### 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][1] is a script I've been using for quite a while. I've also [invited][2] 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 ♦][3] 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][4]. [1]: https://stackapps.com/q/2116/37743 [2]: https://english.meta.stackexchange.com/q/10413/50044 [3]: https://english.meta.stackexchange.com/a/10526/50044 [4]: https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/61165/the-awkward-silence