Comment rules?
Do you have any rules for your commentators, when they leave a comment?
Are there certain things you don't allow?
I have some basic rules in my comments, like stay on topic, trollish and rude comments won't be posted etc, but I have an unspoken rule that really annoyed someone yesterday.
They posted two extra urls in the comment field linking to other sites, other articles they wanted to promote.
They said I censored them when they wrote back to me.
I didn't censor, I edited the extra urls out.
I know several people who do this for a few different reasons.
One, is the do follow that many of us have implemented in our comments. It helps follow the url of your site that you leave in the url field of the box.
Other people just believe that extra urls are not necessary to leave.
I'm one of those, it's just not needed.
I have edited out many extra urls. People take the comment field to promote their books, their podcasts, their own sites, especially if they own more than one site, and the url field will only allow one site to be plugged in.
This person did not agree with what I posted yesterday about memorial day, so they left links to two sites they wanted to promote.
They said, "there are more opinions than just yours".
Yes, there are, and feel free to post those opinions on your site.
Many of us have differing opinions on the war, and we post those opinions on our sites.
It was then said, "Your troops are fighting for your right to do that........"
Yes, I guess you could say they are, so why be so upset with me, and tell me I'm censoring you, when you basically just agreed with me that I have the right to run my site as I see fit?
I love comments, I love the interaction with my readers, but I don't have to allow anything to appear which I do not want to.
Rude comments, trolls, harassing type comments, spam, I have the right to edit it all out, or simply blacklist it.
So do you have comment rules, written or unwritten?
Comments
I will allow additional URLs once in a while...but only if I know the person, and if said URL is posted as something that might be of interest to me, and not for shameless self-promotion.
But basically, my rules are the same as yours...trolls, asshats, spammers, etc, get nuked. I don't put comments in a moderation queue most of the time, but when I go away for more than a couple of nights, I do. Trolls always seem to come crawling out of the woodwork when they know I'm not around.
Posted by: Christine | May 29, 2007 4:27 PM
They said, "there are more opinions than just yours".
Yes, there are, and feel free to post those opinions on your site.
That pretty much sums it up. It's a shame some people are too stupid to understand the most basic rules of blogging and/or life.
I myself don't have any rules, because I so very rarely get trolls, asshats or spammers. But if I don't agree with something, that's why I moderate my comments.
Posted by: terry | May 29, 2007 4:37 PM
Definitely, if you didn't have rules then everyone would get spammed over with a bunch of crap. I had rec'd a comment on a blog post, didn't know the person and of course just deleted it all together. The comment was a opinion on a site that I felt was totally unacceptable. I do think everyone has their own comment rules just like they should.
I wouldn't let it bother you Kat, some people just don't like playing in a playground without hitting another person ya know?
Posted by: Christie | May 29, 2007 6:36 PM
I use the ass clown rule. If your comment makes me think you're an ass clown, my finger hits the delete button. And I agree - you want to promote YOUR agenda - cool. Get your own damn blog!
Posted by: Colleen | May 29, 2007 7:30 PM
I have never banned a url, and I am not sure I would know how.
I am pretty lucky, everyone is usually pretty well behaved over there.
Why? Thinking of starting trouble? :)
Posted by: Mr. Fabulous | May 29, 2007 8:27 PM
Occasionally I will leave links in my comments at other people's sites, if they are relevant to the discussion at hand and further the conversation.
On my own site I will generally just leave them up unless they are clearly just spam.
Posted by: Richard | May 29, 2007 10:50 PM
I don't have many rules or many readers, so I haven't really had to implement any 'rules'.... people have always stayed on topic and played nice.
It never fails, though, that with any sponsored post I do, some bot or spammer always comes along leaving their url in MY sponsored post....they get deleted AS SOON as I see them, because the people who paid me to write that post might not want to pay me after all if they see links to other similar sites out there.
Posted by: Devilish Southern Belle | May 29, 2007 10:54 PM
I'm passive in most cases actually.
Posted by: Nocturnal | May 30, 2007 5:55 AM
I worded that wrong. I would not delete a comment if I disagreed with the commenter's POV. I would only delete a comment if it was rude, and that actually hasn't happened to me yet.
Posted by: terry | May 30, 2007 9:40 AM
I don't have any real rules. I just expect readers/commenters to treat my site and one another with respect.
Posted by: Brandi | May 30, 2007 11:44 AM
I don't have many rules, but I do have one pet peeve and that's when people don't use a name or handle but put the name of their website or business in the name field. bleh
Posted by: Anna | May 31, 2007 2:19 PM