Spam Control: What Should Be Done?
An interesting discussion took place over the weekend at PoeWar regarding one blogger’s drastic approach to spam control.
The controversy started when one of Naomi Dunsford’s readers took offense at her approach to the topic. He admitted that he wasn’t offended that she stopped people from commenting on her blog. He was offended at her “tone”. OK, that’s fair.
Here’s the situation in a nutshell. A blogger ended her comment policy and made it public by stating why – in rather harsh language. This made on reader angry and he posted a blog post on his blog stating why he was angry. His position: No blogger should ever stop letting readers comment. Those are the two extremes. John Hewitt, and I, fall in the middle. That is, we believe it’s a policy that each blogger should make on their own. But when should you decide to disallow comments on your blog?
What Kind Of Comments Do You Get?
First, let’s take an interesting detour into the kind of comments you are likely to get on your blog. I like the list of the different types of spam comments that John Hewitt created on his blog. Naomi Dunsford also has an interesting list of types of commenters here on her blog. To summarize:
Naomi’s types of commentators
- The Emoter – Naomi breaks it down into two types of emoters: Selfless and self-centered. She sums it pretty well. This guy just reacted and felt the need to comment.
- The Dissenter – Again, Naomi has noticed two types of dissenters: The genuine dissenter and the “asshole dissenter.” Again, she does a good job of covering the basics.
- The Starfu*ker (Naomi likes to swear at her audience for no apparent reason) – Two types as well: The worshiper and the upwardly mobile. She does a nice job of summing this one up too and the definition of this category is the guy who just wants to stroke your ego. Bloggers generally love these people.
Those are your 6 types of commentators according to Naomi Dunsford, but she adds a bonus type and the people you call friends are the ones who fall into that category.
Personally, I think Naomi’s list is incomplete. I would add the spammer to that list and I’d add another category for thoughtful commentator who may agree with you or partially disagree and who adds something meaningful to the conversation. He’s not your friend, but he may be regular reader. He could just be someone who performed a Google search or saw your blog post on Technorati or another blog search engine or social media site and “drove by” to take a look. He isn’t responding out of emotion, but just has a thought to add and he’s on his way again. Maybe Naomi lumps these people into the emotive category. I don’t know.
But let’s take a look at the spam category. John Hewitt does a nice job of summing up the types of spammers he has seen on his blog. Here’s the summary:
- Fake Fans
- Well-Meaning Idiots
- Jerks and Pranksters
I think these categories are pretty self explanatory, but John Hewitt’s list is also incomplete. There is one other category I’d add and that is the obviously spamming bot-type comment. These are the comments characterized by fifteen links or references to your manhood, obviously misspelled words that a fourth grader could spell correctly, etc.
My favorite type of spammer is the fake fan. I love these guys because they’re obviously fake. You know their fake because they say nothing except, “Hey, I bookmarked this great blog. Thanks. Bye.” Cool, glad you love me. Now move on.
What Should You Do About All That Spam?
John Hewitt says he gets about 2,000 spam comments per day. He’s got a very popular blog. Most of us don’t get that much. We get several hundred per day on some of our blogs, but that’s the top. How many spam comments you get depends on the age of your blog, the traffic you get, the popularity of your niche, and how often you post. What you do about it depends a great deal on your own values. Let’s take a look at the options:
- Nothing – You can, of course, do nothing and just let your spam sit. This is dangerous and I wouldn’t recommend it. You should install Akismet if you have a WordPress blog. If not then install some kind of spam catcher equivalent to Akismet. It won’t catch everything, but it will catch most of your spam. You should also check the settings in your blogging platform that require people to register to leave a comment. If you really want to get tough, require commentators to sign in before commenting, but know that if you do that then you’ll dissuade real commentators from leaving comments because some people just won’t login to leave a comment. I hate commenting on Blogger.com blogs for that very reason.
One final thing you need to do is make sure that all comments are approved by you before they are seen by anyone else. This won’t stop all spam, but it will stop most of it.
Another reason you don’t want to do “nothing” is because no matter how tough you are on spam, some will always get through and you don’t want your readers seeing the comments about making their manhood bigger and “driving it home”. The longer that type of spam comment sits on your blog without action, the shorter your trust and credibility will remain intact. You’ve got to do something. But what?
- Stop all commenting – You can, of course, just turn off the comments on your blog. This is a drastic approach and it works. You won’t get any spam. But you won’t get any other comments either. Do you want comments? If so, don’t do it.
Comments are beneficial in a number of ways. They aren’t just useful to your readers. They are also useful to you, the blogger. Every comment adds new content to your blog. For each new comment that you receive on a blog post, you increase the potential for your blog (that blog post, at least) to rise in the search rankings. This is especially true if your commentators use your keywords, which they will inevitably do if they are leaving decent comments and you approve them.
Another way comments benefit you is that your readers know that you trust them. If you trust your readers then they will trust you. It’s the reciprocity rule. Trust breeds trust. Distrust breeds distrust.
Finally, (I’m not going to talk about community) if someone has something negative to say about you, give them an opportunity to do that on your own blog where you can answer them easily rather than somewhere else where it might have a greater impact. Of course, you can’t stop people from writing on their own blogs, in a forum, or somewhere else. But you can make it easy for people to bring up a dispute or make a point that will benefit your entire readership. Plus, it’s content. See Benefit #1 above.
- Create a comment policy – I think the most beneficial thing you can do is have a comment policy. Whatever your policy is, stick to it. Don’t make exceptions. If you require that everyone sign in before commenting then make sure that you do that across the board. Don’t make exceptions for your sister’s hairdresser. But a comment policy that is enforced can make sure that people who do comment on your blog know the guidelines you are working with and they will respect you more when you enforce them because they usually know when they’ve violated a policy. Make sure your policy is visible and easily accessible to everyone.
- Create a comment policy – Offer rewards and incentives for comments that you like.
I’m a big fan of positive motivation. It doesn’t work with everyone, but it does work on some people. About half the population are better motivated by positive stimuli so this is a good motivator. Have a best comment on the month contest or reward commentators who contribute the most to a particular discussion. It can be anything, but make sure that it is fair and gets people to contribute positively to the community you are trying to build, if community is indeed what you are trying to build.
Final Words: When Should You End All Comments?
I think Naomi made the right decision for her blog. The reason is simple. You can see it in her own words:
In my case, IttyBiz is a blog in that it’s chronological and it’s powered by WordPress, but that’s about as far as the connection goes. It’s basically just a lecture.
If your blog is a soapbox for your rants and you don’t care what other people have to say then you don’t need comments. If you are delivering a lecture then you don’t need comments. A college professor who uses his blog to provide a deeper analysis of content in his lectures might not want comments from his students. A business person who is teaching might not want to encourage comments. It’s a decision you’ll have to make for you.
Are you selling products through your blog and driving traffic to a website where you hope people will make purchases? Maybe comments aren’t necessary. That’s OK.
Not all blogs need comments. Not all blogs should have comments. If you want to interact with your readers then you should have comments; if you don’t want the interaction then you shouldn’t have comments. But I would start the blog off with no comments allowed rather than change it midstream. Make that decision early on and people will respect you for it.
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