There’s been a recent surge of eHow writers using the private messaging interface to spam the people on their eHow friends list. A quick glance in the forums will tell you that most people don’t appreciate these messages. (Along with the surge of spammy private messages is a surge of irate posts in the forums, complaining about the private messages).

Most of the private messages in question are brief and to-the-point: “I just wrote an article about ___. Please read, rate, and comment, and I’ll do the same for you!” They’re impersonal, and sent to dozens to hundreds of people at a time. It’s annoying, and it violates eHow’s rules.

If you want people to read and comment on your articles, there is an unwritten rule about this. There is a code of reciprocity among eHow writers: scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, basically. In other words, if you want someone to read your articles, don’t ask them to read yours. Read theirs first, and comment on the articles. About 85% of the time, the writer will respond in kind, reading and commenting on yours.