Changing the default generic comment box

Ive been trying to change the default elgg comment box to look more like "river_comments" comment box.

ive got pretty far but i recieve this error afer posting a comment "Sorry, you need to actually put something in your comment before we can save it."

this is my code on views/comment/forms/edit.php

<?php
/**
 * Elgg comments add form
 *
 * @package Elgg
 *
 * @uses $vars['entity']
 */

if (isset($vars['entity']) && isloggedin()) {
    $form_body = "<div class=\"comment_box\">
        
        <div class=\"comment_feed comment_add_box\">
        
<form    action=\"http://www.fakepals.com/action/comment\" method=\"post\" >
    " . elgg_view('input/securitytoken')  . "
    <input type=\"hidden\"  name=\"guid\"  value=\"" . $entity_guid . "\" />

                    <div class=\"comment_icon\"> " .
                    
                    elgg_view("profile/icon",array(
                                'entity' => $user,
                                'size' => 'tiny',
                                'override' => true)
                            ) ."
                            
                            </div>
                            
                            <textarea onclick=\"rcPrepareItems(); readyToWrite(this)\" name=\"river_comment_text\"> "

.  elgg_echo('river_comments:writeacomment1') . "</textarea>
                        
                            <input type=\"submit\" name=\"comment\" value=\"Comment\" />
                    
                        </form>
                            
                </div>
    </div>";

    echo elgg_view('input/form', array('body' => $form_body, 'action' => "{$vars['url']}action/comments/add"));

}

 

 

can anyone tell me whats wrong with my code?  any help would be great!  bear with me im a nobe coder.