In this how-to article, I am going to teach you my tried and true method for responding to comments here on Vocal. You can use this on your own Vocal stories and maybe even in your responses to comments on other stories. Rest assured, it is quite easy although it can feel a tiny bit intimidating at first! Just hang in there and do your best.
BREATHE. The stakes are really very low. What is the worst that could happen?
Part 1: Publish a Story (and get a comment)
Step 1: Write a story or article and save it to your drafts
Step 2: Delete it
Step 3: Rewrite it
Step 4: Delete it
Step 5: Write it in Google Docs this time and send it to your best friend asking if you should publish it or delete it again
Step 6: Listen to your friend, paste it into Vocal, obsess over the formatting issues since it came from Google Docs this time, scroll through and change the featured photo seventeen times (curse you, UNSPLASH!), and publish it
Step 7: Rejoice …Panic
Step 8: Draft an email to Vocal support (Sorry, Frankie!) asking for it to be deleted
Step 9: Delete that email draft instead
Step 10: Refresh your browser every fifteen seconds to see if any of your readers have seen it yet
Step 11: See the little red flag… WHO DECIDED TO MAKE IT A RED FLAG? Why not a green flag? Why not a smiley face??
Step 12: Feel nauseous
Step 13: Click the notification
Step 14: Because we can’t stop at 13 (although Swifties may disagree)
Part 2: Read and (Over)Analyze the Comment
Step 1: Oh thank goodness, it is from someone you recognize so you don’t have to go make sure they aren’t a spammer first…. And it is also from someone who is usually really nice. Whew!
Step 2: But…what if they hated your story this time and they say so and then you have to decide if you are upset about that and then what if you respond and they get upset too and then you get in a comment fight and they unsubscribe and then they hate you forever and you aren’t Vocal friends anymore and…?
Step 3: BREATHE. The stakes are really very low. What is the worst that could happen?
Step 4: Read the dang comment. You have literally never gotten into a comment fight (except sorta with that AI commenter that one time), why should it happen now?
great story
Step 5: Analyze (side note: that word looks so weird to you so you’d better just paste it into a browser window and also into Word and Google Docs to make sure it is really spelled like that this time). Okay…done, it is…how odd… So, anyway, did they mean “great story” in a….”wow! great story!!!” way but they just don’t like exclamation marks as much as you do or in a “wtf was that drivel” way but they didn’t use an emoji or a tone tag so you don’t really know so just maybe try to take it as a positive “great story” since you have no actual evidence that it was sarcastic? But— they didn’t click the heart button too so maybe they didn’t really like it at all? Or did they just forget? Or maybe they did click it and Vocal didn’t notify you yet?
Part 3: Respond
Step 1: Respond succinctly and gracefully
Step 2a: LOL gotcha! You know there is no way we can respond with such little analysis, right? We didn’t even really OVERanalyze it enough yet
Step 2b: Draft a response
Step 3: Scroll up to make sure that their name is spelled correctly
Step 4: Scroll back to your comment draft, delete it
Step 5: Rewrite it but with more emojis and exclamation marks so they know that you really do appreciate their comment
Step 6: Scroll up to make sure you are responding to the correct comment, even though it is the only one so far
Step 7: Scroll back down and delete at least 50% of the exclamation marks (Unless it is one of your buddies in the !!! club, leave the extras in for them, they love them too)
Step 8: Notice the new RED FLAG at the top of your Vocal page…
Step 9: Panic
Step 10: Click the notification before submitting your comment response in case it is the same person commenting again and changing what they said so that then you have to change what you said because now you’ll need to use different emojis
Step 11: Oh…it was that person who commented publishing a story of their own… you want to read it immediately but you also want to finish your response to their comment first but also you don’t want to read their story without commenting because you might forget to go back and comment later and then they’ll think you don’t care about them but really you do and, besides, you read so fast that if you comment too quickly they might think you didn’t really read it and they might think you are an AI and…
Step 12: BREATHE. The stakes are really very low. What is the worst that could happen?
Step 13: Consider all the bad things that could happen
Step 14: Publish your comment response
Step 15: Refresh your page a few times and scroll to the comments to make sure that you responded to the right comment and that you don’t have a typo in their name because that did happen one time and you still wake up at 3am thinking about it sometimes
Step 16: BREATHE. The stakes are really very low. What is the worst that could happen?
Step 17: That looks weird. Google “breathe vs breath” even though you have done this many, many times before and the answer has not changed previously…it might this time though
Part 4: Consider the Worst that Could Happen
After much thought, the worst that could happen is that you actually did click that second red flag at the top without realizing it, read the story, scrolled to the comments, and accidentally responded “Thank you so much!!! I really appreciate your comment!” with several heart emojis…❤️❤️❤️
Except you posted that in response to a “great story” comment ON SOMEONE ELSE’S STORY and OMG that would be so embarrassing you might just have to delete your whole Vocal account and go into hiding for the rest of your life ????
Thanks for reading! I hope that this article helps you feel confident when you respond to comments on Vocal.
BREATHE. The stakes are really very low. What is the worst that could happen?
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***Author’s Note: The Real Advice
Step 1: Just be a nice person. Say thank you if someone bothered to take the time to read and comment on your work.
Step 2: Offer clarification if someone didn’t understand something in your article.
Step 3: Reciprocity is a great way to build your community here. If someone comments genuinely on your story, go take a look at their profile page (and read a story of theirs too!) ????
Bonus Step: Don’t use AI to write your comments for you… we can usually tell.
Extra Bonus Step: Don’t spam the comment section of other stories with your own links. Just…don’t.
Super Extra Bonus Step: Don’t be a plagiarist. It isn’t worth it.