Tips for Comment moderation, what should you keep and what should you delete? ~ codemakit

Any proven website would always feel the wrath of comment spams.

The secret would always be a powerful comment moderator which blogger does provide, thankfully. How would you protect your Blog's image from comment spammers.

Tips for Comment moderation, what should you keep and what should you delete?

Meaningless comments

One of the most easily found and the most easily structured comments, such comments have their own way of saying ‘I know your blog is all about burgers but, I will talk about home loans, bed sheets and laptops (that too, within the same line without grammar). You ask why? Because I’m drunk..’

Nevertheless, they do not have any meaning whatsoever and does not add to the content on the page. It is always better to remove them as they would distract your readers and speak lowly about your comment moderation practices.

The following comment was in Things before cc license

Replying to a ghost type

The spammer writes up a comment which is in reply to a previous comment. But there is just one problem; there was no previous comment in conjunction. The spammer just replies to a so called ghost with its usual trickery. People indulge in this type of comments because they’re of the opinion that replies to comments are overlooked during moderation or they’re treated with leniency because they are replies. Such comments must be removed and even the original one if they do not make sense.

The following comment was found in the article answering "What happens when I do not post for a week"

Good Job! Type

It is not difficult to differentiate the ‘Good Job’ comments from a spammer and an actual loyal visitor. A legitimate Good Job comment will be sans any link in the name and in the text. Such comments though are hard to find but prove to be a real support and motivation to the author. Finally, that is what counts.

The Harry Potter Cloak type comment

The spam or link is hidden under what looks like helpful text. Let us take an example, You’ve just written an article on a burger recipe and you receive a comment which reads like this.

‘Oh! Loved this post, couldn’t have made is any better. I personally like the inclusion of cumin powder but I still find ‘Fisher’s cumin’ which tastes even better than that of ‘Fisher’s rye’’

The comment looks harmless at first but when you delve deep enough you find it is a spam to promote the ‘Fisher’s’ brand. Such comments can be removed if you like but it does not come under high priority as it still give meaning to your page and presents new ideas and materials. Until and unless the link provided in the comment is not of a defaulter, you’re good to go.

The ultra-serious comment

To promote a brand the spammer must remember to attract the readers towards his comment. So what do they do to lure the readers? They use some really serious words in it. The ultra-serious words may include, ‘death’, ‘gore’, ‘funeral’, ‘blood’ etc. Which means anything which will make the readers read the comment? (Note. It was because of these four words which forced you to read this particular paragraph).

The ultra-serious isn’t limited to such scary words, negative words would give the same impact (like the word ‘disgrace’ in this particular example). Neuro-Science Marketing website previously mentioned the dark side of Reader Comments, you should try and have a look at it.

I found you comment

These are the newbies in spams, their comments start with ‘I've been looking all over for this type of article’ and end with ‘I will share this everywhere’. Some even go to the extent of saying they missed reading such informative articles. They only thing they attach with the last line is a train of hyperlink words corresponding to their business.

Since you can very well determine this is a spam, you wouldn't even receive them anymore because of your blogging platform’s comment policies which will filter them before the’re published.

My name is my brand type

Some spammers often find that their comments will not be moderated if they do not include a link in the body of the comment. So they include the link in their own name. So you would often find comments like,

BuyBestpendrive.com says: I like your article, it’s so informative!!

The comment author’s link is not that harmful as a link in the body. If you’re a strict blogger you can moderate such comments as they do no good and would gradually use your own link juice. Otherwise you can use NoFollow in your comments and leave them be.

Oct 7, 2013