Return to Answer

###Stock comments

Posting the same stock comments on everything may not be helpful. Meanwhile, it is practically impossible to write a personalised comment every single time.

There has to be a balance.

Stock comments (or canned responses, as I call it) has been very useful for me in my moderation activities (without the diamond, that is). I've been using them on all sites I frequent, especially on ELU.

I don't always slam the template onto new users. I edit and tailor them to specific situations or users as far as possible and depending on the time I have for it.

AutoReviewComments is a script I've been using for quite a while. I've also invited a lot of users to it. It's even available as a Chrome/Firefox extension/add-on.

###Welcoming new users

It's a common courtesy to welcome new visitors, online or otherwise. Being on IPS, there's, even more, the reason to do so. I've prefaced most of my comments with "welcome to [sitename]" on most occasions. The script does it automatically as well, based on the user's newness.

Apart from such comments, I also make sure to use my votes, flags, or both, solely based on a post's merit regardless of the user who posted it.

If it's a question lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will close it, or else it will invite poor quality answers.

It's also important to downvote poor quality questions quickly. It only takes 4 downvotes to knock a question off the homepage, and therefore prevent answers to it. (Shog9 ♦ told me so)

If it's an answer lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will vote down on it, or else it will get upvoted by the bandwagon effect, say, when it enters the HNQ.

I often return to the relevant posts to see if there are any edits. If the question or answer has improved, I will reopen or upvote them, and remove my comments since they're no longer needed.

If anyone comes across my such comments, feel free to flag them if they're no longer needed. Also, I'd appreciate your feedback on ways to improve it. Reach me on chat.

Stock comments

Posting the same stock comments on everything may not be helpful. Meanwhile, it is practically impossible to write a personalised comment every single time.

There has to be a balance.

Stock comments (or canned responses, as I call it) has been very useful for me in my moderation activities (without the diamond, that is). I've been using them on all sites I frequent, especially on ELU.

I don't always slam the template onto new users. I edit and tailor them to specific situations or users as far as possible and depending on the time I have for it.

AutoReviewComments is a script I've been using for quite a while. I've also invited a lot of users to it. It's even available as a Chrome/Firefox extension/add-on.

Welcoming new users

It's a common courtesy to welcome new visitors, online or otherwise. Being on IPS, there's, even more, the reason to do so. I've prefaced most of my comments with "welcome to [sitename]" on most occasions. The script does it automatically as well, based on the user's newness.

Apart from such comments, I also make sure to use my votes, flags, or both, solely based on a post's merit regardless of the user who posted it.

If it's a question lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will close it, or else it will invite poor quality answers.

It's also important to downvote poor quality questions quickly. It only takes 4 downvotes to knock a question off the homepage, and therefore prevent answers to it. (Shog9 ♦ told me so)

If it's an answer lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will vote down on it, or else it will get upvoted by the bandwagon effect, say, when it enters the HNQ.

I often return to the relevant posts to see if there are any edits. If the question or answer has improved, I will reopen or upvote them, and remove my comments since they're no longer needed.

If anyone comes across my such comments, feel free to flag them if they're no longer needed. Also, I'd appreciate your feedback on ways to improve it. Reach me on chat.

###Stock comments

Posting the same stock comments on everything may not be helpful. Meanwhile, it is practically impossible to write a personalised comment every single time.

There has to be a balance.

Stock comments (or canned responses, as I call it) has been very useful for me in my moderation activities (without the diamond, that is). I've been using them on all sites I frequent, especially on ELU.

I don't always slam the template onto new users. I edit and tailor them to specific situations or users as far as possible and depending on the time I have for it.

AutoReviewComments is a script I've been using for quite a while. I've also invited a lot of users to it. It's even available as a Chrome/Firefox extension/add-on.

###Welcoming new users

It's a common courtesy to welcome new visitors, online or otherwise. Being on IPS, there's, even more, the reason to do so. I've prefaced most of my comments with "welcome to [sitename]" on most occasions. The script does it automatically as well, based on the user's newness.

Apart from such comments, I also make sure to use my votes, flags, or both, solely based on a post's merit regardless of the user who posted it.

If it's a question lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will close it, or else it will invite poor answers.

If it's an answer lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will vote down on it, or else it will get upvoted by the bandwagon effect, say, when it enters the HNQ.

I often return to the relevant posts to see if there are any edits. If the question or answer has improved, I will reopen or upvote them, and remove my comments since they're no longer needed.

If anyone comes across my such comments, feel free to flag them if they're no longer needed. Also, I'd appreciate your feedback on ways to improve it. Reach me on chat.

###Stock comments

Posting the same stock comments on everything may not be helpful. Meanwhile, it is practically impossible to write a personalised comment every single time.

There has to be a balance.

Stock comments (or canned responses, as I call it) has been very useful for me in my moderation activities (without the diamond, that is). I've been using them on all sites I frequent, especially on ELU.

I don't always slam the template onto new users. I edit and tailor them to specific situations or users as far as possible and depending on the time I have for it.

AutoReviewComments is a script I've been using for quite a while. I've also invited a lot of users to it. It's even available as a Chrome/Firefox extension/add-on.

###Welcoming new users

It's a common courtesy to welcome new visitors, online or otherwise. Being on IPS, there's, even more, the reason to do so. I've prefaced most of my comments with "welcome to [sitename]" on most occasions. The script does it automatically as well, based on the user's newness.

Apart from such comments, I also make sure to use my votes, flags, or both, solely based on a post's merit regardless of the user who posted it.

If it's a question lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will close it, or else it will invite poor quality answers.

It's also important to downvote poor quality questions quickly. It only takes 4 downvotes to knock a question off the homepage, and therefore prevent answers to it. (Shog9 ♦ told me so)

If it's an answer lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will vote down on it, or else it will get upvoted by the bandwagon effect, say, when it enters the HNQ.

I often return to the relevant posts to see if there are any edits. If the question or answer has improved, I will reopen or upvote them, and remove my comments since they're no longer needed.

If anyone comes across my such comments, feel free to flag them if they're no longer needed. Also, I'd appreciate your feedback on ways to improve it. Reach me on chat.

###Canned responses

I don't speak for others. I do however consider it useful to have stock comments. I call them canned responses, which I often tailor to specific users. I check out user profiles to see if the user already knows the SE culture in general even though they're new to the site.

It should be noted that slapping a one-size-fits-all comment on everything isn't always helpful. Sometimes it does cause confusion. So I recommend having canned responses, but also modifying it to fit the situation as far as possible.

Auto Review Comments is a useful Chrome extension to help with this.

Although it's not mandatory, I think it's only natural to preface our comments with "welcome to [sitename]" when we see new users. I have been doing so for 4 years on any site I frequent (especially ELU). Considering that this is IPS, it makes even more sense to be friendly to new users.

But here's the thing though. I don't necessarily suggest being okay with poor quality posts or turning a blind eye to bad things happening just because some user is new. With zero hesitation I'd empty my flags, votes or thunderbolts, and I'm lavish like that.

That means I'll guide new users on how to improve their posts or how some things are done, but at the same time I'll vote to close or vote down posts that don't meet our standards. And I check back later, and if there's improvement, I'll reverse my votes.

Examples:

Recently a question was asked lacking details. I closed it. Helped the OP. After it was improved, I reopened it. Close > Improve > Reopen is what I follow, or else it will invite poor quality answers. It is now a top voted question and has top voted answers.

Recently an answer was posted with mere suggestions. Guided the new OP and they added an example from their experience to it. Now it's the top voted answer to the question. It would've probably been voted down or deleted otherwise.

If anyone comes across my such comments on posts, and if they've already served their purpose, feel free to flag them as they're no longer needed.

I myself remove some when I see them, but I don't go around looking for them.

###Stock comments

Posting the same stock comments on everything may not be helpful. Meanwhile, it is practically impossible to write a personalised comment every single time.

There has to be a balance.

Stock comments (or canned responses, as I call it) has been very useful for me in my moderation activities (without the diamond, that is). I've been using them on all sites I frequent, especially on ELU.

I don't always slam the template onto new users. I edit and tailor them to specific situations or users as far as possible and depending on the time I have for it.

AutoReviewComments is a script I've been using for quite a while. I've also invited a lot of users to it. It's even available as a Chrome/Firefox extension/add-on.

It's a common courtesy to welcome new visitors, online or otherwise. Being on IPS, there's, even more, the reason to do so. I've prefaced most of my comments with "welcome to [sitename]" on most occasions. The script does it automatically as well, based on the user's newness.

Apart from such comments, I also make sure to use my votes, flags, or both, solely based on a post's merit regardless of the user who posted it.

If it's a question lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will close it, or else it will invite poor answers.

If it's an answer lacking details, I will guide the OP, but at the same time, I will vote down on it, or else it will get upvoted by the bandwagon effect, say, when it enters the HNQ.

I often return to the relevant posts to see if there are any edits. If the question or answer has improved, I will reopen or upvote them, and remove my comments since they're no longer needed.

If anyone comes across my such comments, feel free to flag them if they're no longer needed. Also, I'd appreciate your feedback on ways to improve it. Reach me on chat.