Updating Our Comment Policy
February 20, 2008
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One year ago this coming Saturday I announced here on SuccessCREEations that we were going to start rewarding quality commenters.
In that post I announced two things. I installed the Show Top Commentors plugin (original version.) I had some challenges with the plugin when I updated the blog and theme. Andy Beard, an SEO/Internet Marketing guy I highly respect, pointed out some significant problems with the plugin. The reality is that wasn’t really a reward so I quietly removed the plugin.
The second thing I did a year ago was remove the “NoFollow” attribute from my comments section. Back in 2005 Google stopped passing link juice on for links tagged with NoFollow to help reduce comment spam. It was a good idea. Trouble is it hasn’t deterred comment spammers at all.
So I used the dofollow plugin (original version) and put up a nice NoMore NoFollow badge from Randa Clay.
No Follow Lists
One side effect of that announcement a year ago (and posting the badge) is that SuccessCREEations made it onto several different lists assembled by internet marketing & SEO types telling their communities about blogs that removed NoFollow.
While it’s nice to be noticed, I started attracting some unscrupulous types that obviously were just commenting to get a little Google juice instead of being interested in participating in conversation here.
Fair enough. I understand human nature well enough to get that.
In the last couple months I’ve started noticing some folks coming here leaving comments with links to Turkish language sites. Even though I don’t speak Turkish (I did have a Turkish coworker until recently) I’m savvy enough to see that the Turkish traffic is coming from some forums that are sharing different known NoFollow sites along with their Google Page Rank.
SuccessCREEations makes these lists because we have a decent Page Rank.
I don’t see it as completely a bad thing. I worked closely with a Turk for several years. And folks who know me know that I have friends from all over the globe.
Even so, it is time to lay out a refined comment policy here.
Original Comment Policy
I formalized my first ever comment policy in that same post a year ago. Here is what I said at the time.
Of course all this new link love means it is high time I formalize a comment policy for this place. I promise it is on my to-do list.
But until I get that deep down my list, here are a few expectations that I have for folks comments here.
1. Be Nice
2. Don’t use profanity
3. If you must, disagree with ideas, don’t attack people
4. Don’t spam
5. Don’t link to nastinessThat’s about it. How I deal with comments that run afoul of those guidelines varies. But if you stick to them you should be OK.
Bottom line is SuccessCREEations is my house. I have a responsibility to protect it regardless of who may not appreciate my efforts.
While that policy has served well it needs updating and some amplification. So here it is.
SuccessCREEations Comment Policy
A big part of the reason the blog exists here at SuccessCREEations, Inc. is to stimulate discussion in the areas of Social Media and Business Blogging. We appreciate and encourage your comments here.
In order to encourage meaningful conversation by everyone we’ve got the following comment guidelines in place. Failure to follow these guidelines will likely cause us to take some action. We reserve the right to edit or delete any comment made on our site as we find necessary to facilitate ongoing discussion by all.
Keep in mind this is our house. You have the privilege of determining whether you will be considered a welcomed guest or not.
If you follow these guidelines you will probably do just fine.
- Be Nice
- Treat others as you’d like them to treat you. You can disagree with anything found here. Just don’t be rude about it or use personal attacks. If you are unsure how a comment may be interpreted by the person it is aimed at then you probably should consider re-wording it before you hit “Submit Comment”.
- No Profanity
- Foul language will either be edited out of your comment or may even cause your comment to be deleted. Our mothers have been known to read our blog and we don’t want to scandalize them.
- Please use English
- SuccessCREEations, Inc. is an English language blog. In order for everyone to see the value in your comment we ask that you keep to English for most of your commenting here.
- Don’t Spam
- Spam is the scourge of the internet and will not be tolerated here in it’s many forms. We show our appreciation for folks commenting by removing the “nofollow” tag from comment links. We ask in return that your comment adds value to the discussion and is relevant to the post at hand. If you obviously comment here just to get a link back to your site without engaging in conversation you run the risk of your comment being removed or marked as spam.
- Names are Preferred
- We value you as a person. Therefore it is preferred that you use a name or pseudonym when signing comments rather than business names or SEO type anchor text. We assume you are commenting primarily to engage in discussion and it is harder to talk to Fire Town, Natural Health, Technology, Money Earner, supersmoker, voipBlogger, or Guru (all actual commenters here) than it is a person. While this is not an absolute requirement, perceived abuse may be dealt with accordingly.
- Refrain from Gratuitous Spammy Links
- Because your comment will be getting a link in the signature block please refrain from adding another link at the end of your comment. The extra link is unnecessarily redundant, a bit tacky and may get removed. However we do encourage links to relevant content on other sites that add value to the discussion.
- Link Responsibly
- Please don’t link to nastiness. Remember Mom sometimes reads sometimes and we don’t want to send her to some offensive web page. In fact, we don’t want to go there ourselves. So just leave it out.
I’m thinking that should about cover it for now. What do you think? Is a comment policy a good idea? What would you include (or leave out)?
Tags: Tech Tips, Comment Policy, NoFollow, Social Media
Hey, I like that “Names are preferred” one, Chris. Should have thought of it myself.
Mine own comment policy (such as it is) is rather informal at the moment. I guess we’re all going to eventually need something a bit more formal - perhaps along these lines - won’t we? *sigh*
Robert, Sometimes when we draw lines on the playing field it makes the game more enjoyable for everyone because they know where the boundaries are.
Some great points. I wonder that by putting these guidelines up, if you in turn get the counter intuitive result of more comments.
Could be, Christian. Time will tell. I hadn’t really thought about it that way. Interesting idea.
Hi Chris,
I just wanted to weigh in with one slightly differing opinion on the “Names are preferred” item.
You indicated some leeway on this which I appreciate, especially since I’m one who often uses a pseudonym - specifically “j2watches” as you can see.
Now I’ll admit, there is some SEO thinking behind my choice, but actually that’s only half the reason I do it.
The other is because my first name is fairly common. When I sign as John, I’m one of many. Even adding my last name - John Allen, doesn’t differentiate much - just look in the phone book of any decent sized town.
But when I use “j2watches” folks know it’s me not just on your blog, but they can easily see me on others - it’s actually more uniquely identifiable and therefore personal.
People don’t even have to hover over the link, they just know by looking.
Truth is, I’m happy to accomodate different blog owners preferences, and can certainly appreciate the spam issue, so if you prefer, I’ll go with the name.
But the other thing I do to show the blog owner I appreciate them letting me enhance the anchor text with a little SEO benefit, is always try to add some value to the conversation.
To me that’s a fair two-way exchange.
Thoughts?
j2, While it’s true I personally prefer a name to an SEO type handle, I’m sure not militant about it. Especially with someone who is engaging in conversation as you are.
Though on the downer side I had to dig your comment out of my spam filter to get it to show.
I’m guessing that might be because others elsewhere have marked your comments as spam based purely on your pseudonym.
Thanks Chris - and thanks for fishing my previous comment out of the spam bucket.
Truth is, I’m probably just going to give up on it simply because some folks are militant about it and it gets me into spam hell.
I also suspect it’s just been abused so much that it will become even more of an uphill battle that’s more hassle than it’s worth.
Unlike you taking the time to review comments, others have spammed me after I’d invested as much as an hour getting to know their site, and then commenting.
Just too frustrating.
But thanks again - keep up the good stuff!
j2, Yeah. It’s kind of ironic how militant some folks can be about the whole thing. After being early adopters and getting into blogging early some fight tooth and nail to keep what they knew about blogging from changing.
Either that or they are just plain lazy and don’t bother to read beyond the name to see what the comment says before labeling it as spam.
[...] Well, after giving it some more thought I’ve decided to implement the formal Comment Policy that we talked about last week. [...]
These Five Rules are Super Clutch:
1) Be Nice
2) No Profanity
3) Please use English
4) Don’t Spam
5) Refrain from Gratuitous Spammy Links
I think these effectively form my comment policy–even if its not overt.