I knew this post would have to come out one day, but I wasn’t really expecting to do it so soon.
With my posts now averaging 20+ comments I am starting to get a lot of spammy comments. Now I am not talking about the auto spam that everyone gets but a more personalised type that is usually just there to get a link back to the websites owner (as my blog comments are do follow).
So before I start deleting new comments that I consider spam I figured that I should probably set some ground rules that I can point these commentators to when they complain that their comments are not getting accepted.
I know I may put off some bloggers -but this is about building a strong community of people who are really here for the right reasons (and that is to grow our email lists). And the truth is, that if I upset a couple of commentators, I am not that fussed – because they are not here for the right reason anyway.
So without any further ramblings let me introduce my:
3 Reasons Why I May Delete Your Comments
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You Do Not Add Value
I outline this a lot in my guest post on FamousBloggers, The main purpose of a blog comment is to add value to the post. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with what is being said, part of adding value is voicing your opinion – but that does not mean hi-jacking the post into a new direction!
Also, comments such as ‘good post’ or ‘I agree’ while encouraging these comments add absolutely no value whatsoever and just congest the flow and will most definitely be deleted!
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You Don’t Use Your Name
I am all for giving my visitors the biggest incentive to leave their thoughts on what is being expressed in the posts, that is why I use plugins such as CommentLuv (which shows a link to you your latest post), Do Follow (which gives you a backlink that Google will count), and KeywordLuv (Which allows you to use both your name as well as having a linked keyword or phrase). So there is absolutely no reason to be commenting with you targetted keyword as your name.
I see this type of commenting as impersonal and spammy – as how am I supposed to respond to a person called ‘Make Money Online’ (just an example). I understand the need for branding but take advantage of the KeywordLuv plugin and instead of just being ‘Make Money Online’ be ‘Tom@Make Money Online’ (which will then mean your name is included and you will have a link going through to your keyword).
One thing I will say on this point, is that if I find you not using your name, I will not necessarily delete your comment (as what you have to say way be a great addition to the conversation. However I will remove the link to your website – meaning you will lose the link back!
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Not Keeping It ‘G’ Rated
I am going to keep this one simple. If you wouldn’t want your daughter, mother or grandmother reading your comment – please try to reword it into something cleaners. I want to listen to swearing or foul/sexual launguage I can just turn on the tv. It is not necessary (and I find it really trashy). So do me a favour and have respect for your fellow readers and keep your comments ‘G’ Rated.
The majority of you are fantastic and I could not ask for a better and more supportive community! This is just to set the rules and keep this community from being ruined by spam.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed! All comments are Do-Follow, KeywordLuv and CommentLuv!
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{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
In general, I agree with your rules. But not 100% with your first rule about “good post”. While I think that “good post” is definitely too short a comment, I personally still don’t mind if I receive comments to a post I wrote where the user basically just says “I like it, it was a good post” – but I would really like to know WHY they liked it. And they don’t have to add anything of value to the flow of comments or the post itself, I would just like to know why they liked my post and then I’m fine with that
But you don’t want that from now on, or?
Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..February 2010: Blog Summary & Income Report
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:11 am
I agree with your there Klaus. By them telling me which part they liked, it allows me to find out what my readers are connecting with. While ‘Good Comment’ adds no value, to me, ‘Great comment, I loved how you used a real life example’ does provide value!
Great point Klaus, I should have made that more clear.
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Tom,
A very interesting post, I admire your willingness to be brave. I’m totally with you on 2 & 3. However with 1, whilst I am sort of with you, do you not think they’ll get found out anyway and eventually pack up visiting, that’s unless they pack up blogger first.
I know exectly where you’re coming from with it but as I write this comment you’ve got me thinking. hmmmm.
Thanks for sharing
Regards
Paul
Paul´s last blog ..Rocky Road
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Sure they will eventually get found out, but do I want to be giving them a backlink or traffic when they have not actually added anything of value?
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Paul Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Tom,
Another thought I’ve had about leaving comments is, you quite rightly say anybody who doesn’t add value gets deleted i.e. “Great post” doesn’t really add value.
On the other side of that is (no you don’t do this) the blog writer who merely says “thanks for your comment”, when you’ve spent your time reading their blog and adding value with your well thought out comment. Very frustrating, don’t you think.
Regards
Paul
Paul´s last blog ..Rocky Road
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You make a good point. I use the same plugins on my site and, lucky me I guess, haven’t gotten enough visitors yet to have to worry about spam comments. Maybe I should be pro-active and put those guidelines on my blog before I start getting them. You gave me another thing to think about (guess I should stop reading your blog, you give me too much work LOL)
Leslie´s last blog ..Almost The End Of The Month
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Please don’t
I think the idea of having a comment policy is a good one, because it set’s a standard and if people do not meet that standard and complain then you can point them to your post. Now to link this post to my commenting area!
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Leslie Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I’ll think about it
Besides, you never know if I find that golden tip here that lands me the millions so I guess I’ll keep reading here.
And with that note I have another backlink, does that count as spam too?
Leslie´s last blog ..Almost The End Of The Month
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:47 pm
**SPAM**
Haha, just kidding. I love your comments Leslie because they always make be feel like I am actually helping people. If you find the million dollar tip be sure to let me know
Lately, I keep coming accross comments that are cleaverly edited for mass commenting. For instance, they can leave comments such as “Like your post, and I will refer this site to my friends”. So, look out for those. They may look geniune.
Personally, I care more about the content of the comment. If it is rellevant to the post and the site. As long as they are not X rated keywords, I don’t really care about the names. However, some people would like to see the commentators name instead of the website or blog name. Totally understandable.
Adam´s last blog ..Selling Software On EBay
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:28 pm
I get quite a few of those too Adam, I don’t give them a second thought and just delete them.
And yea, each blogger has a different way of judging spam and they key is finding out what that is for each blog and to adjust your comments accordingly.
I know a couple of bloggers that don’t mind keywords in their comment names (and they don’t have keywordluv) so I will use my keyword in my name, and add my name to the end of each comment.
It really just comes back to respecting the blog owners wishes.
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I hear you Tom, I’ve actually started deleting a few comments that are even too broad for the post. Leaving “smart” comments can actually build growth for your blog. Not many people realize that yet.
Jack@Online Marketing Blog´s last blog ..The REAL Secret Of Growing Your Own Blog
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:30 pm
That is exactly it. You will actually benefit your blog much more in the long run but posting solid valuable content, because you will build credibility and relationships – which is something that a link and ‘good post’ can never do.
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I think this is a great idea Tom! The last thing any blogger wants is a bunch of useless comments that add nothing to the conversation. Comments are great but they must be bring value to the discussion. I know that I can be guilty of this at times and I am working hard at only leaving comments that speak directly to the post.
Kevin M.´s last blog ..Any monkey can blog, right?
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:39 pm
I totally agree Kevin. I see commenting as a way of extending the conversation of the blog post into the blog community. By being a commentator that adds value you are setting yourself up for click through traffic because people are liking what they read.
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Yeah Tom, it is what happens when you get famous. The spammers might be finding you because of your doFollow links. If you see a pattern I believe you can IP ban a user that way you don’t have to keep deleting it. If you know what the plugin is for IP bans please let me know or what you find too.
Case and point, no one likes their blog to be used as a stepping stone. You have to add value or really there is no point of commenting. Personally, I can’t stand when I get “I agree or great post”
Garen @ best web hosting service´s last blog ..Best WordPress Blog Plugins – Plug It In, Plug It in
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:42 pm
I don’t think I am at the IP banning stage yet, but I will keep that in mind
I like your point about feeling like a stepping stone. Sometimes those comments feel a lot like I own a McDonalds restaurant and KFC have sent their staff over to try and steal my customers.
Just leaves a bad taste in my mouth, others may feel differently.
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Garen from best web hosting service Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 5:56 pm
Yeah, I haven’t really gotten to that point yet, but I am about there with this blog:
http://report-online-scams.com/blog/
The problem I am facing is people are just spamming the blog with a million comments saying they are not a scam. Basically, because we have done a story exposing their site. However, my spam filter catches it (spam karma 2), but it is just getting rather annoying so I will be looking into the IP ban thing. I’ll keep you posted.
Garen @ best web hosting service´s last blog ..Best WordPress Blog Plugins – Plug It In, Plug It in
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Haha, there is not much you can do with that! Maybe an IP ban is the best bet.
Garen from best web hosting service Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Yeah they get really mad when I post a story about their scam site, but really shouldn’t be mad at me. I just do reports when I get enough complaints on a site. One guy offered to give me his junk and ship it to my house…lol. Benefits of running an online business
Garen @ best web hosting service´s last blog ..Best WordPress Blog Plugins – Plug It In, Plug It in
I do a similar thing on my blog – its easy to tell when someone is posting a comment to just promote some crappy get rich quick scheme.
I don’t mind if people aren’t necessarily adding value to the conversation – its their loss. I just don’t my comments to lose their conversational nature. I hate blogs where every single comment is just “great post” and nobody is commenting with challenging ideas and different perspectives. I love it when commentators start a conversation on my blog, without me.
Anthony Feint´s last blog ..Is Your Business Becoming a Chore?
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:10 pm
That is the goal isn’t it! When the discussion just continues to flow from what we have written.
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Halfway Spam comments suck. I hate them too. They’re difficult to weed out because they ‘sort of’ add content, but ‘sort of’ don’t. I find myself agonizing over the decision, because I don’t want to delete a legitimate comment that was innocently written vaguely, but dont’ want to turn my site into a link farm, either…
That said, I feel kind of guilty for leaving a comment or two on here as “Search Engine Viking.” Although it is the name of a blog I’ve been working on, it was also meant as an online personality type thing (I just checked and Google says nobody searched for the keyword term “search engine viking”). I was using it as an alias rather than a backlink.
Hope you don’t hate me forever. And in the meantime I’ll use my first name
Lee´s last blog ..What Are Backlinks?
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Tom Reply:
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:13 pm
I know what you mean Lee! And don’t feel bad. It wasn’t a personal attack on you and you didn’t have to go to the extreme lengths of just using your name. I redid you name to take advantage of keywordluv so you are still branding the ‘Search Engine Viking’ name!
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You did a great thing notifying everyone about the rules and regulations of commenting on your blog.
Salman @ Blogging Tips´s last blog ..Grab a Re-tweet button for your blogger blog
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Great rules Tom
Thankfully I don’t seem to have this problem on my site as yet but I’m sure I will encounter it in time. I do get the people trying to pass on their get quick scheme but they usually end up caught by my spam filter anyway.
I’ve never liked people linking back to their own content in comments when it’s clearly an act of self promotion
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Tom Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
I am the same Ben. I really don’t mind if someone includes a link that is adding to the conversation – but I am starting to see people including an extra link to their website at the bottom of their comments and I think, ‘ how greedy do you want to be?’
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i think this works and is quite fair enough…happy your blog has grown in such a short time…well done
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Hey,
I can understand where you’re coming from, but I also believe democratic interaction.
The very first comment I ever received was: “What the F&$ck are you talking about ?”
Seriously, I thought about removing it, but then I hold still for a moment.
Do I really want to take the friction away from my blog ?
Isn’t our world so wonderful because of all the opposites ?
Some people love you, some hate you. Let all of them have a right to express their genuine feelings.
Censoring your comments means taking out the juice of life from your blog.
Mars
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Tom Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
I can understand totally understand that, and by moderating my comments I am not taking the ‘juice of life’ out of my blog, I am removing the comments that will leak the juice. If someone is commenting off topic, then that detracts from the discussion.
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It is your blog and you have the right to do that. I think a lot of bloggers get scared to moderate their comments and feel like that should leave anything up just so they have more comments to show how many people love them. Crappy comments aren’t worth it in the long run. Those are good rules to follow.
Mary Thompson´s last blog ..Shoot Memphis
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Tom Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Thanks Mary! I agree. Sure people will get offended when you don’t accept their comments, or edit them to remove unnecessary links – but it’s your blog, and if they are going to act like that you probably do not want them hanging around anyway.
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Great post Tom,
I have to agree, Once or twice I day I kill off spammy comments my comment filters miss. Now some of these may be real comments, but if I have to think about it or try and figure out if its realm, its gone. I know of several bloggers that have been blogging for quite a while that do this, I really do not understand why they even bother. I see these comments on other blogs and skip right over them go to comment that has more value.
element321 @ evolutionary designs´s last blog ..Now You Can Have A Counter with Your Google Buzz Submitter
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Tom Reply:
March 4th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
That;s it! It should always come back to the question, ‘Does this comment add value to the post?’ if not, then it is a distraction and is taking value away.
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That was a very interesting, you know I haven’t really thought about that much at all, for my own blog I mean… but I do need to consider the comments I get. Because I am not even sure whether or not my blog is a do follow or not? How would I figure that out, any suggestions? Also what is your reasoning for having a ‘do follow’ blog if you don’t mind me asking
Thanks!
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Tom Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 7:55 pm
The whole reason I have my comments as do follow is to give my readers another reason to leave a comment. By making my comments do-follow it is telling Google to count your comment link as a backlink – helping with search engine optimisation.
A great example would be one of my regular commentators who uses the KeywordLuv plugin feature as well, and put’s his name as ‘Garen@best web hosting service’ as his comment name, and what that does is it out puts his name as ‘Garen from best web hosting service’ when he posts the comment and creates a link from the keyword ‘best web hosting service’ which he is targetting as a keyword (hopefully helping him rank higher in the search engines.
I hope that hasn’t confused you too much. But the way I check is by using an addon to my Firefox browser (http://www.quirk.biz/searchstatus/) and it has a feature that highlights in red all links on a page that are ‘no-follow’. But if you are using wordpress and do not have a plugin that makes your comments do-follow then your comments are not do-follow. I use the following plugin: http://www.semiologic.com/software/dofollow/
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Hey Tom,
My first time here, followed link thanks to Anthony Feint’s latest post. Your blog, your rules. I don’t mind if readers agree or disagree, but hopefully they’ll say more than just that.
Though, moderating each comment will probably take up additional time. To each their own
Moon Hussain´s last blog ..Check-Off Friday (2): Where I Am With My Goals (And Where The Hell Are You With Yours?!)
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Tom Reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 8:03 pm
I am glad you found my blog! That is it, at least give their reason for agreeing of disagreeing. Moderation doesn’t really take that long and I think it really benefits the community that you have built around your blog.
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Nice article mate!
I recommended every blog to have a separate “Comments Policy” .. it will be really useful!
S.Pradeep Kumar´s last blog ..100+ Resources To Download Excellent Free Fonts
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I face similar hassle with my blog. Despite deleting tons of bot comments I keep getting them and akismet seems to be of no use to me. Moreover, the real problem is with the non-bot offshore commentors. I am sick of their one liners “good post”, “great article”…..
Its sad to know that there is no way to prevent such rot. Initially I thought its because of implementing keywordluv and do follow plugins, but in general they add a lot of value to my blog and I just cant discard them because of the spammers. My moderation time has increased considerably and I would like to have a new strategy to handle this. Perhaps never approving any comments might be the solution, but what happens to the whole blogging concept then?
Alan@Tulsa Real Estate´s last blog ..Rate Hikes for Electricity Possible
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I started blogging somewhere around 2000, and back then there was such a small blogging community, that all you really had to do was say ‘hello’ in someone’s comments, and they and their friends were suddenly coming to check you out, and the actual interaction began from there. But these days, to be a member of a community, one must really put in an effort to contribute to that community. I remove spammy “I love your blog and I agree with you” posts every single day, and probably get about eight to 12 of them on any given day. It’s not hard to tell who is sincere and who isn’t. For example, if you hadn’t have left a decent comment on Zac Johnson’s blog, I wouldn’t be here right now. I have one rule for comments: “Don’t bait. Participate.”
Mark John´s last blog ..Americans Conduct 14.5 Billion Core Searches in February Alone
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Those are fair ground rules. I agree with those. You do get a lot of comments. Do you comment on other blogs? I should really do that as I well.
I am impressed with the content.
Keep it up.
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I believe this right and fair rule. I have no violent reaction about it. Every bloggers expect a descent comment and relevance to the topic. I think every blogger should observe this rules. Thanks for being transparent.
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