About Spam…
I decided to enter the blogging world in November of 2008, and started immediately on my material so that I could make a January debut on the internet. Since then. this site has gone through various stages of activity, and at its peak, it was not unusual for me to wade through dozens of spam comments and emails a day. And this is with software that supposedly filters spam out. Believe me, I know all about spam!
Spam is certainly a big problem in this day and age. However, since spam is an epidemic, it is not unreasonable to believe that your readers will be used to it by now. Now seriously, do you really think that letting a few spam messages slip through every once in a while is going to seriously hurt your credibility? We’re in a day and age where people are used to sorting through hundreds of spam messages a day in their email, so I highly doubt that it’s going to be a big deal if they see it on your blog.
What Attracts People To Blogging?
Blogging is truly the big thing on the internet right now, with Twitter and other social media in second place. What makes blogging what it is, is the INTERACTION that occurs between the blogger and the readers. The readers are able to make any blog almost as much theirs as anyone else’s, able to add value to the posts, or to peacefully debate the merits of what is written. When hurdles are placed that undermine the community aspect of a blog, this corrupts the very principle that makes the blogosphere great!
However, not every blogger who sets up moderation on their site is doing so in the interest of preventing spam. While I would argue that a good majority of the bloggers who moderate their comments are doing so partially because of spam, there is an underlying issue here. That issue is CONTROL.
It’s ALL About Control!
People want to control their blogs. This can happen in different levels of severity. Some people want to maintain a certain level of friendliness in their comments. Some people want to screen language. Some people want to keep hotly debated subjects, such as politics or religion off of their sites. And some people want to censor all of the comments that don’t explicity agree with them. I’m not going to name any names, but I’ve seen plenty of examples in my six months on the blogosphere.
You can’t keep information to yourself. Information wants to be free. And with information comes opinions. The sad truth is that there is a LOT of ugliness in this world. People are immature, hateful, rude, racist, etc. The issue that we face is that this is not a new problem. This is a problem that is as old as history. But with the modern day internet, and the ability to share these views, anonymously, quickly, easily, and regularly, many people have concluded that this ugliness has gotten worse, and that the only way to prevent these sorts of debates is to clam up and censor them.
You Can’t Pretend That The World Is A Nice Place!
If we, as a society, are to expect to work through these issues, we must come together and talk about them. Bloggers often speak up about how they have the right to moderate their sites. That is true. I never said otherwise. But to open up a blog and invite “discussion” with stipulations is counter-intuitive. Your blog is not “like your house”, and if you think otherwise, then you are spending way too much time on the internet. I say let people disagree with you, and if they are able to express their opinions respectfully, then let them! And besides, if you try to control what people say in your home, and scold them or throw them out when they disagree with you, then you are simply a lousy host!
Here’s the way I look at this situation. At the end of the day, like I said, the reason that a lot of people are blogging nowadays is because they want to be in control of something. They want to have a little space on the internet where they can call the shots and make the rules and express themselves. If this is the case, then I challenge you to be more upfront about it! Let your readers know that you are less interested in creating discussion and coming together than you are in getting up on your soapbox and having people listen to you.
However…
If after reading this, you still believe that moderation is the way to go, then at least let the reader know, who took time out of their day to comment on your article, that you received their comment and that it is awaiting moderation. Some blogs are actually set up in such a way that the reader will have no idea whether or not their comment actually went through! This is unacceptable, and is an insult to the readers who take the time to read and reply to your article. So let them know! Here is a link that tells you how to do that.
Personally, I have allowed all comments to be posted despite how heated the argument got. I just played as a neutral party especially when two commentators went at it.
Now, the problem I just realized is one of the plugins called spamfree may have affected some quality comments from being posted. It looks like it blocked spam comments but also gave a message when a real person posted a real comment.
So I turned that off and now I am face with like 10 plus spam messages to delete each day.
Perhaps I may need to find another spam filter so that it catches the bad stuff.
tomasz’s most recent blog post..Is your Religion making you poor?
Hi Trey
My site have a spam filter set up that it will hold the comment, if it looks like it might be spam. That gives me a chances to approve it.
By the way, I like how your site look.
Giovanna Garcia
Imperfect Action is better than No Action
Giovanna Garcia’s most recent blog post..Are you suffering from the Chronic “Yes, but” Syndrome?
Yet, sometimes it is not about control, but more about maintaining an image. Some blogs are a business like a music band, a bakery, or IBM. Like these business the blogs need to keep a certain image because it is what the target audience of the blog expects.
If your sells happiness by being about flowers, sunshine and butterfly kisses then the last thing the blog owner wants is somebody ranting about how they are having a bad day because it is raining. The Blog owner wants his visitors to feel happy when they visit the site because that is the image that is being sold.
Looking at a blog as a business makes it necessary to monitor the comments. For example, if you had a flowers shop you would do anything possible to stop the person in front of your store ranting to every passerby that people who buy flowers are rose murders. Free speech is great – but not if you have a image to maintain.
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@ tomasz
Allowing heated discussion is usually a good thing. I’ve only deleted one of the non spam comments from my site since I launched it, and it was because the person was just trying to start an argument. I will also delete comments if they get too personal or way too vulgar, but that hasn’t come up yet.
It’s not easy to find a quality spam blocker. Mine does a decent job, and it does sometimes identify good comments as spam, but then, all I have to do is go ahead and approve it.
Thanks for commenting!
@ Giovanna
My spam blocker works the same way as yours. I do think that we, as bloggers, should double check what our spam blockers do so that we don’t miss a good comment, because it’s disrespectful to the commenter when they take the time to comment and we don’t post it. I’m glad you like the site design. I’m planning on upgrading some more in the near future! Thanks for commenting!
@ Roman
You do bring up a good point. But you raise more questions in the process. I don’t necessarily blame businesses for wanting to maintain an image. If I was a restaurant owner, I wouldn’t want people holding rallies in my parking lot. However, when you’re maintaining an image, at what point are you doing your customers a favor by giving them a nice environment, and at what point are you censoring them unjustly?
I happened upon an online business a few months back that used a public forum as their customer service. Meaning that their complaints were right there for the world to see and people weren’t censored for complaining about their service. Not only did this give the business full transparency, but it made the business look really good because the public could see how they handled customers’ problems.
Also, I think that a lot of people that do business online know that you can’t hold the website responsible for what are in the comments. It’s the same reason that I’m against censorship in newspaper site comments. People know that the comments don’t represent the views of the site.
And anyway, when I wrote this article, I was thinking more along the lines of the personal blogs and the think tank blogs than the business blogs. I probably should have made that more clear.
I would love to hear what other people think of Roman’s statement. Thanks for commenting!
Trey, I believe that my blog is my home and by that I don’t mean that you can’t express your opinions. I don’t throw my friends out of my home just because we disagree on something. The point is that whilst in my home there are certain rules and most of them are common courtesy ones that most people know. Why not expect the same on your blog?
I don’t moderate comments, apart from the first one. All comments are accepted, except ones picked up by the spam filter, but not all survive. If they do not live up to the ‘Comment Policy’ they get the flick and I make no apologies for that.
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Hey Sire,
I’ve read your comment policy, and I think that it’s a good one. You’re only striving for quality comments, and discouraging people from coming into your blog and trying to get a link to theirs in your comment section. Even though that’s a major reason why a lot of us bother to leave comments, it’s a courtesy to try to add value with your comment. That’s an easy way to spot the newbie bloggers and the ones who don’t care, by the kind of comments that they leave. I try to always leave good comments on other people’s blogs, because if I don’t, it looks bad for me and my site.
Like I said, I don’t have any issue with how you handle your business. I visit your blog from time to time, and I don’t waste my time with bloggers who I disapprove of, so that’s a compliment.
When say that a blog is not like a home, I make the analogy that if people treat their home like some treat their blog, then they would be very lousy hosts, because there are a lot of bloggers who are happy to moderate and to delete comments if the comments are even slightly disagreeable. I might have been a little too harsh when I wrote that though, because people have different levels of online lives. After all, you strike me as a person who has fun in real life too. lol.
Thanks for commenting and peacefully disagreeing!
Yeah, what the comment leaches don’t realize is that other people judge them by their comment, and if they leave good ones they are more likely to get others visiting their blog which is worth a lot more than any juice they may get from their link.
Sire’s most recent blog post..To Blog Or Not To Blog, That Is The Question
I too leave my comments open to whomever, I fiure that if I don’t like the comment someone left, i can always delete it. Although I’m new to the blogosphere, I’m still learning a lot about what people expect and what they want from their blogs. But people can put as many filters or moderate what comments are left on their own blogs, its fully their choice, even tho it is sometimes annoying, because sometimes by the time your comment is approved, its not relavent anymore, but whatever. its your blog, do it how you want to.
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I just recently got into blogging and my dislike for moderation is not getting the comments but when visiting another blog and trying to leave a comment. It’s the waiting that is so annoying…
Hi Tom, I completely agree with you. Personally, I just deal with the spam that comes with having open comments. With my plugins, only a SMALL handful of bad comments ever get through, and I just delete them anyway, so there’s no reason that people should moderate their comments in my opinion. I’m much more likely to comment on a blog that doesn’t moderate than I am to comment on a blog that does. Thanks for stopping by!