A complete N00b's guide to signing guestbooks.

[Guest omgmangaw00t]

[An excerpt from my page. This ought to be mandatory reading.]
--
I do a lot of browsing through the guestbooks of other people's pages in order to find people who share my interests. So naturally, I read a ton of entries. Its kind of sad how little thought people devote to writing guestbook entries. They usually follow one of these formats:

1. A simple "Nice site" followed by a subtle or blatant promotion of the poster's own site.

2. A generic "I like your art" followed by a promotion of the poster's own art. (Even though the guestbook owner might not even HAVE any Fan Art)

3. An energetic greeting followed by a request to be the owner's friend, or add him/her to friend list.

4. A thank-you for a certain comment or signature (Even though the original comment may not have even been particularly helpful or encouraging)

5. An "OMG I'm a huge fan of _____ too! These are usually also accompanied by a page promotion or friend request.

That's pretty much it. I've only come across a small handful of well-thought out signatures that don't conform to these examples. Thoughtful signatures seem to come from those that are already popular and feel no need to promote themselves, as well as the occasional earnest well-wisher. --Though the latter is regrettably uncommon.

Don't get me wrong, I like traffic too, and it brings me joy to get feedback on my stuff, but be specific.
By following these simple guidelines, you can avoid the stigma of n00bishness. (If it wasn't a word before, it is now.)
So what to do about it?
I know I'm writing this in vain, but I need to get it off my chest. How do you not offend someone whose guestbook you're signing? It's SO SIMPLE!

1. Mean what you say.
Even though there's no body language or vocal tone involved, people can kind of tell when you're insincere in your compliments toward their site or works.

2. Be specific.
What is it exactly that makes their page so nice? Is it the background? Their witty style? Their unique sense of humor?

3. Go the extra mile.
At least read the page or click some links. Do not base your judgement solely on someone's avatar or opening statement, unless you want to leave a specific compliment on just that.

4. Don't sugarcoat dookie.
If there's an aspect of someone's page that's painful to look at, (i.e. clashing color scheme) then let them know your feelings in a constructive and polite manner. Leave them a suggestion on how to fix it.

5. Motivate them.
If you want to advertise, then at least do it personally. If your page have something to offer that you think someone might enjoy, then mention it, instead of just saying "Pls visit my site!!!"

I hope this helps, but suspect the kind of help you n00bs need is not text-based, if ya know what I mean. (End of Transmission)

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Interesting, most interesting.

Seeing as I only rarely use MyOtaku anymore, and really only to test out a new style if I'm bored, I don't visit a whole lot of other people's guestbooks. I suppose I have to admit the only time I do so is if someone I know leaves me a comment and I feel compelled to check out their site and return the favour.

A lot of my earlier received comments were made up of the stuff you're talking about, now however they're generally made up of people who've visited my MyO after seeing me on the Boards. I think MyO isn't as popular as it was a few years ago, more of a fad than anything else, seeing as IMing someone you know is an easier way to stay in touch with them.[/SIZE]

[TheShinje]

[color=crimson]I delete spammy jibber-jabber from my MyOtaku as soon as it appears. Spammers just waste their time with me, I loathe their horrid near-invisible coloured writing and their "omg come 2 mah site!!1!!!1one!!exclamationexclamation!" posts.

They'd get somewhere with me if they followed your guidelines. :p[/color]

[Sara]

[color=#b0000b][size=1]I ended up disabling the guestbook for this reason. [/size][/color]