Should I Moderate Blog Comments? – Three Thoughts
Further to the now 2-week old discussion about treating other bloggers blogs nicely, Katherine Reschke wrote:
I don’t let strangers into my home and likewise I moderate all comments that come to my blog. It is a lot of extra work but unfortunately whilst there are asses who would trash my home given the opportunity and even more asses who would trash my blog, I think if we want to keep the internet free speech(and I SURE DO!)then we have to take a pro-active stance.
I think she has a very good point on the stranger thing. After all, we don’t let strangers into our homes…but we do so on our blog. Regardless, as far as moderating comments goes, I’d never do it.
Here are my 3 thoughts on why I don’t do it and maybe it will apply to you as well:
1. Way too much work and the Spam Karma 2 plugin installed here is very good at flagging most spam (Lynette may have done something else to keep it bay, but that’s all behind the scenes and I don’t know about it…LOL). As a result, most of the spam I have to deal with seems to be manual submissions and there are just a few bad apples in the bunch.
3. It disrupts the flow of conversation. If everything is moderated, it means that new commenters cannot see the comments prior to theirs until they are approved.
4. Most importantly, I think it discourages my readers from commenting. I know that once I see a blog moderates comments, I think twice about coming back. I don’t know what it is, but I think we want the instant gratification of seeing our comment go up…and we also don’t want to be left wondering whether our painstaking efforts will be approved or not.
I believe that I noticed on Lynn Terry’s blog that she moderates first-time commenters (based on email address, I believe). In that case, I think it’s fine, but I was do a little modification to let the user know that it’s a one-time thing and you’re simply checking that they’re a real human being (which you’re sure they are).
Overall, I don’t think you should make it hard for real people with real things to say. My blog readers are very valuable to me and I know they are a major source of contribution here. I gotta treat them right.
About: Alice Seba
Alice Seba earns a full-time online income as an entrepreneur and loves to help others achieve the same. With a focus on using content to create relationships, loyalty and results from the written word, she co-owns both a ghostwriting service and a private label content business. To get more tips for your content marketing, visit Contentrix.com - your free resource with plenty of tips and strategies.Freebies
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Jan - queenofkaos
I do moderate my comments. I don’t have enough of them to become a huge labour issue although it would be easier and it would also be faster. I also prefer to be able to have any comments go live instantly.
But I moderate because 1- on some blogs more than others I have some disgusting spam getting through and would be mortified to have it show on my blog.
2 – Most comments are totally legit and I would never moderate according to a person’s opinion, but I don’t want my reader’s to have to wade through posts that do not contribute anything at all in any way – eg. comments that are not remotely on topic + their url – in short – an ad, which I get once in awhile too.
I work hard to put good content up and I think that there is some responsibility to keep the comments that way as well.
I do like to provide benefits to anyone who comments though and to encourage them, especially at this stage for me it is the high point of my day to get comments :0) So I have do follow and also am trying out comment luv which I am really liking – I am getting a lot of insight into the people behind the comments and they get a good perk for commenting.
Alice
LOL…Jan, as I wrote this a spam comment got posted, but your comment got caught in Spam Karma 2. OOPS!
Anyway, with proper measures in place, you can keep those disgusting ones out automatically. Lynette has done a nice set up here…maybe we can get her to post an entry here giving recommendations on keeping spam out of WordPress blogs.
Vera Raposo
I do like reading my entries right away too, it’s an instant thing. I’m off to take the moderation off my blogs. Thanks for this point of view Alice.
Shannon Smith
I do the same thing as Lynn’s blog where WP automatically holds the first comment based on email address. Once I approve that, any other comments get automatically posted right away. Eventually I might turn on Akismet which apparently is a pretty good spam solution, but right now the default WP moderation is working out.
You bring up some good points though. I’ll have to think on it. If I knew how to edit the code, I could just put a note that first time comments are held. Hmmm…
Katherine Reschke
I should have been more accurate in my comments and said I moderate all first time commenter’s – I did when I started my blog moderate all but changed that after a month after I had some regular commenters. I think it is a brilliant idea to let first timers know my policy so like Shannon I will have to figure out a way to do it. I think you make some great points but for me personally I will keep my chain on the door.
Jan - queenofkaos
That would be a great idea! I don’t get it so much on my new blogs, maybe there is something built into the newer versions of wordpress but I still don’t trust them.
I thought it was funny because when I posted the comment it said awaiting moderation (or something like that). I think it was a problem on my end. My computer was hanging and froze when I was supposed to fill in the number to verify that I am a person so I didn’t think it went through but it must have gone to your spam system, so actually it means it’s working!