I love your blog comments!
[This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog series.]
Sometimes I feel like this type of policy is “much ado about nothing” but it’s really not.
For many of us we just assume that the people who engage with our blog understand exactly what the comment policy is even if it’s not explicitly stated – it’s like we trust that our visitors somehow can read our minds and understand the slight cultural nuances of our blogs without hesitation!
Of course this is incorrect (and unfair) on so many different levels. What some of us need (and please note the word “some“) is a Comment Policy that works for our community and our readers.
Here are a few thoughts about developing one that is fair, effective, and that ultimately produces increased community and engagement:
Total Control:
Remember that at the end of the day you have complete and total control of the comments and can literally curate, manage, delete, and promote any comment for any reason:
- Complete control over all content within the comment section.
- Freedom to edit content within the comment section.
- Freedom to censor and/or delete comments at any point for any reason.
Also remember that by providing a comment policy is a service to your community and helps establish a system of trust and transparency that will ultimately help grow your blog!
There are no rules, regulations, or requirements! You are the king of your own blog nation!
As such, there are some typical things that your blog comment policy might have in it.
What Your Policy Might Contain:
Generally you can go in a number of different ways with your comment policy but you should heavily consider these things:
- General overview of your stance on comments (Open or Closed).
- Your moderation policy for comments.
- Your stance on management of comment spam and any systems you use to manage.
- Rules for each content area in the comment section (Name, URL, Email, Comment).
- Types of content in comments that you might have issue with.
- How you deal with trackbacks, pingbacks.
- Privacy and protection settings for personal information like email.
- Any language concerns and general manners that your users should know about.
- Use of links within the content area.
- The use of affiliate links and “obviously” promotional links to content or sites.
- Rules and/or expectations about admin and/or author responses.
- Rules about general rights and/or copyright to the content in the comment section.
- “Hold Harmless” rules to protect the blogger and blog authors.
Those are just some of the more general areas that you might want to consider.
How Best to Educate Your Readers:
The best way to educate your users long-term is to actually comment (if you do comment) and show them how your rules through action!
But here are some more practical ways of course:
- Provide a written Comment Policy and link to it in the footer or another prominent location!
- Write a blog post introducing your comment policy to your readers! Ask them to engage and ask for their perspective and/or suggestions (if you’re open to it).
- Ask your readers explicitly how they want their comments shared.
It doesn’t hurt to ask! Get your readers engaged and it should pay off. There is, of course, no rules to this as well.
Template for a Comment Policy:
Here’s a general outline that can work for you! Feel free to copy this and use it for your blog!
- Comment Policy Title
- Introduction – Share your general thoughts about comments.
- List out your rules and regulations.
- Finish with something nice and ask for feedback!
If you’d like to see how this looks practically in an example feel free to check out my Comment Policy right here!
What about you? Have you created a comment policy yet? Let me know your thoughts!
[This post is part of the Ultimate Guide to Launching a WordPress-Powered Blog series.]
I’v never really considered a comment policy. I am one of those that assumes everyone can read my mind or maintain a standard code of ethics when it comes to commenting. We all know what happens when one assumes and this is a fantastic idea. I will be implementing this moving forward.
Great article, never even thought about it…
great stuff joshua!
Never really thought about a comment policy before. I like this one:
“You grant me license to use your comment in blog posts, written material, and any other form of publishing.”
Do I get to specify the license/royalty fee for use of my comments? Or can I charge you afterward?
you can’t.
But you didn’t say I couldn’t in your policy
haha.
Hmm, I love pretty much everything you write, but I’m not sure I agree that a comment policy is necessary. Maybe for more controversial niches, it is? The only comments I’ve ever had to delete were pure spam, and I figure spammers don’t deserve anything from me. I almost feel like a list of rules could be off-putting rather than encouraging comments.
I’m still thinking it through, though!
you may not think it’s necessary and that’s fine! perhaps it’s not for you. but, here’s how i look at it:
- you don’t have to agree with a comment policy to comment anyways, right?
- my comment policy isn’t about rules or regulations. it simply protects both me and the commenter, which is a good thing.
- i’d rather be safe than sorry. having this policy in place helps me be prepared for some of the “crazies” out there, and i’ve seen my share!
- i don’t put a requirement that someone checks off the box “agree with my policy or die!” before each comment!
- finally, it totally depends on the context and your audience. if you think by having one will hurt your community and your blog then don’t have one!
no dogmatism on this end, for sure!
I’m half inclined to agree with you but on the other hand, we live in a litigious society and you just never know when someone will come along and write a completely inappropriate comment and then go on the offensive if you ‘censor’ it.
I figure it’s better to have a policy in place just in case!
i have found the “just in case” to save my bacon more than a few times. i agree.!
The pigs around the world just released a snort of happiness.
I can see Babe smiling.
doh!
Good post (again!)
I need a comments policy.
Must put that on the to-do list!
I think I have violated rule # 9 of your Comment Policy:
“#9 No personal attacks of any kind will be accepted!”
I must confess:
Sorry Peter P for making fun of your avatar.
http://tentblogger.com/brand-image/
Sorry Kickstarter people for …..um……for…..um….for not being gullible enough to pay those exorbitant rates!!!
Awe!! I did it again.
John, please amend rule # 9.
sorry. i’m going to have to ban you now. SAD!!!!!!!!
Mutant… LOL.
I actually didn’t mind the dig at my avatar at all.
I use that picture purposefully because there can be a lot of temptation, fraud and misrepresentation online whether purposefully or not. I don’t want to give any wrong impressions and my wife is the most important person in my life so I have her with me in my avatar as a kind of statement.
i kiinda of like that! thanks for sharing that perspective.!
I through one up about six months ago after reading about them somewhere. It is pretty generic though. Think I will revisit it and refine it a little after reading this.
Thanks John!
great timing!
Never thought of this before. Thanks for the heads up.
sure thing sean. i use it to protect my readers and myself.
HUGE Thanks to you Mr. John for writing this blog post.
I just had a commenter comment in a way that required me to edit their response, and I was thinking to myself, it would be nice to have a “Comment Policy” to clearly state what is and isn’t appropriate to post as a comment.
Once again thank you sir.
wow. that’s pretty good timing!
Hey John, awesome content.. Wondering where have you positioned your comment policy at?
it’s linked in the post as well, but here it is:
http://tentblogger.com/comment-policy/
Thanks for posting this. I haven’t really thought about a comment policy, but every now and then I wish I had one. Now I’m making one, thanks to this post.
sure thing jonathan!
I like your comment policy a lot and am definitely preparing one. I would never have thought of almost everything you list in you guidelines but like almost all of it, especially things like reserving the right to reuse the comments of others.
Will you mind if my comment policy is very much like yours? I’ll gladly refer people back to you as the guru on all these documents.
sure thing! love it if you reference the source though so others can benefit!
Absolutely. I am telling everybody about your stuff. You really are the best.
thanks buddy! how are you ?
Great stuff, John. Like most of your readers commenting here, I hadn’t thought of a comment policy. I have used a couple of comments on my “about” page from readers and thought, “Since they publicly posted the comments, I have the right to reproduce them there.” Probably an assumption I shouldn’t make. I will definitely produce a policy that will likely look much like yours…but I’ll be sure to give a referral back here for your credit!
Thanks!!
sweet. thanks randy!
Yay! Yet another task removed from my list
http://glorioustrauma.com/commentpolicy/
need a – there… between the two words. your slug.
Woops! Heh one would think that I would have caught that when I pasted the link, no? ah well, t’was late and the slithy toves were well…nevermind..
Hello John, This is nice blog . I am happy to find your blog. This is really so informative and love to read other comments.