Comments on: Should You Moderate Your Blog Comments?

By: Toby

Toby — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:32:20 +0000

Chris,
You are correct. I believe the interaction will also keep readers coming back.
Cheers,
Toby

By: Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:36:15 +0000

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.

By: Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:29:47 +0000

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?

By: Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:24:14 +0000

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.

By: Chris Bailey

Chris Bailey — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:18:57 +0000

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.

By: Brad Shorr

Brad Shorr — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:46:52 +0000

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.

By: doha

doha — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 11:36:33 +0000

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.

By: facebook-652710616

facebook-652710616 — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:03:52 +0000

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

By: David St Lawrence

David St Lawrence — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:47:52 +0000

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.

By: Rosa Say

Rosa Say — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:02:19 +0000

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.