Lately, there have been some top blogs out there which have switched commenting off completely. Although they may have retained their own niche readership, I am more of the opinion that blogging, as a medium, is all about conversations – and the best way for that is to allow your readers to comment on what you’ve written.
Comments used to be easier however, before the days of automatic references, trackbacks and pingbacks, and the opening up of spam comments. Back then, it was simply a matter of deciding whether you trusted your readers to allow them instant comment additions, or whether your comments would be moderated firstly– and hopefully passed through.
Choosing the moderation option is not one I originally pursued, until moving onto Wordpress as my blogging system. But as we live in a world of comment spam, moderation is the key to keeping the conversation going, and most readers out there now appear to accept this, and the fact their comments won’t immediately be published if they are new to the blog.
Wordpress and particular plugins give us further ability to automate our comments – the Akismet plugin is particularly good at locating the vast majority of spam comments and setting this aside, whilst letting previously accepted commenters through with additional comments and no moderation requirements.
Which brings me back to that manual side of reading and accepting comments. This is a very personal side, especially if people are providing comments which contradict your own opinions expressed on your blog. But I would prefer those – dependent on the language and meaning expressed – than the comments you sometimes see on top blogs where the person simply expresses something along the lines of – “I like your blog”, or “I agree” and uses this to basically leave a linkback to their blog from a more popular blog.
One thing I personally try to keep in mind is that my blog is – my blog. As the owner of this public interface, I have a responsibility not only to my readers but to myself to provide both opinions and blog posts but also comments which are generally acceptable to myself and a general public browsing by. I also have certain rights with that responsibility – rights to protect myself as the blogger, or anybody else named on posts or comments – from insults or general nastiness. And sometimes the anonymity of the virtual world can lead to comments being quite nasty or derogatory, unfortunately.
It’s then, and only then – if in the rare circumstances that bad language or diatribes against somebody – even me – are written in comments, that I reel in my own blog ownership head, and hit the delete button. Only once in my blogging life have I had to go to an extreme and blacklist the IP address on one particular commenter, to put an end to a bitter conversation chosen to go on through blog comments. As the owner and writer, there comes a time to end further conversation and let them take it off elsewhere, while I continue to write and blog.
We own our blogs, and thus it is our right to administer and govern over our comments also. In fact, it’s our duty. But also a great pleasure, when comments add to the conversation.
What about you? Do you have a comments plan or system for your own blog? Have you had to enforce some rules? And do you want more comments?
I get great pleasure when someone takes time to leave a comment. I always treat my blog as a house, everyone is welcome to come in but if anyone comes to stir trouble then I politely ask them to leave. I have been lucky that my blog has always attracted nice people that share a common interest with the things I do or talk about. I also understand big bloggers having to cut out comments totally. It would be really hard to respond to everyone.
Great post! Really enjoyed the fluid writing style.
My 2c:
Comments that add value are welcome. Those that don’t [spam, linkbait, irrelevant] are deleted. And to be clear, “adding value” doesn’t mean agreeing with the post. You’re welcome to disagree with me in any of my posts and in fact, if your argument is a valid one, I’m sure it’ll stimulate debate around the point.
And that can only be a good thing.
Quality comments are also (in my opinion) the only true way to measure your blog’s penetration and popularity. The fact that someone took time out to craft a well thought-out response means much.
I would rather leave comments active on my blog than ever disable them and have to deal with any consequences of flamewars, spam, etc. As you say, it’s all about the conversation, and top-tier bloggers who turn off commentary just confuse me. Why WOULDN’T you want to let your readers engage in the experience and, even better yet, RESPOND to them as you are able?
Yes, it’s a management problem, but I simply ADORE commentary on my blog and the more, the better.
Each and every commenter over at my place is slightly deranged and sends the threads in unexpected and, usually, delightful places. I clear out spam, after making sure that ‘nude pictures of Paul McCartney in a field of wheat’ and the like, aren’t worth looking at of course. There was one site that was quite interesting ………mmmmmmmmmm.
[excellent post Michelle]
I agree with Amod, comments are very important to know how your blog is really living out there (excepting some cases). For me blogs are the little siblings of forums. I’ve been webmaster for many years and feel that some people just want to build a personal web, but as a blog is easier, cheaper and faster to launch they will stick with it, even if they don’t understand the concept nor use tools as comments, time features, tags or RSS.
A few months ago I had to give some “consultancy services” to my mom: A dude with really bad language and no manners at all was commenting in her blog (maybe “insulting” is the verb). I discuss with her the issue, banned him (thanks to Wordpress tools), create a profile of the guy’s typology and gave her my forecast about his future actions. I’m proud that she faced the subject with humor and decided to continue allowing comments in her blog (…and that my forecast of the guy was 100% perfect…hawhaw), but unfortunately many people do fear the fact that sooner or later they will have to deal with some idiot out there, and they simply “solve” it disabling comments.
Or, even worse, they do not want to read any disagrements!
@DP: Deranged is always fun!
.
@Michelle: Very interesting post, hope to read more from you soon
Well, yes I would like more comments on my blog! I only just started in the blogging world and so far I have been delighted when I receive a moderator email. A comment, yay!
I do understand however that big blogs have to take measurements. The comments, especially when threads run long, can be so out of context and catty at times. It takes away from the actual post.
Moderate one time for approval, skies the limit after. So far after years of blogging not one time has that policy failed me.
Course, I’m a ‘residential’ zoned blogger, as opposed to ‘commercial’ and ‘industrial’ zoned blogs in the virtual neighborhoods we roam.
I do however sometimes enjoy the ‘toying’ with idiot spammers showing feigned ‘love’. That’s the only time I take to edit out their URL and toy with them like a cat playing with a mouse.
Rhetorical fencing can be really fun sometimes.
A few of you gave me some right old laughs. Including not thinking about using all those lovely spam comments, editing with the URL and such.
Why on earth do people think it will get through when they are simply writing “I love your blog” with an URL like getyourviagrahere.com
[...] My Blog – Comments Moderation – a discussion on some of the ins and outs of comment moderation when owning a blog (techniques, [...]
@JohnC: Bad cat! Bad cat! LOL
@Noir Gotta have a side hobby, lol.
[...] My Blog – Comments Moderation – a discussion on some of the ins and outs of comment moderation when owning a blog (techniques, [...]