Comment Moderation – What is the Smart Policy?

Comment Moderation is an important part in blogger’s life. If you are a blogger like me, you get tons of comments on your blog, and you get to pick which one goes up and which ones does not. Well I have developed a policy for my comments, and I am going to share some of the possible policies which bloggers can use. I will let you decide which comment policy is smart.

Why Develop a Comment Policy?

Since blog comments is something that you judge often, Making a policy or a criteria is the best way to treat each comment equally and fairly. Aside from that reason, having a policy or a criteria speeds up your process of going through the comments.

1. Spam is not the Way

Believe me when I say this, I have taken enough measures to make sure that all spam gets caught. I will delete spam and I will not tolerate it. I will ban your IP if need be. I have written an article about 9 Tips and Tools to Fight Spam in WordPress. Sometimes you might get lucky and your spam comment might slip away, but believe me that I will get it. I have some nice users that report me if something is fishy out there.

2. Irrelevant linkings is NOT Allowed

I have no problem with you linking in the comments as long as it is a useful link. If you think you can write a comment and leave a link to Credit Card Debt Free, then you are wrong. Your comment will go straight to spam and will not show on the web.

3. Self Promotion

If your comment is solely for self promotion then your comment will not be allowed. I have had comments on my postts where people want me to add their link in my post, and they add the comment. When I check their link, it is not worth it for my audience to see it.

4. Too Personal

If your comment is something that is specifically directed to me, and not related to the post. Meaning that you should have sent me an email instead of commenting. It will not appear. If I find time, I do reply to these people using the email they put in the comment box, but I still would not let these comment appear for public to see.

5. I encourage Links

I encourage good comments. If it is necessary for you to add a link which might be useful to my post, then surely do so. I will also add it in the post text if I really like your link. So the point is don’t get me wrong. I just don’t like irrelevant links.

6. I do not allow Signature Links

I do not allow Signature Links. I know there is an option in the comment form that says Website. If you want someone to see your website then use that url. I don’t think you should add a signature in the comment. I will edit the comment and remove the signature, and if you don’t stop, then your comment will not show period.

7. Bad Name Choice

If your name is like Buy Viagra or something else really spammy, no matter how useful your comment is, it will go into spam. Don’t use these spammy names. Instead just use your real name if you want to add something useful.

Although some comments requires special attention, this is the general moderation policy that I follow. Did I miss anything? If I did let me know by adding it in the comments.