What's Your Blog Comment Policy?

I like brevity: My Comment Policy: I moderate comments. Please be patient: 1. Spam will happily be destroyed. 2. Mean comments aren't necessary. If I don't post them I will reply personally to let you know why. 3. Lewd comments will be edited, I don't want my readers leaving because of offensive content. Great debate, criticism and colorful commentary is always appreciated and approved!

Thanks Douglas. I like it...to the point!

I would opt towards the Education = Self-Moderation. If you  teach them the ways of blog commenting etiquette, I'm sure you won't run into  this issue anymore. Is there a right way? Sure, just be honest with them.

Thanks, bj. I'm definitely going to strengthen our comment policy first of all, and hopefully this won't be an issue in the future.

If I don't approve a comment I don't respond. That would take way too much time. As long as it's on topic, not blatant spam, not hateful, harassing or threatening then I approve it. If not then in the trash it goes.

Also, I only have moderated comments on one site due to the topic. Some topics more than others bring out the ignorance in people.

Hi djnelson -- I don't reply to spammers, either. Vanessa was asking a hypothetical about a client trying to comment on your own blog. In that case, I would email them about it. :-)

I'm leaning towards not responding to the client, because as I said I can't think of any way to word it that wouldn't be insulting. Probably best to just leave it alone. Thank you, djnelson.

Hi Vanessa,

To answer your question about the client, I probably would drop them a note. But I'm one who prefers to over-communicate with clients rather than under-communicate.

To answer your question about blog comment policies in general, I moderate the first comment from a new reader and every comment that includes a linkdrop. But my regular readers who are not dropping links - their comments go right on the blog. I also "do-follow" links to encourage comments.

If you're curious, you can read my comment policy here.

HTH.

Thank you, Matt. I like your policy and I think I still have the email I got from you the first time I left a comment on your blog! How did you approach the note to the client? If it was anyone but a client I would simply ignore it but since it is a client I feel I should somehow acknowledge that I did not post the comment. I'm not sure how to word it, though. I can't think of any way that wouldn't be easily interpreted as patronizing or insulting. Thanks!

Hi Vanessa,

I was speaking hypothetically there. None of my clients have ever commented on my blog, at least not to my knowledge. But if they did, and it was spammy, I'd probably email them about it. It would be good opportunity to educate them about blog commenting. :)

Thanks Matt. I'm struggling with how to email them. I feel like they are just in the dark about comment etiquette and I could be doing them a favor by educating them as you say, but I just can't figure out how to tactfully go about it.

Maybe something like this? --

----------------------
Hi XXX,

Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a comment. I'm glad to see you're getting interested in reading blogs and participating more actively. This will serve you guys well in the future -- you really should keep an eye on what your peers are saying and join those conversations when it's appropriate.

I wanted to let you know, though, that I'm not going to be processing your comment on my blog, and this might be a good thing to keep in mind as you visit other blogs, too: The comment you left reads like a mini-advertisement, and by dropping your link right in the middle, it kinda looks spammy. In other words, it didn't really add anything to the post.

It's no big deal on my blog since we know each other, but when you're visiting other blogs and the writers/readers don't know you, it will be a big deal. You'll get branded as a spammer and may not be welcome back to comment again in the future. The main thing is not to use someone else's blog as a place to advertise -- let the quality of your comments and discussion be an advertisement, instead.

If I can help with anything else blog-related, please let me know. Thanks again for commenting on my blog, and for understanding why I didn't process the comment.

Take care!

Vanessa
--------------------------

How's that sound?

That is exactly the type of thing I was looking for, Matt. Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to compose that!

Have "moderate" on so everyone cant leave spam messges.  I  personally did not reply as to why I did not post the comment.

Thanks Al. I do have "moderate" turned on. So if there was no response to the client they would probably (hopefully) understand why the comment was not posted.