Thoughts on Blog Comments, Moderation, and the Conversation

by Scott Allen – June 16, 2008

Filed Under Blogging

Every blogger at some point has to wrestle with his or her own philosophy on blog comments and moderation. Each blog has different goals and a unique target audience so there is no “one size fits all” answer. The particular solutions will have to be different for each blog. I think about blog comments a lot. More so since developing WP-SpamFree, because now I’m always thinking about how to help improve the quality of blog conversations – that’s really what the comments are – part of the conversation. I’ll share some thoughts that may affect your particular strategy for handling blog comments.

The Conversation

First off, I’ll explain my view on blog comments as part of a conversation. The blog author writes a post and starts the conversation, which is continued through the comments. I think real-life conversational etiquette comes into play, or at least it should. When people have conversations outside the Matrix (Internet), there is nothing wrong with disagreeing or trying to persuade others to our point of view, as long as it’s done in a civil manner (not rude, not yelling, etc.) I feel the same way about blogs. I don’t mind if you disagree with me or have a different point of view (in fact that’s great!), but being rude, off-topic or self-promotional lowers the quality of the conversation, and let’s face it, who wants to have a conversation with someone who does that? We go elsewhere. What I find incredible is that people sometimes act very differently on blogs than they do in real life. In real life they would be courteous, even if they are disagreeing with others, but somehow online – where words are just words and there are no faces – it seems ok to drop some of these civilities. What happened here?

There a few irksome things that we see in a lot of blog comments. One is trolling. We all dislike trolls – people who visit a blog or forum with the sole intent of stirring up trouble, or flaming. Disagreement is fine, but there is nothing constructive about trolling and flaming. Another is when people read a blog post and take one line out of context and then start harping on something that clearly wasn’t the author’s intent. To that I say: “Read the entire post before you comment!” A third, is blatant self-promotion. We’re all guilty of a little shameless self-promotion from time to time, but seriously, let’s keep it to a minimum. The fourth, is a variation of #3: Dropping an extra link in the comments. The whole purpose for allowing blog commenters to place links in comments is to add to the conversation. If you really feel a link helps the conversation, add it. But people shouldn’t just throw a link to their site in because they can. Everyone already gets a link to your site just by commenting – is it necessary to make the comment spammy by adding another? You can probably come up with a few more that bother you too.

Comment Moderation

Personally I believe bloggers should always moderate comments. There are many who would disagree with me on this, and that’s fine. Their points are valid. Some feel moderation slightly discourages commenters, and I understand this position, as I don’t want to stifle the freedom of the commenters. However, in my opinion the costs of not moderating outweigh the benefits. Here are my reasons:

As a blog owner you are responsible for the content of your site – all of the content.

If it’s on your domain, you own it – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Yes, this means legally and in all other kinds of ways. If someone posts a comment on your site, they aren’t responsible for it any longer – YOU are. If it defames someone else, you are liable and could be sued. That may be an uncommon example, but it’s not extreme. If your blog is part of a business site, the stakes are even higher, because you need to protect your brand. This doesn’t mean you need to delete comments by anyone disagrees with you or has a negative comment – in fact this can lead to product improvements and development ideas – but it does mean you should be wise and use discretion.

Stop the trolls before they start.

Moderating comments gives you a chance to make sure that trolls don’t find a home on your blog.

It helps your blog stay on track for your target audience, and prevents anarchy.

You may think comment moderation might discourage commenters, but in my opinion it actually makes your blog a more hospitable place for your target audience (when done right). Are you aware of your target audience? If not, you should be – especially if your blog is on business site.

It protects your SEO efforts.

Unmoderated comments give an opportunity for spammers to link to bad neighborhoods from your site. You also don’t want to reward spammers – if they can get their links off in your blog, they’ll come back, with friends.

It improves the quality of the conversation.

If someone is just filling up space with something that has NOTHING to do with the topic of the post, or other comments, it’s just lowering the quality of your site and diluting it’s message. Eliminating these off-topic comments will keep the high-quality commenters coming back.

Editorial Integrity

That being said, it’s important for you to exercise editorial integrity, or your blog just turns into one big propaganda piece. (Again, just my thoughts here – you’re obviously free to do as you like.) If you edit a comment, don’t do more that fix grammar or typos, or strip a link. Also, don’t just delete a comment because it disagrees with you. Learning to respond with class to dissenting comments is a skill that every blogger should develop. However, if a comment is excessively rude or uncivil, by all means, delete it. People should learn to have discussions with respect for each other, so my tolerance level is pretty low in that area.

The Other Side of The Coin

There are two sides to this coin. We also need to become better commenters. Some quick questions we should ask ourselves before we hit submit:

Have I read the entire post and fully processed it before commenting?

Answering NO = FAIL.

Will this comment add something to the conversation?

Answering NO = FAIL.

Am I trolling?

Answering YES = FAIL.

Am I taking one line out of context and missing the author’s intended point?

Answering YES = FAIL.

Am I being self-promotional?

Answering YES = FAIL.

Am I only commenting to get a link or traffic?

Answering YES = FAIL.

Am I commenting primarily for any self-serving purpose?

Answering YES = FAIL.

If our comment fails any of these questions, then we should rewrite it with something that adds to the conversation and isn’t self-serving.

The thing I’ve found is that by simply participating in conversations without selfish motives, you make friends who want to link to you and promote you without you ever asking them to.

http://www.hybrid6.com/webgeek/2008/06/thoughts-on-blog-comments-moderation-and-the-conversation.php

PS.

Her kan man lese, at jeg må tenke på det, at hva er mitt mål med bloggen?

Og mitt mål med bloggen, det er ihvertfall ikke at det skal være det eneste i livet mitt, og at jeg skal sitte hjemme 24 timer i døgnet, som en slags plikt, og svare på alle slags mulige spørsmål som alle i Norge eller verden lurer på.

Nei, det var ikke akkurat det som var mitt mål med bloggen.

Mitt mål var vel å få mine rettigheter, og å finne ut hva som er galt i Norge.

Så jeg håper at folk er enige med meg i, at det er en forskjell på de to tingene.

Selv om det kan være hyggelig å ha diskusjoner innimellom, så må jeg liksom ha litt kontroll og, synes jeg, sånn at ikke hele livet mitt til slutt går ut på å sitte og diskutere til alle døgnets tider, som en plikt, 365 dager i året.

Så det håper jeg at folk forstår.

Det kan være gøy å diskutere, men da skal det være av lyst, mener jeg, og ikke som at man er som en slave som må sitte å diskutere, hele tiden, som en plikt eller slavejobb.

Hvis man skal diskutere, så bør man vel ha overskudd og lyst til det, hvis ikke så kan det vel slite en ut og, vil jeg tippe på.

Så det her med målet med bloggen, det håper jeg at folk har forståelse for.

Det får man håpe på.

Vi får se hva som skjer.

Vi får se.

Mvh.

Erik Ribsskog