Comment Moderation

[Laughing Ninja]

For those of you with blogs on touchy topics (politics, etc.) How do you deal with people who comment just to be a jerk, or to prove you wrong on something, or to try to push the superiority of their view or the inferiority of yours? To what extent do you let these comments go through, and how do you know when to delete?

I want to address peoples comments and concerns, but I don't want my page covered with spam and trolling.

Where's the happy medium?

[dog8mybag]

I dont automatically approve comments. If I see one I dont like because it is too offensive, or all out hateful I wont approve it. Its a bit one sided and impartial but I feel if I am the one putting in all of the hard work designing and maintaining the blog I have every right to do so. I also don't feel I owe anyone an explanation as to why. I know it is probably not right and anti social but I don't interact with the people commenting either. If you pre-approve your comments you will be fighting spam until the end of time.

I am not making a suggestion for you to do the same. I am only telling you how I function. Your blog is your creation, your kingdom, what you say go's.

[RabidReptile]

My blog isn't about a touchy topic, but I do moderate my comments. I won't publish anything that's offensive, and I don't think anyone should, regardless of what they discuss on their blog. Keep in mind that while people may have differing opinions, not everyone that disagrees with you is being offensive. I think differing opinions in comments could actually encourage more people to comment.

[Laughing Ninja]

True, I understand that not all who disagree are being rude and I do value differing viewpoints, but one comment was sort of like irrelevant bashing. I know for some topics it comes with territory, and I actually allowed that comment because the response could be informative, but it got me thinking about where I should draw the line.

[spirit87]

Unless totally unappropriate and spammy, I usually tend to approve such comments. They are, after all, free content from the user side. But again, I do not have blogs on very touchy topics.

[BlogDiva]

My blog is not about politics, but I have had a nasty commenter. I think if they are just being mean, you should not post the comment, but if they are actually contributing to the post, then perhaps the opposing opinion will add to your blog.

[sfossy]

You should moderate them, and should not allow if it harms someones personal views.

[Laughing Ninja]

Speaking of moderating rude comments, I feel bad about the way I've dealt with one gentleman, I let his comments through because they brought up valid points, but I think I've dealt with answering his concerns in a way that wasn't too diplomatic. Should I delete the comments and my responses or just bite my tongue in the future?

[scienceinproducts]

Originally Posted by Laughing Ninja

Speaking of moderating rude comments, I feel bad about the way I've dealt with one gentleman, I let his comments through because they brought up valid points, but I think I've dealt with answering his concerns in a way that wasn't too diplomatic. Should I delete the comments and my responses or just bite my tongue in the future?

Just bite your tongue in the future. If you really feel that bad, apologize.

[ChampDog]

I'm pretty okay with offensive comments. As long as the comment is not purely meant for advertisement, I"m fine with it. I only enable "words" verification for my comments and delete those irrelevant one manually.