Comments and Their Challenges

Businesses that run blogs as part of their online marketing strategy face the always-present reality of comments. This reality is a mixed blessing: Sometimes good and often annoying.

On the good side:

On the good side, it's great to see valuable contributions from commenters, even if they don't agree with you 100%. I love seeing a dialogue start as a result of a blog and watching it progress. I enjoy healthy debate, link backs, and even kudos (who DOESN'T love kudos?!?).

On the bad side:

Unfortunately, offering the ability to leave comments means you are opening yourself up to…

* Irrelevant content like spam

* Relevant content like haters or not-safe-for-work content

This is where the freedom of speech issue becomes very difficult. How much do you manage? Irrelevant content is easier to manage and if you run WordPress, a tool like Akismet is great for blocking spam. (As soon as I installed it in my WordPress dashboard, my comment-cleaning effort diminished dramatically).

Relevant content, but content which is either from a "hater" or is NSFW is another issue. Should it be posted? That is challenging. I'm all for speaking your mind, but I do run a business. So where to draw the line?

As a simple rule of thumb, I try to allow through any comments on any of my sites that I would be okay with having someone say if I had a physical location. In other words, if someone has a complaint or a disagreement, I don’t mind if they voice it. If someone is libelous, or even threatening, I take issue with that. As for the NSFW content, I try to run a site that is "approved for all eyeballs" and therefore I try to moderate it a bit. Fortunately, my clientele doesn't usually post relevant-but-NSFW content in my blogs.

Recently, I found an interesting story about one person's reaction to a comment posted on their blog: Apparently, they made some calls and got the commenter fired! You can read a summary and opinion of the story at Social Media Today or you can read the actual story from the original blogger on whose blog the whole situation occurred, at http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/the-editors-desk/the-editors-desk/2009/11/post-a-vulgar-comment-while-youre-at-work-lose-your-job/. I'm not saying that this is an appropriate response to an unacceptable comment, but it does offer an interesting perspective on the challenge of comments and solutions that bloggers are looking for.

No matter how many comments you get, you should create a policy to determine how you will handle comments. What comments will you accept? Which ones will you reject? How will you decide?