Stephan Miller

09 Jan, 2008

Comment Nazis

Posted by: User ImageStephan Miller In: Blogging

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I put a contact form on this blog just so that anyone who wanted to contact me. Well, someone did this week. I will not mention any names. But someone contacted me to ask me why I deleted a comment. I wrote back an apologized, because I do check delete by accident sometimes when there is some spam to wade through.

It turns out I didn’t delete the comment. It was still in moderation. So I approved it.

Just a note for anyone else. Comments do stay in moderation until I approve them. Once moderated, any further comments by that person are automatically approved. I work a day job and have a family at home that I spend time with. Despite what it looks like I don’t have a laptop attached to my head at all times of the day. Maybe that is expected these days. Sorry, I am still a little old fashioned.

But I don’t really understand the issue. I leave comments with no worry if they will be approved or not. It’s up to the blogger. And I approve just about any comment that isn’t blatant spam. Even some that aren’t a full sentence, because I give the benefit of a doubt.

My original post was worse but I toned it down. I write these mainly in the morning. I am not a morning person when it comes to dealing with issues and I do have a wee bit of a temper. It just seemed like an attack to me after approving most of the comments here. And maybe I shouldn’t have written this post, but it is a new thing to me.

I also understand it could be a simple misunderstanding of the moderation process. But reacting this way…

My comments are really picking up here. So a few questions if anyone has an answer. Is this a normal occurrence? Am I wrong to be a little bit bent about it? Is this post bad karma?

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8 Responses to "Comment Nazis"

1 | TzuVelli

January 9th, 2008 at 9:26 am

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Sometimes people misunderstand. when a reader leaves a comment and hits submit, and when the page refreshes, to them, it looks as if the comment has been added to the page. But, if they leave your blog and then come back, and the comment has not been approved, it looks like the comment has been deleted; instead of waiting for moderation. So, it looks as if you deleted them.

I think it depends on how the email was written. If it was rude that is one thing. But, if the email was written out of genuine concern that they had offended you or another reader, I do not think there is anything wrong with someone asking “why.”

I do not think this post is bad karma. I think it is a good idea.

2 | Stephan Miller

January 9th, 2008 at 9:51 am

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I have seen some blogs that must have a plugin to tell commenters that their comment is awaiting moderation. Now that I have cooled down a bit, maybe that’s what I need here.

3 | yourgoddesswife

January 9th, 2008 at 11:33 am

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Yeah that would be pretty cool actually. Toss one of those bad boys up there.
I always just assume people know with all the spam these days one would approve their comments.

I think this is a great post, I hope it gets some discussion because it’s a topic I’ve often wondered about.

Interesting posts here:

http://www.timeforblogging.com/2007/05/07/freedom-of-speech-and-the-internet-should-comments-be-moderated/

http://www.optiniche.com/blog/211/blog-comment-policies/

yourgoddesswife’s last blog post..Teach?em right!

4 | Lin

January 9th, 2008 at 11:43 am

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This post just reminded me that I need to create another page on my blog for “comment policy” and/or Disclosure Policy. While on Blogger, I had a comment policy and had a link to the archived post, but I’m lacking that now.

That plugin mentioned previously is a good one, but I do think having a separate page with your specific comment policy/rules is good.

Lin’s last blog post..Relationship Deal Breakers - Non Negotiable Boundaries

5 | Stephan Miller

January 9th, 2008 at 11:46 am

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I guess I will add that plugin after I hunt it down. Nice to see you dropping by baby. And for those of you who think I call random commenters baby, she is actually my goddess of a wife.

And I guess I need a comment policy also.

6 | Jeff_ @ Perishable Press

January 9th, 2008 at 2:08 pm

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Wow, this post really hits close to home. I think you have shown tremendous blogging maturity by addressing the issue without mentioning the identity of the nefarious, overreacting “Soup Nazi” :)

Now I am off to create an official “Comment Policy” of my own!

Jeff_ @ Perishable Press’s last blog post..WordPress Plugin: Contact Coldform

7 | Ben

January 13th, 2008 at 2:46 pm

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I had the same thing happen to me on a post I wrote about a Free Blogging Course Scam. The comment from the course owner got caught in my spam filter. He sent me an e-mail, to which I replied and approved his comment.
From that we developed a bit of a relationship and it turned out his course was not really a scam, just set up kind of awkwardly to get into. From our discussions he was able to fix the problems with the course and I learned a bunch too.

Ben’s last blog post..Morphing Animals with PhotoShop

8 | Stephan Miller

January 13th, 2008 at 8:09 pm

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Yes, I learned a lot through this. Sometimes I leave comments in moderation because I don’t have time to reply and leave them there until I do.

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WTFMO



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