Should You Moderate Your Comments?
This morning, my monthly copy of Entrepreneur magazine arrived in the mail. I gave it a quick initial browse, and something caught my eye. It was an article by Guy Kawasaki entitled “Website marketing turnoffs.” Since website marketing is a big part of my business, I decided to give it a quick read. Most of the tips were very basic, but one in particular stood out to me.
Guy Kawasaki says that “moderating comments is an oxymoron.” He believes you should let anyone comment, no matter what it is they have to say. This got me thinking: should we moderate our comments?
Let me first give my opinion on the matter. I don’t fully agree with Guy’s statement. I don’t think there is anything wrong with moderating your comments. And, obviously, we aren’t talking about spam here. What I’m talking about is deleting comments that add nothing to the conversation, whether they are positive or negative.
For instance, let’s say someone leaves a comment saying “F*** you. Your blog sucks.” What does that add to the conversation? It doesn’t add anything. Now, I know someone will say, “Let the comment through. You can’t ignore anyone who criticizes you.”But that’s not what this is about. I have no problem allowing negative comments if they are written in a thought out manner. Hell, I’ve had more than my fair share of readers who completely disagree with me and think I’m a total idiot. That’s fine. The key is they actually take the time to explain why they think I’m an idiot and why they disagree with me. And based on that, we can actually have a healthy debate with each other.
The same thing goes for the flipside of the coin. On blogs where I’m allowed to moderate comments, I almost never allow comments through that just say “Good post” or “I agree.” Again, it adds nothing to the conversation. And at the end of the day, that’s what a great blog is—a conversation. There is nothing more key to a blog’s success than an active comments section where ideas are freely exchanged.
To me, moderating comments is necessary, but at the same time, it’s a very thin line between moderation and censorship. The key is to find a happy balance that allows readers to truly feel their opinions are respected without allowing the conversation to be devalued by keyboard gangstas just trying to start trouble.
So, this all leads to the big question: should you moderate comments? What do you think? Share your thoughts in the replies.
May 28th, 2009 at 7:54 am
I think comment moderation as you’ve outlined is great. If it doesn’t add anything to the conversation then, get the boot.
However, when a comment challenges or poises a question the blog owner doesn’t wish to address especially if ethics are involved is downright uncool like over at Garry Conn’s blog.
Case in point there was a heated string of comments filled with inquiries regarding his business ethics with regard to site flipping.
I no longer see this string of comments because he conveniently redirected it to a new page in order to not have to address any of the questions.
This is an example of comment moderation at its lowest. Not only does he not answer questions but he decided to simply remove the comment section to this particular post altogether. See comment moderation in action for yourself do a search in google of the cached version I included below. It was quite interesting to say the least. I hope this comment is not deleted as I believe I’ve added to the value by siting a specific example to support what you’ve written.
http://www.garryconn.com/disneyland-coupons.php
May 28th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Pardon me. The command string to research in Google for my last comment is the following:
comments jennifer “disneyland” site:garryconn.com
When you search this you’ll see what I mean. The comment section was removed and redirected entirely.
None of the other blog post have had their comments redirected or deleted.
Whether you post this or not, you’ll see what type of business person Garry might be.
I hope I’ve provided enough material facts supporting your article.
Regards,
Jennifer
May 29th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
How ironic?
May 30th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Hey there — I spend a lot of time dealing with comments in my day job at the Denver Post, and we’ve had a lot of talk about moderation over there.
We get more than 1,500 comments a day, and we delete 50-75 comments a day for a variety of reasons — most of all name-calling, hate speech, and irrelevance. t
The people on our site are more adversarial than what you find on most blogs, which is a challenge. This is the set of commenting ground rules we use on our site, which may be useful to you or your readers: http://neighbors.denverpost.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=123484135
Also, I’m a big fan of BoingBoing’s moderation policy, which you can read here: http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/27/boing-boings-moderat.html
-Joe
May 30th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Eric: Thanks for your thoughtful article, which I have shared. I agree that there is a thin line between moderating and censorship: your rule of thumb is a good one: does it add to the conversation? One of the great benefits of social media is the sharing of ideas. Not everyone is going to agree with you – if they did, you would be preaching to the choir and how will you learn if no one challenges your thinking? Rosanne Gain, Gain-Stovall, Inc. – prmavencolorado on Twitter.
May 30th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
I author 5 blogs and honestly feel that comment moderation is a necessity. I too feel the comment whether positive or negative should add to the conversation. However there are times that I will let through a comment either positive or negative that really doesn’t add to the conversation but rather the comment adds another dimension. It’s always nice to get a comment that says hey, you are doing a great job as well providing it isn’t a thinly veiled way to get a link back. At the same time there are some who stumble upon your blog and think it is fine to leave the rudest of comments while others think your blog is fair game for spamming. I really don’t feel my readers need to read either so I see the role of moderating as acting as a buffer. The alternative to moderating is to let all comment, create a bit of controversy and lose a few loyal readers in the process. The second alternative is to only allow some readers to comment but that still doesn’t guarantee you decent comments. The third alternative is to not allow comments at all and we both know that squashes conversation.
This is an issue that every blogger must face at some point. I visited through twitter (gardengnome1) so nice to read a well thought out perspective on this somewhat difficult issue.
June 1st, 2009 at 11:57 am
This is a question I’ve asked myself a number of times and have come to the conclusion that, while I’m happy for people to post a negative comment with relation to my blog or the post I’ve written, ones that do not add anything to the conversation and are simply insulting (re – the F** You type comments) are not useful to either the blog owner or the people who wish to truly comment and so I delete them. It’s not moderating in the sense of not allowing people to have their say, but moderating in that allowing people to have their say in a comfortable environment.
June 1st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I agree. You do your readers a service by deleting the the comments that do not add anything, particularly the ones that use offensive language. One way I judge blogs and sites is by the quality of the comments. If I see a bunch of poorly written and/or foul-mouthed remarks, that blog loses my interest quickly.
June 15th, 2009 at 7:46 am
I found this while researching whether I should or should not moderate… I dont want to put people off commenting if they think its moderated, but I am finding most comments I get are just “good post” with a link back to the persons site. This is clearly just a means for someone to link back to their website, they are clearly not interested in the blog.
So yes I completely agree, just let the valid comments though, and delete the wasters.
I also moderate to stop all the spam submissions aswell of course.
October 8th, 2009 at 1:04 am
Im currently studying this exact topic and have personally come to two different conclusions..
Firstly I think personal blogs which belong to an individual who wishes to blog about their travels,work or just about any other topic – should be moderated. There is nothing less deterring then receiving a comment saying “f*&k you and your blog your an idiot who needs to get a better life” personal attacks are a no go.
However on the flip side of this you have companies to say “Oh we are such a transparent company and we want everyone to give us feedback, and yes come in and see how we operate our business” and then they moderate their blogs to “appear” that they accepting of two-way communication.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Let me first say I think Guy Kawasaki is an Oxymoron. Wait! no let’s just go with moron on that one.
OK now that we have that out of the way. Let me say I agree with you 100% in your point here. I agree with letting opposing views stand and even sometimes if they are even rude etc. In fact I’ll even put up w/ trolling to a certain point. But I think pointless meaningless comments that add nothing to the post not only have no value, but also take away from the user experience on your blog.
For example if someone says F*** you, you suck and here’s why…. and they give an explanation about why I suck I would let the comment stand and reply…
October 13th, 2009 at 11:30 am
Actually let me take that back. I will delete profanity on my blog but I usually will let’s trolling type comments stand to a point as long as they aren’t using profanity.