Comments on: Why comment moderation is a mistake if you want to make money blogging

By: Cathy

Cathy — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 04:16:55 +0000

Spamming is there on comments I still woudn’t feel that the comments should be moderated.

By: Markk

Markk — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 06:49:40 +0000

You’re dead right about bloggers who have this elitist notion about editing people’s comments and setting up all kinds of roadblocks just because they abhor spammy comments and such. Anyways, to me, there are comments and there are comments, and if they fall out of line, they just get zapped. There’s no big deal trying to deal with spammy comments. Better to spend time improving one’s own blog, writing and work towards gaining traffic. I also agree with Adam and Catherine Lawson regarding comments.

Hope you enjoy your stay in Thailand.

By: Catherine Lawson

Catherine Lawson — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 21:35:15 +0000

I completely agree. Fair enough – delete all the spam. But whey should a blogger edit what others have to say? That’s what makes blogs interesting, because everyone can chip into the discussion.

By: PreBlogging

PreBlogging — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:49:19 +0000

To me it all depends on what type of blog you have. And as there are many different types (fun/businesess/political/sports/etc) it’s hard to have a blaket policy on this.

I do reserve the rights to change comments, but I will try my best to contact the person and explain my reasons for doing so. It’s not something I would do likely or flippantly , but at the end of the day, it’s my blog. I think as long as you are fair you will be okay.

Becky

By: Free eBook

Free eBook — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:34:58 +0000

What the F*CK??!?! Okay that was a joke. I agree that you shouldn’t run around editing comments of regular users unless it is becoming a real problem. There have been times when I’ve posted comments on blog, then I get an email response back from the blogger – but my post doesn’t appear on the blog. Then I’m really thinking “What the F???”

By: Adam

Adam — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 23:31:30 +0000

Oh dude. Only just got a chance to look at the changes you made to the blog. Very nice, very nice !

Anyway, I do think generally all you need to do is plug your key into askimet and leave it be.

However, if you’re going to possibly moderate/edit etc comments it may be wise to make this clear to people before they comment but I agree that it’s better to just let the comments flow.

By: Ben Cook

Ben Cook — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 19:29:40 +0000

While I agree with you to some extent about it being a thin line to tread, I have found that it’s always better to let people know what you will and won’t accept on your site.

For example, if someone leaves a comment on my site that is perfectly valid, but their name links to an adult site, I’m not going to allow that comment. That person might get annoyed or even pissed off if they don’t see their comment or I edit it without them knowing that there is a policy in place. Now, I’ll put a link to my policy near the comment form and just point to it when deleting a comment or editing a link or something.

Another example would be swearing or hate speech. There are some words or phrases I just won’t allow to be displayed on my site. I realize that’s a slippery slope and all but I think those kinds of things reflect on the site they appear on, as much as the person leaving the comments.

Lastly, akismet takes care of a lot of spam but it doesn’t detect all the splogs or sites that are blatantly ripping off other people’s content etc.

This is a very interesting topic though, and I always enjoy reading opinions that differ from my own. Great post!