As a blog owner, you will often receive comments, especially the post that is exceptionally interesting.
I still remember when I first receive a comment from a spam-bot, I still approve it because I thought it was real and it was saying how awesome my site was at that time.
I knew it later on that it was a big bluff because it kept commenting the same thing over and over again on different post.
That was my first experience with comment spammers and after that, I faced the other form of spamming which are the ones that land and say “Thank You” or “Great Post” and then Bye.
The method to fight spam commentators is never ending with software and the best method out there is to moderate the comments by yourself.
After all my experience of moderating comments, here are 4 checklist which I will go through whenever I moderate comments on my sites.
#1 – Rescue the genuine commentator
Sometimes, software will make mistake and in a WordPress blog, the common mistake is dropping a genuine comment into the Spam category.
The first thing I will usually do is to go through the Spam category and rescue whatever that I personally think is genuine.
Sometimes, the commentator himself will contact you and tell you about his comments being marked as spam. If it is so, it will be easier for you because you already knew whether the comment is genuine.
Otherwise, you will determine by yourself by reading the content of the comment.
#2 – Nameless commentators
Some link spammers like to spam comments with certain keywords use as their name.
The way I deal with this type of comment is not to approve the comments.
I come across even a very nicely written comment which uses keywords as name but I still do not approve it.
The reason is very simple. Comments is for interaction and only people will interact with people.
I find it weird if I call a commentator, “Hey SEO Tips, nice comments there.”
I really prefer to only allow names on all my sites.
#3 – The “Thank You” post
The other difficult part is to moderate those comments which come in and say “Thank you” or “Great Post”.
My difficulty is sometimes, a blogger which I personally knew comes in just for that and it is very difficult to decline comments from them.
As a result, my stand is I will only approve those comments as long as I know the commentator myself.
If I don’t know the commentator, sad to say, I will have to delete it away.
#4 -Reply to Comments
The last thing I will do while moderating comments is to reply to all the comments.
I personally think that it is important to answer comments from your readers.
It shows that you are not just writing, but also interacting.
On top of that, you will also get more comments in your blog simply because a large portion of it comes from you for replying to comments.
If I were to drop a comment, I will always hope the writer will read it and reply to me.
Your comments moderation?
The above checklist is what I usually do to moderate comments.
I had seen certain sites which allow a lot low quality comment but I really totally against it.
My objective for blog commenting is interaction and not for link building purposes.
Link building can be an optional or secondary objective but should not be treated as the main objective.
What about your comment moderation? Do you have a strict one or you basically allows every comment?
Let us know below.
The way I deal with commenters without using a real name is : Approve the comment by simply adding a real name for him, but remove all his links, including commentluv links. That of course provided the comment doesn’t sound lame.
Peter recently posted..6 Security Apps for Recovering Your Office’s Stolen Laptops
That can be done as well provided we can identify the name from the comment. Sometimes, even the email address cannot tell the commentator’s name >.<
Just put any names. It could be Peter, Alan, Tracy, Ahmad, Tom, Dick and Harry. They don’t even care to put their real name so why should we care? 😛
Peter recently posted..How to save your Android phone from annoying ads
Good suggestion. I’m just gonna name all anonymous after “Peter” since you suggested this methodology 😉
Excellent check list!
I first see commentators blog/website, because some times (very rare) some ppl link to blogs which expired! Which can annoy users. So I don`t approve those comments.
Khaja moin recently posted..6 Awesome Tips to Increase Your Blog Comments
That’s great idea. I don’t manually check but you can implement the broken link checker to help you automate those broken links.
Check out this guide:
http://www.bloggingfever.com/how-to-check-for-broken-links-automatically-in-your-wordpress-blog/
Many a times we all get fed up with useless and spam comments. When someone makes a comment, I really like it. But when those nameless commentators come only for the purpose for a link then I really hate that. About those 2 word comments, if you use commentluv then you can set it to automatically decline. That way it will deter them. Great check list.
Shalu Sharma recently posted..The Rani Sati Temple and Arrival in Mandawa
I’m gonna try that, Shalu. Yeps, I am using CommentLuv Premium and I think you too as well. Thanks to Andy for this great plugin 😉
I do Alan. I think the 2/3 word comment control is there on premium version. I think it does the trick by saying that not enough words to be posted. Thanks…
Shalu Sharma recently posted..Jantar Mantar observatory
Ahh, I encountered that when testing out to comment on one of my blogs.
Will look into the detailed configuration 😉
Thanks for the tip!
I face this problem,
Often I will get users writing little more than “great post” I really dont care who left the comment. It gets instantly deleted, I have a comment policy and if they refuse to read it then that just tough cookie. If a comment fails to add something to the post, then It has no place there.
Tough Love!
Good one, Simmeon.
Looks like we are all against “Great Post!” lol
Wow I just had my first wave of spam comments over at my blog – I’m still new to blogging and I’ve never experienced the whole spammy commenter’s thing until now.
The comments that crack me up are the ones telling you how great a writer you are, with no reference to the post. Odd. I just hit delete. If a comment doesn’t add any value to my post, then it has no place being there, the end.
Mena Jo recently posted..3 Steps to Managing Information Overload Syndrome
That’s the way Mena. I had been doing that for all my sites. Just delete them away.
I’ve only moderated one comment. It was a normal comment, but the link was from a porn site and I don’t want to be connected with that on my blog.
Allen recently posted..Brazil iPhone Application Developers
You taught me one thing here then.
That is to check for the outgoing links 😉
Thank you for your comment 😉