~(INTRO)~
That's right folks! This is a GUIDE TO COMMENTING! It's short, so as not to bore you, and it should be helpful judging by the majority of comments i see and recieve. Anyways, i'm going to cut to the chase. As promised it's only 6 steps long but not necessarily in order. Here goes nothing!

SIZE DOESN'T MATTER

I'm going to start this off by assuring you that a long comment doesn't necessarily mean a good comment. A sentance or two is often adequate if you really can't say much more, are drunk, crunched for time, or am just sick and tired of clearing out your new deviation alerts.

"You don't always need a super-long comment to make it a good comment."

TRY TO HELP

I know, some deviations really bite the big one, but where there's something wrong there's the opportunity for something to be right. The worst piece in the world has everything to improve on. Remember that. Next time you come across a bad piece, tell them what's bad about it, and suggest a way to fix it! This does not require you to be an expert at whatever type of art this happens to be. Just feelings you have or descriptions of what you would do are fine.

"Don't leave the doomed hanging or the wounded bleeding - help the poor person out after you rip them apart! It's your mess, clean it up!"

DON'T BE A RETARD

Oh, find this offensive do you? Well we'll get to that. What i mean by this is that "+fav" or " i like it" is not a good comment. Sure, an artist likes to know people approve of their work, but unless you have to go to work in 5 seconds or you've gotta pee something fierce, there's no excuse for this kind of comment. There's an old saying that goes something like "Don't open your mouth unless you have something good to say" well i don't believe in that, but if you say "Don't comment unless you've got something not so blatantly retarded to say" could work here.

"+Fav is not a comment. Be creative. We're artists, damn it - it's what we do!"

OPEN A WINDOW

Ok, you might be impressed here, as this is actually just a tip. When you first click to get to said deviation, it opens as a thumbnail with the comments below. Right-click (or whatever it is you mac users do) on the thumbnail and go to "open link in new window." This opens the full image - you guessed it - in a new window. Now in the first one, scroll down to your little comment box, and now all you have to do to refer back to the piece is click on a dumb little button at the bottom of your screen. Hip Hip Hooray. The point?

"Refer back to the image when you're commenting. Helps you describe what you're seeing and sometimes pick up on new things"

READ UP ON IT

This is pretty much a no-brainer, but then again, if it wasn't an issue i wouldn't be putting it in here, now would i?
READ THE DESCRIPTION. It sometimes informs you about the piece so that you may better understand it and other times will even tell you about mistakes the artist knows are there! Thinking of mistakes and reading, it's also a good idea to skim the rest of the comments while you're scrolling down. If not to laugh at their inferiority (just kidding) then to find out if anyone else noticed what you did so you can skip that or refer to it in your comment.

"YOU never know, but USUALLY the artist does. Read about it now in the very description of the piece you are critiqueing!"

DON'T GO SOFT

My final step is the promised closure to my outburst above. Just because you need to try and be helpful doesn't mean you should hold back. Most people's comments are crap because they are afraid. And to avoid sounding like that guy from Donnie Darko i'm going to clarify this by saying: They are afraid of hurting the artist's feelings by pointing out things that are wrong. THIS IS WRONG. If there's something you don't like about a piece, SAY IT! EVEN if it is 'just an opinion'. It's your opinion and you have a right to it! Just be sure when you're stating opinions you think you're gonna catch hell for, that you tell them quite clearly that it is just your opinion. Facts are one thing, opinions are everything else.

"Remember: Opinions help artists grow - don't be afraid to voice yours."

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~CONCLUSION~
There ya go - that wasn't so hard now, was it? Didn't think so. As a parting note, i'm going to leave you with a few links regarding commenting that you might find more useful, but lengthier as well. This guide is meant to give people an 'abbreviated' guide to commenting. Their guides are longer, but more comprehensive. Check them out!

THE COMMENT REVOLUTION by ~ *splat

C-DADDY'S GUIDE TO COMMENTING by ~ ` coshdaddy

"The Art of Commenting" by ~ *inziladun

That's all folks! Thanks for reading!

DEVIL!