Should Blog Comments Be Edited?
After reading and hastily commenting on an interesting post over at Blogger Daily, I have decided to touch on the same topic. I feel like blog comment editing it a touching subject should be looked at from the eyes of a blog owner and not from the eyes of a commenter.
Here the tough part. Doesn’t editing and moderating comments on blog kinda defeat the purpose of blog commenting? Will this blog moderating practice drive readers and customers away? Personally, I am torn on the subject as I do not want to bother my readers or limit what they are trying to say?
Yes, blog owners can moderate their own blogs. Of course you can edit what users are putting on your blog. You paid for the domain name, you purchased and set up hosting, and you slave over producing great content. So why should you not be able to remove or add anything you want. If you have great content won’t the readers come back or find you from another search query a few days later? Wow, that sounded really arrogant.
I mean I get it. You post some meaningful comment and pour your heart out and the moderate removes your link to a blog post. I have fell victim to this same thing and it is so frustrating. Shouldn’t I be rewarded with a link if I offer sound relevant content that ultimately helps your blog. Shouldn’t I?
And seriously, both of the above point are correct. So maybe we should be talking about comment etiquette instead of comment editing? Anyway, I think I have listed a few points below that should (at least for my blog) help clear up commenting editing and comment etiquette.
Spam sucks. I am not necessarily talking about an individual trying to get a random link to their blog. Both you and I know one random link on a post that will most likely not go viral is not worth that much. And if the comment is just a few short sentences adding close to nothing to the post why would any reader click through to see what the commenter offers? I am talking about the random people who type “good post” or other bot generated content. This drives me nuts. Shouldn’t I be allowed to edit this?
ANSWER: I think we would all say…YES!
Abusive behavior is not cool. Bullying or derogatory statements are a no, no in my opinion. Regardless if a readers posts off the wall ideas or opinions they should be allowed to do so with out feelings threatened. Things like swearing (typically its just respect), violent language, hate messages, or anything similar to this should be edited, right?
ANSWER: I thinks so. While some might believe swearing or cussing is OK (and it might be), it should be limited on blogs that are not your own. I run a very diverse blog about parenting, SEO, and travel thoughts. It is certainly possible for kids and teens to find their way on to my blog. They should be able to read without being bombarded with rough language.
Personal promotion rocks. Come on blog owners–do you think they are posting because you have content they can’t find somewhere else? If another reader comes to your blog, and in essence, makes your blog better shouldn’t they receive some type of digital compensation? What is so bad about someone offering a great comment and you giving them a link? Should blog owners edit comments that have personal promotion?
ANSWER: Depends (not the diapers).If you happen to leave a few good posts and decide you are going to make a consistent contribution to my content I am going to give you a few links…probably with the anchor text of your choice. The catch is that you should be consistent and offer valuable information. But You come by my blog once and post “good one” with a link I am probably going to bypass editing the comment and delete your comment altogether.
Your blogs flavor. You know your blog and you should be allowed to remove comments that take away from your blogs theme, right?
ANSWER: Comments…leave them alone. Here is my best example. What if you have a religious blog and you ask some thought provoking question that sparks massive (respectful) debate. Lets say the question is Christian in nature and someone posts a response that is not pro Christian. Wow! What do ya do now? This can be applied to politics as well. I say leave it and respond. Promote a digital type of debate per say. This is where the line can be blurred and comment editing goes to far. Just because they disagree (even with politics and religion) the comment should be left and let the conversation build.
Wow, I kinda thought I was going to ask a thought provoking question and be done with it. I ended almost writing close to 1000 words. Anyway, I am not sure I solved any body’s dilemma but I am sure you have an opinion. What is does everybody else think?
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Marc is currently obtaining a Masters Of Arts in Religion. Although not considered well read by a friends wife and a conversation hog by another friends wife, Marc spends hours wasting time on political/news websites, blogging, and reading religious books. Lastly, he quintessentially defines football fanatic. 
One Comment
Sometimes I think its depend on the way how the commenter leave the comment. Is it suitable? Is is harming? and etc.
For me, I love natural comments so usually I leave the typo there so the commenter/reader can remember that however if it is clearly a spam, there is no tolerate in deleting it.
Whatever it is, it is the right for the blog owners to decide on his/her blog =p