Webware

Next week, Yelp is set to roll out a new feature that will allow business owners to respond to user reviews--both good and bad--of their establishments.

In an e-mail sent out to the service's "Elite users," one of Yelp's local community managers Don Bourassa said the service is being set up to give business owners a way to provide constructive feedback in a public forum, as the current system requires businesses to correspond with users through private messages.

"The goal is for all comments to be pleasant and useful," Bourassa said. "For example, if you wrote a glowing 5-star review some months ago about your favorite pub, in which you mention drinking Harp because they didn't carry Guinness...both you and other readers would probably be happy to see a new comment saying, 'Just got our Guinness tap last week. Hope to see you soon!'"

To help regulate the system, business owner comments are given an even more stringent policy than its guidelines for user comments. The company has put up a guide that clarifies what businesses should and should not do with the new system. Any owner-written comments that are deemed disparaging, attacking, or pandering with some sort of incentive will be removed by Yelp's staff.

Businesses that want to take part in the program must register with Yelp. This should give business owners a little more incentive to do so, since they'll be able to directly (and publicly) respond to any criticisms. Presumably, these comments will also show up in the service's mobile applications, of which the iPhone version is set to get an update.

More importantly, this program should help quell some business owners' biggest complaints about the social reviews site, which in the past has given businesses very few tools to respond to negative reviews or unfounded claims. A minute amount of editorial control is granted to businesses who pay for advertising on Yelp, however that's limited to selecting a specific user review to go on top of all the others on the page, and to show up as a suggestion on competitor's pages. Under the new program, registered businesses can simply respond to any comments--positive and negative, directly, and have all the other users see it.

See also: Yelp's credibility problem: Blame it on algorithm?

Update: Here's a screenshot of what it will look like, although a representative from Yelp says this is just a mock-up and may look different when the feature launches.

Business replies will appear under user comments if a business has made a reply, however users will need to expand it to see it alongside user reviews. Click on the image to see how it will look when it's nested.

(Credit: Yelp)

I can't think of a worse place to look for editorial than YouTube comments. Historically, they've been so bad that YouTube was forced to create a comment playback feature so users could hear what they had typed before sharing it with the rest of the world.

That hasn't stopped two Firefox developers from coming up with OpinionCloud. This small Firefox add-on will give a video's comments a quick once-over and show you which words are most often used, and the general user sentiment based on a percentage of keywords that are either positive or negative. Clicking on one of the keywords will pull up a list of comments containing that word. All of this appears below the video, and can be toggled on and off.

According to the project page the tool indexed 9 million YouTube comments to help build out its dictionary of slang terms and phrases. And that number is growing each time someone uses it.

Why would you want this? It's helpful on longer videos if you don't have time to sit down to watch them. It also lets you see what people are saying without having to cruise through several pages of comments, which YouTube breaks up to just 10 per page. Of course both of these require users to have commented on the video and left something intelligible, the latter of which you may be hard pressed to find.

OpinionCloud sorts out the good from the bad comments. The ones we've blurred are less than child-friendly.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

Google Reader users can now leave comments on shared items. Google has introduced it as a way to have a discussion with friends outside of a site's main commenting system, and specific just to that shared item and their group of contacts.

To help manage this new stream of information, Google Reader now has a filter that shows you the latest conversations in one place. Here you can view all the latest chatter, and continue to add more comments just like a forum.

The new comment view lets you view and reply to comments in-line with a post.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

In addition to reading and adding comments through Google Reader in your computer's browser it also works on Reader's iPhone version.

It's all very much like FriendFeed, although the privacy it a bit tighter since only friends of the person who shared the item can see what was said. Another limitation is that comments are limited to the friends' shared items section of Reader, however Google says it will be making its way to the "all items" section of user's feeds in a later release.

On the surface this may seem like a very small feature. But if Google were to open up the commenting threads to all Reader users, regardless of their friendship, and enable publishers to feed these Reader comments into their own blog comments, it could make Reader more than just a feed catcher the same way FriendFeed has enabled blogs to suck in the conversation that's happening outside of their own pages.

Now that YouTube is giving users the option of deleting their comments, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the ways in which all of us can become better commenters on YouTube, Digg, blogs, and just about everywhere else a site gives us an arena to spout our own opinions.

As someone who writes somewhat controversial articles on the world of technology, I've seen every kind of comment known to the world: friendly, angry, thoughtful, agreeable, disagreeable, ridiculous, rude, meandering, outrageous. Suffice it to say that the number of comments I see each day that really have no business on the Web is far too high.

But that doesn't mean we all need to trudge through the dense filth of awful comments. Together, we can bring change to the Web.

Yes, we can.

Ditch FUD, trolling, and every other "inside baseball" maxim

Sorry, but outside forum dwellers, there are few people who care that FUD means "fear, uncertainty, doubt" or trolling describes someone's intention to write something inflammatory. I know the terms have been around for years and they're still widely used, but how do they really add to the value of a comment?

I can't tell you how many times I've been reading comments on a blog, only to find a comment written by someone saying, "Uh, this is nothing but FUD. Stop being a troll." Yep, that's the entire comment.

Can someone who has done this please explain to me why they think that's a worthwhile comment? How does that add value to the discussion between the blogger and the people in the comments section?

If users want to slip "FUD" or "trolling" into their comments, fine. But at least do it at the end of a comment that discusses issues with another person's argument and explains the merits of your own. Simply telling the world that something is "FUD" tells us that you don't want contribute to the discussion.

Eliminate the anger

Anyone who has read Digg comments or comments on YouTube knows the anger that finds its way into almost every thread. It's unfortunate.

What makes everyone so angry that they need to do everything they can to write outrageously offensive comments about a story, a person in a video, or other commenters? Sure, I understand that some topics can be polarizing and getting angry is easy. But why does it need to manifest itself in put-downs?

Anger is rarely justified in comments. Comments are specifically designed to give readers or viewers the opportunity to express themselves as it relates to the content they've just consumed. When anger and attacks find their way into comments, it dilutes the value of the discussion. And that's not fair to others.

We don't need obscene remarks

When I read the comments on sites ranging from CNET to CNN to Digg, I'm always shocked at how many are riddled with obscenities.

I know there are some free-speech advocates that would say that commenters should be able to say whatever they want, regardless of the filth they decide to leave on sites, but I disagree. Just because a commenter has the right to post F-bombs in the comments section of a site, I don't think they should. What does it prove? As far as I can tell, nothing.

I strongly support free speech (after all, it's how I make a living), but that doesn't mean we have the right to offend others by leaving offensive remarks in a setting that doesn't require it. Call me crazy, but I think a little respect and clean comments go much further than an obscenity-laced diatribe.

It's about value and adding to the discussion. Not our mastery of four-letter words.

Bring something new to the discussion

Quite often, comment sections are filled with the same basic comment. It doesn't hurt to read through the comments others have made and decide if our own will say the same thing or add value to what's already there. If it's the former, I think it's best to think of something else to say.

On my Digital Home page, I've found this happens quite often. Someone will say something and almost every commenter after that will submit a comment saying the same thing. For those of us who enjoy reading the comments, that's annoying.

That said, I'm just as guilty as the next person for not looking at other comments before posting my own. Some topics can be extremely polarizing and sometimes, I need to get my thoughts out as soon as possible. In that case, reading over other comments is almost out of the question. But I think it's incumbent upon us all to do our best to cut down on duplication and write comments that are both unique and informative. Impulse is no excuse.

Back up your claims

Comments aren't (usually) edited and we can say whatever we want. But that doesn't mean whatever we say is true. Claims made in posts could be backed up with evidence, for added impact.

I find a lot of value in comments that go above and beyond the basic rant. Some comments feature examples, statistics, and all kinds of links to a wide array of sources to prove a point. It's tough to argue with that amount of research.

But when comments are rambling rants that provide no value, it doesn't do anything to prove a point. After all, if a comment is made to disagree with the original post, shouldn't research be employed to make that point?

Research and examples go a long way in proving one's intelligence in the comments. They show that that person has a solid understanding of the topic and they prove that there are two (or maybe even three) sides to every story. But a comment that provides a hypothesis without any evidence to back up that claim isn't worth much.

Read (or watch) to the end

I can't tell you how many times I've read comments on a blog post by someone who obviously didn't read the entire article or watch the whole video. More often than not, their comments are a reaction to the headline or the first segment of the story, and it's blatantly clear that the commenter didn't take the time to digest the entire post and fully understand the author's point.

I don't think it's asking too much of a reader to consume the entire article before they comment. The headline and the first paragraph aren't the whole story and more often than not, they provide a framework for the rest of the post. To base an entire argument off that framework is ridiculous.

If comments are about providing value and furthering the discussion between the content producer and the content consumers, isn't it only right to base your comments off the entire argument others have made? Comments are not valuable if the commenter doesn't appreciate the full argument. Other readers can see that they haven't read the entire article and the comment, because it doesn't benefit from the full perspective, is basically useless to everyone else.

Respect the readers and the content creators enough to at least respond to everything that was said. Not just the headline.

Anything I missed? Let me know in the comments below.

Universal comment add-on system Disqus is the latest company to pledge allegiance to Facebook's Connect platform. Users will soon be able log in to comment on Disqus-powered blog posts with their Facebook ID. Meanwhile these comments can be pushed back to the user's Facebook news feed, completing the circle.

This is a big deal for blog owners who may feel a little finicky about going through with a full Facebook Connect install on their blog. Considering the main point of registration often comes when users want to dip into a discussion this was the next logical step for any third-party comment tool. Better yet, the commenter, who is spending time on their blog and getting involved in the conversation is beaming this back to Facebook where others may find the post and chime in as well.

Facebook Connect log-ins are not turned on by default. Blog owners must first acquire an API key from Facebook and toggle it on, alongside other optional Disqus add-ons like Seesmic video comments. Disqus co-founder Daniel Ha says blog owners should see it activated on their blogs by the end of the month.

The change may be a little bittersweet for Disqus, which had effectively created its own universal profile system. The good to come out of this is that a greater number of users are likely to sign up for the service since they're now able to do so with their existing Facebook log-in.

Related: Facebook Connect officially open

Disqus admins will find a new option in the settings menu that lets them hook up to Facebook Connect via API key.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

(Credit: Daniel Dura)

If you're keen on moderating blog comments in near real time and would prefer to do so without a browser window open, you should check out Moderator. It's a hybrid tool that uses both a WordPress plug-in and an Adobe AIR desktop application to keep you up to speed with the latest user chatter on your blog.

Once installed, you simply leave it running and it will update itself throughout the day, letting you approve or deny comments to go live. Because it sits on your desktop you can keep your blog comments lean and clean without ever having to visit the moderation page on your WordPress install, although creator Daniel Dura says you might run into some slowdown if you've got more than a few hundred comments awaiting moderation.

The tool, which was released earlier this week, is just an early version. Planned features for future releases include the option to reply right from the application, manage comments on multiple blogs, and get near real-time notifications when new comments come in.

[via RefreshingApps]

Automattic, parent company of blogging platform WordPress, has acquired IntenseDebate, the free blog comment enhancement tool. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

The service launched a little more than a year ago with several innovative features that effectively take over a blog's commenting system and add things like reputation, ranking, and a centralized area where blog administrators can manage comments across several sites at once.

Automattic and WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg says two of the main reasons for the pickup are IntenseDebate's e-mail replies and rating system which will likely make their way as the default offerings on WordPress.com and WordPress.org products in the near future.

For the time being, IntenseDebate has closed its doors to new users. In a post about the acquisition co-founder Jon Fox says it will be reopened to all as soon as it can prepare for a higher level of scaling. How big you ask? Like all of WordPress.org installs and WordPress.com, 4 million-plus users big.

The good news in all of this is that, according to Fox, IntenseDebate will remain a cross-platform product. From its very beginnings it has been open to other blogging tools like Blogger and MovableType. If anything, the closer integration with upcoming versions of WordPress should help accelerate development.

On Tuesday, blog commenting add-on tool Disqus is launching version 2.0 of its free service. Many of the biggest changes are on the back end, but the user-facing elements have been given many small tweaks that should make it a faster, more approachable solution for the mass market.

I chatted with co-founder Daniel Ha about it on Monday, and he says one of the biggest changes blog owners are going to notice is the plug-in support. The plug-in with the most improvement is WordPress, which can now be moderated from inside of WordPress' admin area instead of on Disqus alone. (Download WordPress from CNET Download.com.) All comments are also synced up both locally and to Disqus' servers, so if Disqus goes down your comments won't. Likewise, you'll be able to copy over Disqus comments to your existing system if you decide to ditch it later on down the line.

For commenters, the experience has also been improved. Gone is the up and down voting system, which has been replaced with a simple up button to give a good comment a nod, and smarter tools to flag offensive or otherwise spammy comments. Commenters who write a veritable opus can now turn that nine-paragraph work into its own standalone blog post that lives right on Disqus' servers, where other users can comment and interact with it. Ha says he's not trying to take away from existing platforms, but give these really good, in-depth comments their own place to start another conversation without completely thread-jacking the conversation that's going on there. Think of it kind of like FriendFeed, but using the same engine people are used to.

Disqus' new comment admin area lets you quickly remove, restore, and jump user comments from one blog or several at once.

(Credit: CNET Networks)

These are just some of the improvements with the updated platform. Disqus comments are now SEO-friendly systemwide, so your blog posts will be indexed both by content and discussion. The administrative area of Disqus has also been tweaked slightly to be simpler to manage across multiple blogs, although there's still no way to mass delete messages via search query, or select multiple messages from a list like you can in some blogging tools' stock comment systems. After having used Disqus to power our Webware 100 2008 award pages, the lack of mass edits and deletes was one of the only weaknesses that really bugged me. Luckily it's something Ha says is working in testing and will be coming soon in another update.

Disqus is currently in use with about 30,000 blogs and competes with tools like SezWho, IntenseDebate, and JS-Kit to enhance the built-in functionality found in mass-market blogging platforms. To play around with the new system I've embedded it below. You can also check it out by visiting one of our Webware 100 2008 winner profile pages.

If you've been a longtime Webware reader you might remember a service called Bubble Guru I checked out back in late 2007. It let you create small video pop-ups you could stick on your site to say hi to users, or simply to serve as a more attention-grabbing sticky note. Just launched Bubble Comment is a very similar service, and in fact it's from the same folks. The big difference is that it's completely free, albeit with some limitations.

One of those limitations, for example, is that you can't simply embed Bubble Comment bubbles on any old page or post--you have to specify which page you're linking your friend to, and Bubble Comment will get the recipient, and your video message to the page page with a re-direct. In other words it's not for publishers, but for people to send links to their buddies. Every message expires after 30 days or 25 views--whichever comes first.

If you're looking to send someone a one-off link with a video comment attached it's very cool and completely free. In comparison, parent company kShermanStudios LLC's Bubble Guru requires buying into one of three tiers of service that charges you for how many total messages you want floating around, but offers much more value to blog owners who want to grab your attention in an unusual manner. You just can't help but watch these things, even if the content is lame.

Other products in the bubble family include Bubble Testimonial, which lets you stick video bubbles of consumer testimonials on your product or service pages, along with Bubble Joy, which is a video e-card service.

Stick your ugly mug on pages you send to friends with Bubble Comment.

(Credit: CNET Networks)