Webmasters Corner: How to Become a Comment Guru!

Clover Park has recently added comments to just about every page of the website. These comments open up a new avenue of communication between CPTC and its students, alumni, and community at large. In the first month of operation we quickly realized that this was the preferred method of communication for the majority of our audience. This guide will quickly explain how you can get in on the commenting action for yourself.

Step 1: Reading Comments

You can view comments in several different ways. First, you can simply browse to the page in which the comment appears and scroll to the bottom. Comments will appear with the latest activity first, oldest activity at the bottom. You can view replies to a specific comment by click on the arrow next to “Reply”.

To view a person’s profile information simply mouse over or click on the profile image next to the comment. If they have a website or profile page you can access it here. You can also view the users Reputation Score. The more you comment on the site and the more people “thumbs up” your comments, the higher your score becomes. This provides an organic way for community “VIPs” to float to the top.

If you’d like to have comments sent to your email address you can sign up for any comment feed on the site. Alternatively you can also sign up to receive all comments. In the top right corner of the comments section you can see an RSS Feed Icon. If you mouse over the icon you will be presented with several different subscription options. Choose the option that you would like to use, (i.e. Google, Yahoo, RSS, etc.). If you would like to sign up to receive all comments simply click “All Blog Posts” on the subscribe drop down and enter the email address that you would like to receive comments then click Subscribe.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the “Unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any comment email you receive. You can also manage your subscription (and setup any profile information) at:

http://intensedebate.com/

Step 2: Making a Comment

There are several different options available for posting a comment on the website. You can post anonymously, as a registered user, or via email.

Posting Anonymously
You can post an anonymous comment by scrolling to the bottom of any page with comments and typing a comment into the “Post a Comment” text area. You can also include your name and email address if you wish but are not required. After you have entered your comment simply click “Submit Comment” and your comment will be posted to the site. If the comment contains any profanity or other undesirable content it will be immediately sent to the moderation queue, and won’t appear on the website unless it is “Approved”.

Posting as a Registered User
Posting as a registered user gives you a few advantages over posting anonymously. First, people can access your profile where they can see information such as your website, profile photo, a description about you, and any other information you wish to include in your profile. Second, the site can automatically log you in next time and remember you. Third, if you post using the same account every time you can increase your reputation score, showing everyone you are a valuable member of our online community.

There are four different options available for registering with the commenting system.

First is an Intense Debate profile. If you don’t have an account anywhere else this is a good option.
Next you can use a WordPress.com account. This is a good option if you already have a site from word press.
Facebook Connect. This is a great way to automatically link your comments to your Facebook page. Simply log in using the same email and password you use for Facebook.
Twitter Account. If you would like your comments to also appear on your twitter feed you can log in using your twitter username and password.

Posting via Email
A third option for posting comment on the site is Reply via Email. If you’ve already registered with the service and subscribed via email you can quickly and easily reply to any comment using a standard email reply. If you click Reply and type your reply in the email message body your response will automatically appear on the website.

If you have administrative options you can also ban, delete, and report any comment sent to you. You can also see the email address the user used to post the comment. This is helpful if you want to take the conversation “offline” and not have your responses posted online.

This is only a small section of the complete features available. For a complete list of features from our free commenting system please visit:

http://intensedebate.com/features

Step 3: Keeping it Positive

Any online community can have its fair share of “Trolls” or people that want to post comments simply to flare up and argument or perhaps they like to “Vent” using a series of profanities or name calling. These behaviors can be very disruptive to creating a helpful online community. The simplest way to get rid of vile comments on the website is to “Report” it. Underneath every comment there is a simple “Report” text link that allows you to flag the comment as being inappropriate and it will be removed from the website.

If someone continuously violates the posting rules they can be subsequently “Banned” from the site. For a complete list of our proposed posting rules please visit our online forum website at:

http://www.cptc.edu/forum/