Like all bloggers, Rachelle struggles with commenters who express their opinions in a "harsh, overly critical tone intended to wound."
As writer, editor, and publisher of her blog, Rachelle made an executive decision to implement a comments policy. The following notice is displayed prominently in her blog's sidebar:
Please be courteous and respectful; if you're not, the comment will be deleted. Also, I don't post about politics EVER so if you turn the comments into a political discussion, they'll be deleted. Read my full Comment Policy HERE.
She spells out the details of her ground rules:
Differing opinions are welcome and valued.
I expect all comments to be respectful of me (as your host) and of the other commenters. If you disagree with another commenter, please do it without being rude or your comment will be deleted.
I don't mind criticism of me or agents in general, but please do so respectfully and in a constructive manner, or I will delete it.
Obviously I don't say anything anonymously; if you have something important to say, perhaps you shouldn't either. (But it's your choice.)
I delete comments that use profanity.
Simple and straightforward. I like it. Of course, Rachelle received 60 comments about her new policy. Her readers added some interesting tidbits:
I have one other "rule" - that any comment which seems as though the person is *only* using the comment space to promote themselves/blog/book rather than actually contributing to the conversation also gets the thumbs down from me.
In the comment rules for my blog, I have two basic rules:
Be Nice
Don't be mean spirited toward my guests.
I am somewhat tolerant of personal attacks on me or my work, but I will not tolerate people using my site to attack other people. It is my option to shrug off personal attacks, but to allow my site to be platform from which someone attacks others would be no better than if I said the words myself.
A blog should be thought of as a person's home, or place of work. Do most people walk in and start saying rude things in these settings? Hopefully the answer is no. If there are people who are rude in the face of someone gracious enough to host them, then as far as I am concerned they can be uninvited.
Quick Tip
3 Important Elements to Include in Your Comments Policy
Define what you consider an
appropriate and inappropriate comment.
Inform readers that you
will edit or delete comments that use profanity, resort to name-calling, or are
obviously spam.
Explain whether you
pre-approve comments.
My e-book, Blogophobia Conquered, includes an entire chapter on blog commenting, and explains how to develop a comments policy.
Do you post a comments policy on your blog? If so, let us
know and we'll link to it in an upcoming article on the Blogging Barista's
blog.
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