Getting more authors involved in our community is a key part of Community 2.0. That’s why we’ve launched guide for our authors on how to engage with comments – it appears on our writing platform, the writing interface screen.
The guide, along with other initiatives such as commissioned comments, is about lowering barriers of entry into community participation. We want to make it as easy as possible for academics to get involved in the discussion– for those who have never commented before and people who have been turned off from commenting by past experiences.
Authors can log in to the writing platform to access the guide. It has tips and advice for how to comment and what to do if comments start to get off-topic. For example:
Get in early. Posting early helps set the tone and keeps discussion on track.
Reply to reader questions: brief answers, making reference to the arguments made in the article, or providing links to further research are all helpful contributions.
Individual troublemakers: report and ignore. “Don’t feed the trolls” in combination with answering valid reader questions and comments is an effective way to keep the discussion on track and useful to all.
To our 11K+ authors: we hope you find this guide useful. And let us know any feedback or further tips we can integrate and share with others.
Happy commenting!
Cory