out where I need to make changes," . . . But that is my opinion. I have heard from other Gather authors that they really want to see their articles rated.
My biggest point in this article is to the Gather authors themselves - if you want comments and ratings, you need to work Gather. Network, read and comment on others and soon it will start happening on its own without you working it so hard. You can never stop reading and commenting on others, though, because then you lose that connection with people that will advertise for you, recommend you, read you, and want to read more from you.
David – I too look forward to more categories and sub categories, but keep in mind, that is also what the tags are for. If you publish enough under a tag, and others do as well, it will likely be added as a category. It is my understanding that the tagging that authors use and people choose to read from most will lead to new categories being added.
George – Thanks for the support!
Bonnie – thank you for your great input – I hope the Gather staff sees it and considers it when coming up with the rating system!
Carolyn –Thank you also – I think you have a great idea too about the ratings and hopefully the Gather staff will take it into consideration to come up with a truly unique "Gather" way of rating articles. You know, you seem just as witty and smart and talented and funny – if not more so – without alcohol in your system! Don't give the alcohol so much credit girlfriend! You are so incredibly talented that when the day comes that you finally realize it, we all better watch out, because you will blow us all away with what you write!
Steve – in conclusion, I say keep on keepin' on! If you are commenting that is great! You don't have to do both. I don't rate everything either, and as you have seen, I don't necessarily think it is worthy of much other than helping to get a piece read. Comments say so much more – literally ha ha! The point is to do something, and you are, so that is great!
Case in point...I've been sparring for a couple of days now with some folks on a very well-written political satire piece, written by a very intelligent and experienced author. But because those people are on the other side of the fence politically, they rated the article extremely low. I might not have given it quite a 10, except that I thought it deserved to be brought up to a respectable score, and thus a 10 would balance out the average.
I like Carolyn's idea a lot! As those other people could have then rated it: "This article is interesting even though I do not agree with most the views expressed"
*Although, they would probably prefer one that says "I do not agree with ANY of the views expressed in this article"
David - You are welcome!
Bonnie - see I knew I was not the only one to see that this happens! But, perhaps "I do not agree with ANY of the views expressed in this article" is not such a bad idea - many would read just to see if they agree or not.
Christin - LOL -- You can relate the 4th of July fireworks to my mania lol! I think we will get a common set of standards for ratings here atGather - the more difficult part will be getting people to follow them.
Ok now...in regard to your last comment. It got me thinking that perhaps we still need multiple rating systems.
Examples:
A. I don't agree with what you said - and the writing sucks (not so bluntly stated of course!)
B. I don't agree with your ideas - but the writing is great.
And then we still need a technical scale:
C. I loved the article and agreed with everything you said, you wrote it beautifully...but there is no such word as irregardless and you have too many commas.
LOL!
"Not so great."
Thanks for the constructive criticism, bro.
But since everyone doesn't have that kind of finesse, I thought of another thing that might help. Perhaps we could have a way to leave blind comments that only the author can see.
For example, some comments are meant to stir converation, and others are meant only as feedback and to critique. Yet it's hard to leave something, even sandwiched, that could be potentially embarassing or unflattering. Blind comments might allow the author to make a few quick edits, while preserving his or her dignity.
Agree whole-heartedly that the 1-10 business is all relative because so much content here is apples to oranges. Some essays look like they took all kinds of blood, sweat, and tears to create, yet they have a low rating; others look like they were dashed off in a nano-second, yet they're rated perfect 10's. Also, something rated once at 10 is prominently listed, while something rated 23 times at 8.7 is off the Hit Parade. Statistically, it's more difficult to score highly as more voters weigh in. Go figure. It's like a word problem (and I swore those off in 12th grade!).
Anyway, good advice all around Monica.
Lissa - Please don't be shy! I am a little ol' peon who happens to have done well here at Gather. I am a real person who loves to chat and hear feedback and who is FAR from perfect. There are tons of great authors here at Gather, and I just happen to be fortunate to get readers.
I totally agree with you about the viewpoint ratings. Gather will have fun figuring out a better ratings system to meet all needs -- perhaps a different rating system in certain categories? How do you agree with a recipe? You might think it sounds delicious though! It reminds me of a suggestion myself and many others have offered Gather - to make the ratings optional based on the author.
In the end, the stars may end up staying, but perhaps there could be a way to formulate the stars along with the number of hits to come up with a different score. For example, this article is now rated at 8.3 with 23 votes - but it is obviously very popular and obviously many appreciate the information given here - so adding in the number of hits the article has received (let me go check for the week - 110 views as of 2:55 PM EST) would increase the score. I am not sure how the formula should work and whatnot, but there should be a combination. I know for myself, I tend to rely on both listings - the highest rated articles and the most read articles. So coming up with a system to combine the two would seem like a good idea to me, and it would help with what KR was talking about.
Bonnie, I think when the communicate feature opens up we will be able to send private messages to Gather members. If you remember when you signed up, it asked you to give a sign in name and said that in the future, all members would have e-mail that would be your sign in name @gather.com. I am thinking there may also be chat rooms and instant messaging, but I am not sure. It all sounds cool to me!
KR - I can honestly say that I had the same problems with the stars and comments. A Gather staff member suggested it may be my browser, so I changed to AOL Explorer, and now I never have that issue. Everything comes up perfectly! The AOL Explorer is a new browser offered by AOL for those with High speed connections - not the regular AOL browser. Thanks for reading - the advice given is advice learned the hard way now freely shared!
Mel - I'm sure the fear of public writing is out there - perhaps just as strong as the fear of public speaking. I do much better with public writing, but can speak in front of crowds too - just with more nervousness!
It's so wonderful to have found such a pleasant, friendly, and supportive community like Gather! ^_^
Another thing I learned from my current boss: Always be nice, until it's time to not be nice. Sometimes that lowly waiter or receptionist rises to the top, and someday when you need them, your kindness will be remembered, appreciated, and just might be the foot in the door you need for a new opportunity. Unless you really need to not be nice (and this should be a rare occurence), always err on the neutral or positive side of feedback, or any communcation.
How do you know how many hits you get? All I see are the number of comments, the average rating, and the number of votes.
Beryl - Thanks for your insights - we share a lot of the same thoughts! Comments are really where the true ratings are left. It is where we get to explain how a piece affected us, and discuss it's topic. You get more from that than any rating. I too know I miss great stuff, but I find it being recommended to me often, and I try to recommend it when I see it. This is where I say, if you really think you have something good, go toot your horn, because it may get lost in the shuffle otherwise. I love to hear a horn tooted and then go find a delightful read!
Nichole - Welcome to Gather! The people here are very friendly, for the most part, and give aluable feedback, from what I have seen. I too have been on other sites where you get little or no response, so coming to Gather has been great for me too - I am a self admitting comment addict!
Jennifer - what an analogy -- wow - a fire hose? LOL! great advice you offer as well.
Nancy -- This is something that I can see being oneof the top contributors - if you are in the top 100, you can see how many total views you get for a day, week, month, or all time. To check this, go to view/Top Contributors. You can also see on this page how many comments you have received in total by changing the criteria to comments received. If your articles are in the top 100 read articles, you can see the number of views that article has had for a day, week, month, or all time. To see this go to view/Top articles. I have been told by Gather staff that in the future, there will be more information in these areas available to all authors.
He complained, with justification, that people who disagreed with his articles would give him a "1" rating, and he didn't think that was fair. I agree with him. Whether one agrees with the gist of an article or not, the rating system should not be used to punish opponents.
I generally do not rate articles that I disagree with violently. I feel that I cannot be objective. I suppose this is a cop-out, but I would be just as likely to lean over backwards ond overrate such a piece, just to prove to myself that I'm not being vindictive.
I'm not sure there should be a rating system at all. What's the purpose of it? It certainly should not be used by Gather's editors or management. They should make their own, hopefully more professionally objective, decisions about the merits of our efforts.
Thank you so much for helping in this way.
Sounds like Gather is the same as it ever was. And I thought the beginning of Gather was some kind of golden years...
This article was written January 19, 2006 - back when Gather was still in beta and point spending had not even began (though we earned points). At the time, I had been the number one read contributor for many weeks and continued as #1 for many weeks after this- the listing of top read contributors was more prominently listed on the site back then. These lists are still available, though a bit different. I have not been on the number one read list in a long time, mainly due to inactivity and a huge increase of membership numbers. The same content now would probably not put me at #1, but at the time, I was able to be quite successful. I learned a lot about what put me on that list, and was willing to share that with other Gather members.