Should You Moderate Your Blog Comments?
07.30.2009 | Chris BaileyAt some point, every blogger faces the question of whether or not they should moderate comments. The primary reasons for moderation are rational and simple:
- Kill spam
- Control trolls
Worthy reasons for sure. Nobody wants or needs spam and trolls camping out on your site. But do the risks outweigh the benefits gained from comment moderation?
There are three levels of comment moderation:
- No Comments/No Moderation. A blog is intended for broadcast purposes only. Few can get away with this. One exception is Seth Godin and I’m not exactly sure I’d consider his site a blog (see below).
- Comments/Moderation. A blog has comments, but these comments are moderated by the publisher. It can be hard to tell if your comment is going to get sequestered until after you click Post. If you’ve commented on blogs before, you know what I mean.
- Comments/No Moderation. A blog has comments and these comments are posted in real time once you click Post. I’ve made the choice to go this path with comments here and my other blogs (which might reveal a bit of bias).
Let’s put aside the No Comments/No Moderation level since it shouldn’t be part of your game plan if you’re publishing a blog. I would even suggest that any site that doesn’t offer the ability for readers to respond and interact isn’t really a blog. It’s just a broadcast engine.
This leaves the other two levels and the issue of which method to use. If you choose to set up moderation, here are a couple of questions to answer:
- Is an objective of your blog to inspire interaction among your readers?
- Can you quickly approve comments so they enter the dialogue stream shortly after posting?
- …And if not, are you okay with your readers either not bothering to comment in the future or not returning altogether?
I apologize if it seems that I’m setting up this argument a little too much. My experience is that moderation rarely corrects the problems it’s intended to solve. There are several spam-filtering tools available for blog platforms (e.g., Wordpress comes with Akismet; Typepad has its own built-in solution). These tools nail the spam comments before they even hit your site. And if you’re concerned about trolls posting inappropriate comments, let’s approach from another angle: what is the probability of true troll behavior (not to be confused with opposing viewpoints) appearing on your blog to the degree that the comment needs to be deleted?
I argue that moderation imposes significant risks to the health of your blog’s community – particularly if your blog is new. When someone leaves a comment on your blog, they want it to post in real time. They want to be part of the dialogue. When you sequester their comment until you get around to approving it, you’ve effectively kicked them out of participating in the community. Worse, most folks don’t know when their comment is going to get approved so they move on…and you’ve potentially lost them as both commenter and reader. If you’re truly worried about trolls, put a solid commenter policy in place letting your readers know what happens to inappropriate messages.
So ask yourself if moderating comments adds or detracts from your blog’s interactive experience. And unless you have good cause to moderate (and yes, there are a few out there), promote an open dialogue in your community.
16 Responses to “Should You Moderate Your Blog Comments?”
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Chris — Thanks for laying it out like this. I would note that WordPress (and, I assume, other platforms) offers the option to moderate comments *only the FIRST time someone posts*. I use this option, which allows me to catch the subtler spammers who sneak by the Akismet filters, but which doesn't slow down commenting for anyone who's left a comment before.
Plus, I make sure to jump on moderated comments as fast as I can — faster than any other e-mail I get, really — so that no one is sitting in moderation Purgatory for long.
Tim, sounds like you've found a comfortable middle ground in your commenting plan. And here's what I appreciate: even though you moderate, you actively make every effort to approve quickly.
As I've said many times, you totally get how community forms around blogs. Its one of the reasons why you're a true pro when it comes to blogging for business.
Chris, I agree with you, but I do think moderation is less of an issue now than it was a few years ago. First, we now have the ability to subscribe to post conversations, which makes it easier for commentators to follow the flow independent of the time element. Second, People seem to be using Twitter and similar sites to discuss posts of interest (at least superficially), and then make longer, more thoughtful comments later on the blog post itself. The reader's desire to see a comment published immediately is still strong, but now we have other options to get that instant gratification.
Brad, you make some good points. In particular, we now grapple with dialogue increasingly taking place outside of the originating blog. Conversations via Twitter, Friendfeed and Facebook are becoming more of a norm. Individual bloggers (as well as businesses) will look for ways to engage in those areas as well as integrate those dialogue channels back into the blog.
But I still argue that creating barriers for conversation on the actual blog site using onerous moderation tactics creates poor experience that could come back to haunt the publisher…particularly if its a business's blog. We may not be able to 100% control where the conversation takes place (and shouldn't try), but we can create the structures to encourage it in places we want it to happen.
Chris, like you I have all moderation turned off on my blogs, with the exception of the one I write for The Honolulu Advertiser – and if I could I would turn it off there too. However I also feel there is little worse than a blog where comment moderation is turned off technically, but there is absolutely no values-based comment culture in place, and the blog author (or authors) allow the conversation to run amok in the name of free speech which is actually thinly disguised laziness. Bloggers must be Mea Ho‘okipa – they must host the comment conversation. If not, better to not have comments at all.
Rosa, you make a great point about the other extreme that few people talk about: a blog where commenters are given free reign at the expense of value. I see this happen less with blogs (though you may have examples) than with news sites. Our local Austin American-Statesman allows comment sections on articles that often read like a junior high bathroom stall. It's more a chance for locals to bad mouth whoever seems to be the subject of the article. Which leads me to a similar conclusion you make: is it better to have no comments at all?
Chris, it’s like our moms and dads taught us: “If you haven’t something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” Sometimes we grown-ups need to remember our manners, pure and simple. However short of that extreme (where as you say, they can “read like a junior high bathroom stall”) are blog conversations which struggle to stay alive with valid conversation, but bloggers tired of them and moved on, forgetting their responsibility with staying engaged, or turning the conversation off at that point. I sincerely admire the way you respond Chris; you demonstrate how much you respect and care for those who visit you.
I moderate comments so that my readers get a chance to discuss the pros and cons of any post without having to deal with spam or off-topic rants.
I respond to comments, even those I delete. I use a simple rule: The comment should contribute to the discussion or to the reader experience.
Ad hominum attacks on other commenters are deleted. Comments that are 2x-3x longer than the original post are truncated.
Chris,
Great topic. I believe engagement is a wonderful way to control SPAM, but more so to build your reputation and community. It is easier to create content and send it one way, than address issues/comments on the fly and communities respect those who exchange information. I am part of my company's Community Management team and it takes time to build a online reputation and gain trust – this is gained from communication, not pushed content alone.
Cheers,
Toby
Great article
I do agree that moderating comments is not user-friendly and that people like to see their comments live. But I do moderate comments on my blog not only because of spam but also for inappropriate comments. Some people become too offensive and use street language when commenting whether on each other or on my post itself. I don't like to have such comments on my blog.
Yes spam can be controlled by the blogger system itself but such comments can't be controlled, this is why I moderate. But I am fast in moderating, I log to my blog more than once a day to check for comments and approve them.
Chris, You are absolutely right. I generally tell business clients to start by leaving comments open. If issues occur, comment moderation can always be used as a last resort. My experience has been that for business blogs, commenting is almost always conducted professionally and problems are few and far between. A more important issue for business bloggers to consider – how do we get people commenting on the blog at all? In that sense, occasional comment abuse is a good problem to have.
Absolutely agree that an important issue for business blogging is how to get readers to comment. An open comment structure is always a risk – particularly when the business is used to command-and-control communications. But we're starting to see how open dialogue is changing the way organizations relate to their customers…and innovate their internal communication systems.
Hi David, glad to hear from you…it's been a while
I'm curious about your approach: do you feel like there's opportunity to overmoderate? And is the balance of moderating in proportion to the number of times you have to delete troll messages or truncate lengthy comments?
Just curious to learn more about the circumstances behind moderation.
Thanks for adding to the dialogue, Toby. As a fellow online community pro, I appreciate your insight on this issue. It sounds like you're suggesting that there may be benefits to dealing with both spam and trolls in the openness of the community rather than behind the moderation curtain. Is that an accurate read?
Anyone else have experiences that show this works or does it merely fan the flames and decrease trust and engagement in the community?
Thanks for visiting and adding to the dialogue, Doha. It sounds like you take the path of Tim, who commented above. You moderate, but with an eye on making sure that appropriate messages get approved quickly.
I certainly can't fault anyone who moderates because their blog is a lightning rod for troll messages. I see too many news sites have open comments only to become the soapbox for folks practicing unthoughtful and hateful behavior.
Chris,
You are correct. I believe the interaction will also keep readers coming back.
Cheers,
Toby