Comment moderation is on for a reason
Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 10:14 I have received a complaint about my comment moderation policy.
It's true that since I introduced moderation the number of comments has dropped, but it's a sacrifice I'm happy to make.
It's particularly useful to combat spam or other online marketing ploys.
Here, for example, is a comment that someone tried to post on a thread about legislation to ban smoking in cars. It read:
This is a very new Law which I have only recently heard about, but after reading into it a bit more I feel that this would be a really great Law to put in place."
It was written by someone who allegedly works for a "creative marketing agency powered by digital research" with the sole purpose, it seems, of promoting a brand of e-cigarette.
Adopting the name 'Vaporisers', someone else tried to comment on my post about No Smoking Day:
"Very dangerous and life taking habit and it should be given away as soon as possible."
It links to a site that sells, er, vaporisers.
If you are reading this and have thought about using this blog to promote a similar product, don't bother.
I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.
Reader Comments (5)
I completely understand your desire to keep spam off your comments Simon, but the current system does seem to be a rather blunt instrument. And as was pointed out, it really can disrupt the flow of comments, which is a great shame.
Other bloggers have adopted alternative systems which work well, for instance Leg Iron's blog, in which the first comment from a commenter is moderated, and if found to be genuine the commenter has free access to the comments thread. And to be honest, those comments that do get through which are promoting a product are recognised as such by pretty well everyone, and deleted as soon as the blogger is aware of them. So what if someone posts a comment with a promotional link? We're not stupid, Simon. We are savvy enough to know when a comment is spam. Trolls are a little more of a problem, but even they can be dealt with. As for bots, a simple captcha suffices.
I really think you would have a much livelier blog if you didn't moderate every comment. I know that I would comment more often if I was able to respond instantly to other comments (although perhaps you would see that as a good reason for keeping the current system! :)), and I'm sure I'm not alone.
You write a good blog and you regularly post new and interesting information. You should give your readers credit for having the nous to differentiate between spam and genuine comments. The spam posts are easy enough to delete when you see them.
I do not know what spam filter Squarespace uses, but I know that Wordpress spam filter rarely fails to extract spam. It may be that Taking Liberties attracts lots of spam, but, whether one likes it or not, the only way to deal with it is to empty the spam folder.
I think that comments with lots of links can be forced into moderation. We know that it is so. But, whether you like it or not, you still have to act - unless you do not care.
General Moderation does not mean that you save time. In fact, it wastes your time. You have to look at every comment and decide. Surely, it must be much easier to decide which comments NOT TO permit since, even if they have been posted already, they can be more easily deleted.
It seems to me that, as regards continuity, it is far to be preferred that one lets nature take its course. Delete the unnatural.
Sorry, I'm quite happy with the comment moderation I have. Squarespace is very efficient in recognising and removing spam (I don't get much anyway). Moderation is useful for all sorts of other reasons too. I've never been comfortable with the Wild West nature of the Internet so anything that allows me to exercise a small degree of editorial control is good in my book.
I do agree Simon especially when we know that blogs like this are targets for bullies who are sent in to be disruptive with the aim of bringing blogs down. Maybe they even get DH funding to do the job. I wouldn't be surprised as the DH is so dirty and corrupt. Moderation doesn't bother me. In the early days of blogging it did but now I simply don't care whether it is on or off.
Fair enough........ !