WebRev Blog

All too often I see people acting online in a manner that is very similar to "road rage" in traffic.  In the relative safety and anonymity of their cars, people will often do and say things, and act in ways that they would be too "chicken" to do if you happen to meet up with them, say at a gas station or grocery store down the road.

Likewise, online, people so often choose to use pseudonyms or alternate online profiles for security and privacy reasons, that an entire culture has developed in which it is perfectly acceptable to have an online persona which may or may not resemble the real-life you.  While, as I mentioned, there are some good reasons at times for doing this - to protect your job, family, or peace of mind - but there are also people who do this so they can "get away with" doing and saying things they would not do in person.

TechCrunch has a post this week about an application that allows people to comment anonymously on blogs, but the author, Alexia Tsotsis also makes it clear she's not a fan of the process:

Miss being able to blather on about Android versus iPhone or express your irrational hatred of a certain author, startup or device on TechCrunch, without having to attach your Facebook account (and don’t want to go through all the trouble of creating a dummy Yahoo/Aol account)? Well you might be in luck with a new Chrome extension that lets you comment sans identity on Facebook Comments...(Continue reading Defaceable let you Comment Anonymously on Facebook Comments >>)

My guess is that this app will soon be history, and it should be.  The people who are going to want to use it are mostly those who want to post drive-by insults and harrassing comments, without anyone being able to respond directly to them.

This all brings me to the question, should you allow anonymous comments on your own blog or website?  By now, I'm sure you can guess how I feel about this.  I've always taken the position that my blog is like my living room.  Yes, you have a right to free speech as a human being, but I have the right to ask you to leave, or boot you out if necessary.  While WebRevelation is not my blog (they just me post here), we do have the same type of philosophy here.  Our comments are moderated, which means that an administrator must approve them.  There are levels of security, depending on what software you're using, but I usually recommend that at a minimum, any comment provide a name (it can be a psedonym), and an e-mail address, and must have at least the first comment approved by an administrator before commenting.  The minute you begin to have problems with "trolls," I recommend locking it down so that all comments must be approved. 

Yes, it can be time-consuming to moderate comments, but it takes a lot more time to referee arguments between comments, or clean up spam and vulgar commentary after it has been plastered all over your discussion area.  Remember, it's your website, and your blog.  You're not refereeing a free-speech zone.  If people have a lot to say, they can get their own website or blog, and post to their little hearts' content.

Also see: Blogging Law and Etiquette - Managing Reader Comments

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. 
 

Today, we continue our series on Blogging Law and Etiquette. We have reviewed "Fair Use" laws, and  what is permissible to copy, with and without attribution.  Yesterday, we shared suggestions from expert bloggers on how to remain in the good graces of the blogging community.  Another source of potential legal trouble, and conflict with others online is the reader comment sections of our blogs and websites.  Remember, the site owner is responsible for the site's content, including the comment sections. Following are some ways to minimize the problems that can occur. 

Decide whether you want or need reader comments.

 

Comments are a great way to develop interaction with readers, but if you honestly do not have the time to moderate the comments and respond to your readers,  you may want to consider closing the comments altogether.

 

Decide who can comment.

 

Your website or blogging software should allow you to adjust the security settings to determine who is allowed to leave comments on your blog, and which comments must first be approved by an administrator before being displayed publicly.  If your blog content is highly controversial, or if you have been experiencing a problem with "troublemakers," you may want to have an administrator approve all comments before posting.  If you haven't had any serious trouble, but you want to prevent spam, and monitor "new" commenters, you might select the option which requires a comment to have one approved comment prior to allowing the remainder of their comments to be posted without moderation.

 

Decide what is acceptable and unacceptable in your comment section, and make this clear to your readers.

 

If you have a very active comment section, you might consider having a "comment policy," posted on your site, spelling out clearly what type of comments are encouraged, and which ones are not allowed.  Perhaps you will have rules about profanity, or personal attacks.  I strongly suggest you proactively make it clear to your readers that you reserve the right to edit or delete any comment.

 

Include a disclaimer.

 

If you have a comment policy, you may also consider having a comment disclaimer which basically makes it clear that the comments allowed to remain on your site do not necessarily reflect your views.

 

Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is a trainer and tech writer in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking. Her weakness is the mocha frappuccino.