I Love You Guys!
Mar 10 '00
To all of you ‘commenters’ out there: I LOVE YOU GUYS! Sure, I like having one of my reviews rated HR by 125+ members, but what really gets me off is when you leave a comment! And whether you admit it or not, I think I speak for all of us!
We all want to believe that someone actually took the time to read our review- not just skimmed it in a matter of seconds to determine if it was the ‘appropriate’ length and contained enough visually-pleasing paragraph breaks and contained more than one scholarly sounding word but less than three misspellings. Even a drop-out from the Evelyn Wood Speed-Reading Course can make a determination of how they ‘should’ rate a review in 3.68 seconds. I will admit that I have accomplished a reading and rating in under 5 seconds when I have felt pressured to catch up on my ‘epinions’ workload. I am ashamed of this dirty little secret and feel somehow cheapened after doing the deed, but I don’t think I’m the only one who has snuck in a quickie every now and then.
This shotgun approach to rating is plainly evident if you follow the activity on the “Just-In” page. Park yourself on the page for just a few minutes and as you refresh/reload, you will see the ratings drop down the page faster than you can say “I hope I get return hits!”
After the “Just-In” page fills with ratings (3.78 minutes), click on the reviews that have been rated and you’ll find that the same 4 people have rated 16 reviews in the time it takes to brush your teeth. Simple math reveals that the raters spent less than 15 seconds on each review---can any of us really feel good about a rating we received when the giver gave us their attention for less time than it takes to blow their nose?!
On the other hand, if you leave me a comment, I feel like Sally Field in her famously insipid Oscar acceptance speech- “You really like me- you really, really like me!”. The simple act of adding a comment to your rating lets me know that you cared enough to spend an extra minute with me, that you didn’t just blindly and instinctively click HR, and that you ‘listened’ to the words I so carefully assembled for your scrutiny.
I realize that we all have constraints on our time, and I certainly don’t think less of you for rating with no comment- I really don’t- like I said, it’s extremely cool to just see your name in the “Rated HR by…” column. Since I probably only comment on your reviews 20% of the time myself and understand that it takes a bit more time and effort, I’d be a hypocrite to suggest you always leave a comment. What I AM saying is that we all feel a special excitement when we realize that comments have been added to our review.
You all have left 300 comments on my 27 reviews and each one of them has lifted my spirits, made me smile, caused my heart to race, or otherwise brightened my day. Corny? You bet! True? Absolutely! When I started this editorial, I considered listing dozens of specific members who never fail to leave me a comment, but I’ve decided that names are better left unspoken- you know who you are! I know that I’ve read other reviews praising specific members and feel somehow slighted if I’m not mentioned---it brings back grade school feelings of being the last one picked for a kick-ball team and I don’t want any of you to feel overlooked.
So once again, to you un-named commenters- “I love you guys!” (And by the way, ‘guys’ is inclusive of all genders in this sense- if you are the politically correct type, feel free to click NR right now.) Your comments are incredibly witty, wryly humorous, and just plain nice. You have shown wisdom, insight, sarcasm, and encouragement. You have demonstrated intelligence, compassion, and an incredible sense of humor. I don’t know how I have attracted such an elite group of commenters, but I feel incredibly lucky!
I never know if you come back to see if I’ve responded to your comments and I feel incredibly guilty for not immediately responding to your comments. I always feel like I’m falling behind in catching up to reading reviews of those who trust me or have rated me. I sense that I’m letting you down by not replying to your comment, so I hope you understand that I DO appreciate your comment and it may take some time to reply. Another one of my embarrassing little secrets is that I usually remember where I’ve left comments and occasionally go back to check for a reply from the writer---admitting this makes me appear ‘needy’, but once again- I don’t think I’m alone in this.
No editorial regarding comments would be complete without a mention of utilizing the comment section for verbal warfare! We’ve all seen it and we have all been fascinated by it- coming across these cross-fire attacks and counter-attacks is like coming across the scene of a car accident…we don’t want to witness the gore, but we are drawn by an inner-desire to look! Comment after comment escalating into stronger words and accusations keeps us hitting ‘next page of comments’ – there’s no way we can NOT read what follows! Fortunately, it seems that most of these sparring sessions end with some type of apology and effort at peacemaking. I personally do not take offense at people speaking their mind (good or bad) and find a perverse enjoyment of these nasty little comment encounters. (Deep down, you know you do too!)
If I could sum up the point of my editorial into just four words, they would be: LEAVE A COMMENT TODAY!”
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Epinions.com ID:
Hard_To_Please
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: St. Louis, MO
Reviews written: 47
Trusted by: 741 members
About Me:
MARK IS MISSED!
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