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Alright bitches and motherfuckers so what constitutes a good comment? It’s 5am so I gotta go to bed but i’m leaving this on my screen to come to tomorrow… no write SOMETHING ok ok fine, some some quick sketches

Point at something interesting – quote the best line – and say why it was good, say how it resonated for you.

if relevant/interesting you can share a bit of personal experience, or something that it reminded you of. (It’s possible to accidentally insult people with bad comparisons, so this one is a bit tricky. The best comparisons to make are across genres. I saw someone today describe ABBA’s Dancing Queen as “the Mona Lisa of music, which is a memorable compliment, something people might argue about, but it’s not offensive.)

i think good etiquette dictates that a comment shouldn’t be way too long, but there are exceptions to this rule. sometimes a mega-comment is something masterful that everyone is in awe to read. this tends to be the kind of thing where like, it’s a post about ships, and there’s a comment from an actual admiral who was the commander of an aircraft carrier. In such instances, every single detail tends to be gold, and everyone is delighted to read the whole thing. If you’re not sure though, keep it brief, such that it’s not too much effort to read.

Cultivate your taste. it helps to keep an eye out for replies that other people have done that you thought were particularly good. this applies to everything beyond comments. if you don’t have the energy to work on your craft

learn improv, observe/watch improv, notice what good moves look like. they might make people laugh, or make people think, or something else that adds to the conversation, builds out the universe.

“Build out the universe” is a general good principle for thinking about it. Can you ask any followup questions that invite the author to go deeper into a thing that they seemed like they might have if they had the time/space to? Getting them to elaborate is a win. You can do part of the work yourself by saying what you think.

adamgravois: You’ve given the concept more thought and effort than anyone. You should write the essay how rare the belief in, and effort towards, “Good comment section”! is it lack of skill, impulse to conflict, the lemon market problem? Other?

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more later, i’m busy publishing more drafts first