I think we can all agree that comments like this add nothing of value to the site:

“-1 for choosing an answer that didn't actually answer your question (which was "why does...?"), then again posing the question 'why?' in your comment for that chosen answer, while ignoring the answer that directly answered your question. Which I've since…”

but I’d like to demonstrate that even comments that are intended to be helpful can be perceived as unfriendly.

In week 2 of the Summer of Love last week we posted the results of our look at attitudes in a large sample of comments. We found some really interesting trends in friendliness and the topic was further discussed. Below, I am also posting a few examples of comments that were included in the study and how each was rated.

Sometimes, it’s tough to see how language that we are so accustomed to is perceived by folks foreign to the Stack Overflow culture. So, let’s see some specific examples…

Here are two friendly comments rated such by 13 and 7 independent raters, respectively (and the rest of the raters deemed them neutral):

“Add some example code....formulate your question as a question and be more specific. What have you tried, what does not work, etc.”

“This is not possible, but please explain why it would be of importance, and maybe you could get help with the underlying issue.”

And this one judged unfriendly by 16 people:

“Absolutely nothing like a real question.”

This comment was rated unfriendly by 5 raters while 14 judged it neutrally and 1 person found it friendly:

“Ever hear of Facebook? They are even releasing the tools they use to make it happen.”

How can comments intended to be friendly be improved so that they are more often perceived as friendly?

I think we can all agree that comments like this add nothing of value to the site:

“-1 for choosing an answer that didn't actually answer your question (which was "why does...?"), then again posing the question 'why?' in your comment for that chosen answer, while ignoring the answer that directly answered your question. Which I've since…”

but I’d like to demonstrate that even comments that are intended to be helpful can be perceived as unfriendly.

In week 2 of the Summer of Love last week we posted the results of our look at attitudes in a large sample of comments. We found some really interesting trends in friendliness and the topic was further discussed. Below, I am also posting a few examples of comments that were included in the study and how each was rated.

Sometimes, it’s tough to see how language that we are so accustomed to is perceived by folks foreign to the Stack Overflow culture. So, let’s see some specific examples…

Here are two friendly comments rated such by 13 and 7 independent raters, respectively (and the rest of the raters deemed them neutral):

“Add some example code....formulate your question as a question and be more specific. What have you tried, what does not work, etc.”

“This is not possible, but please explain why it would be of importance, and maybe you could get help with the underlying issue.”

And this one judged unfriendly by 16 people:

“Absolutely nothing like a real question.”

This comment was rated unfriendly by 5 raters while 14 judged it neutrally and 1 person found it friendly:

“Ever hear of Facebook? They are even releasing the tools they use to make it happen.”

How can comments intended to be friendly be improved so that they are more often perceived as friendly?

I think we can all agree that comments like this add nothing of value to the site:

“-1 for choosing an answer that didn't actually answer your question (which was "why does...?"), then again posing the question 'why?' in your comment for that chosen answer, while ignoring the answer that directly answered your question. Which I've since…”

but I’d like to demonstrate that even comments that are intended to be helpful can be perceived as unfriendly.

In week 2 of the Summer of Love last week we posted the results of our look at attitudes in a large sample of comments. We found some really interesting trends in friendliness and the topic was further discussed. Below, I am also posting a few examples of comments that were included in the study and how each was rated.

Sometimes, it’s tough to see how language that we are so accustomed to is perceived by folks foreign to the Stack Overflow culture. So, let’s see some specific examples…

Here are two friendly comments rated such by 13 and 7 independent raters, respectively (and the rest of the raters deemed them neutral):

“Add some example code....formulate your question as a question and be more specific. What have you tried, what does not work, etc.”

“This is not possible, but please explain why it would be of importance, and maybe you could get help with the underlying issue.”

And this one judged unfriendly by 16 people:

“Absolutely nothing like a real question.”

This comment was rated unfriendly by 5 raters while 14 judged it neutrally and 1 person found it friendly:

“Ever hear of Facebook? They are even releasing the tools they use to make it happen.”

Can you tell the difference? Essentially, the first three comments are all saying the same thing. Please rework your question it isn’t suitable in its present state. The fourth comment here is also meant to be helpful, but it’s largely interpreted as either neutral or unfriendly by folks not familiar with the community.

Perhaps the difference in how you say something encourages or discourages a new community member from putting more effort into their post and continuing to contribute and mature with the community; those new members who clearly don’t belong (you know who I’m talking about) won’t find what they’re looking for on SO - their posts will be closed and they will leave.

If you want to comment on a question, think about suggesting how the question can be improved. Colorful commentary on the quality of the question should be channeled into the built-in mechanisms that account for post quality, they work really well!

I think we can all agree that comments like this add nothing of value to the site:

“-1 for choosing an answer that didn't actually answer your question (which was "why does...?"), then again posing the question 'why?' in your comment for that chosen answer, while ignoring the answer that directly answered your question. Which I've since…”

but I’d like to demonstrate that even comments that are intended to be helpful can be perceived as unfriendly.

In week 2 of the Summer of Love last week we posted the results of our look at attitudes in a large sample of comments. We found some really interesting trends in friendliness and the topic was further discussed. Below, I am also posting a few examples of comments that were included in the study and how each was rated.

Sometimes, it’s tough to see how language that we are so accustomed to is perceived by folks foreign to the Stack Overflow culture. So, let’s see some specific examples…

Here are two friendly comments rated such by 13 and 7 independent raters, respectively (and the rest of the raters deemed them neutral):

“Add some example code....formulate your question as a question and be more specific. What have you tried, what does not work, etc.”

“This is not possible, but please explain why it would be of importance, and maybe you could get help with the underlying issue.”

And this one judged unfriendly by 16 people:

“Absolutely nothing like a real question.”

This comment was rated unfriendly by 5 raters while 14 judged it neutrally and 1 person found it friendly:

“Ever hear of Facebook? They are even releasing the tools they use to make it happen.”

How can comments intended to be friendly be improved so that they are more often perceived as friendly?