Commenting on Comments…

… or some of the Omnibuses Survey Results 2012

I read every single comment that comes through the Blogger comments system. The odd bit of spam creeps in (and I delete it as soon as possible) but generally Blogger is good at trapping spam—and in the process sometimes bona fide comments get caught.

Other than that, my policy is not to censor comments. I’ve withdrawn a couple of comments over the years, at the request of injured parties and on one occasion I felt compelled to delete the entire collection regarding Dash Coaches. I can’t edit out the bad so, on the two or three occasions where someone’s requested that I deal with potentially libellous or otherwise defamatory statements, I regret that the whole comment had to go.

Proportion of readers who work (or worked) in the bus industry

There’s been a certain amount of First-bashing, following my post on Cornwall tenders. It’s interesting how the far south west seems to attract attention perhaps disproportionate to its importance to the UK bus scene. People who express an opinion are always welcome here but I need to ask that you all do please remember that industry people read this (and this includes those at the periphery such as LTA employees, marketers, etc). Anything you say should be tempered with good nature. There are ways of saying something in a robust manner without causing offence.

For at least every two positive remarks about comments from those who took the time to take our 2012 reader survey there was about one on the negative side. Most people, most of the time, enjoy comments and feel that they add considerably to the blog. Some feel that the comments are the most important constituent. The recurrent theme regarding those who were less happy was along the lines of personal attacks and a lack of comment balance. I can live with an imbalance because we sometimes all have strong views to express. Regulars will no doubt have spotted that some blog posts here are deliberately prevocational in the first place!

As for personal attacks, these are few and mercifully far between. Here, we shouldn’t put up with them. As one respondent put it, “Some of the comments from readers… have become unnecessarily discourteous”. Discourtesy is unnecessary. There are others ways and means.

That said, we seem to be doing something right. The number of people who rate Omnibuses as “excellent” has increased year-on-year and is now at 63%. Add this to the 30% who view the blog as “very good” and that’s a very satisfactory 93%. The remainder felt Omnibuses was “good”. One person (not per cent) felt Omnibuses was “OK” and no one rated us poor.

I am sure that Comments contribute significantly to such a high rating.

More survey results will follow in due course.