Responding to Negative Comments on Your Blog

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I get a lot of negative comments and I just ignore them. But it seems negativity does attract attention and exposure

On with Codesucker.

Good post - and surveygirl pretty much beat me to my own comment. If the comments are obviously spam or trollish then yes, delete them - but I always leave up comments that disagree with me, even if they are insulting(won't stand for profanity on the page, though)

That's a great quote surveygirl46

Remember that old glam movie star quip, Mae West or someone blond like that? It's not what they say about you, it's that they get your name right.

Like you say receiving negative comments comes with the territory of being a blogger. Many bloggers fear that if they restrict commenters, they’ll lose readership. Well, I would prefer to lose the the bad actors and preserve as safe and comfortable environment for all. I'm mindful that every piece of content that appears on a blog site becomes a part of the makeup and the “brand” of that blog. I think it’s important for bloggers to view each comment in terms of how the comment affects the brand.

Spam filter - The first step for any blogger to take is to install a spam filter on their blog.

Comment moderation - The second step is to select from the discussions option provided by their blogging software. All bloggers have the option of choosing between allowing comments to be directly posted to the blog, or to moderate comments. Some software like wordpress allows for an opyion of allowing direct posting of comments from any individual after their first comment has been moderated and posted to the blog.

Here's what Elise Bauer, Publisher of Simply Recipes and Editor-in-Chief of Learning Movable Type states in her Problogger guest article:

"How you choose to moderate the comments on your site will affect who feels comfortable to participate on your site, and who will want to come back again and again. If you let rude, obnoxious, spiteful comments persist on your blog, you are basically telling all of your commenters that it’s okay with you to behave badly on your site. This covert permission can act like a magnet, drawing in hooligans and bullies, making the reading of and participating in your comment section uncomfortable for many. I learned long ago that people will give you as much crap as you are willing to put up with. If you tolerate abusive commenters, they’ll just keep coming back." http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/11/29/how-...

Comments Policy - The third step is to draft and publish a Comments Policy on the blog readers are aware of what to expect. The idea here is to develop a comment policy that contemplates the eventuality of receiving negative comments and clearly states what you will or will not accept. Here's an example of the Comment Policy on one of my blogs http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/comments/

Dissenting opinions - Whether or not they contain dissenting opinions, I post all comments that are relevant to a post or a discussion among the commentators. If someone has something to contribute, I welcome what that person adds to comments and I post their comment and reply to it.

Comments containing links - Provided that the bloggers commenting are actually adding something to the discussion, I do not remove relevant links. However, if I believe that they are just link dropping in an attempt to divert readers to their own blog then I do not feel the same way. I delete the links previous to posting such comments.

Personal attacks and/or foul language - On my blog Comments that stray from addressing the published topic and venture into the inflammatory and/or defamatory realm are not posted.

Automated comments - Lately there has been of rash of comments that are generated by software. I watch closely for these and when I find them in the moderation queue I mark them as spam so the spam filter will catch them up if they are received from the same site and IPagain.

Elise Bauer: "
Providing a quality environment for the readers of our blogs is more important than giving a platform for a few people who don’t know how to play well with others. ... Most of us do not want to chance being ridiculed by others if we make a comment on a site. We will steer to where we feel comfortable and safe participating, and stay away from places where we don’t. "

If the comment ruins the flow of comments then I will delete it. If I can mock it or use it to my advantage then I will leave it be.

Unfortunately or fortunately I very rarely get any negative comments. The rare occasions that I have it usually because I have been focal elsewhere (normally BC) and they follow me to my blog to upset me or something. Luckily it has never been a troll that I can't stomp on.

I've been lucky to not have a lot of wholly inappropriate comments. But my policy for dealing with them is as follows:

--Spammers don't get a voice on my blogs. If you can't contribute anything to the discussion, it's not of value to my readers. So it goes in the circular file right away.

--Prickly or negative but not openly abusive. I let it stand, and either recognize the person's feelings about the subject or try to turn it around with a diffusing joke or something

--Openly abusive. Wouldn't be published. I think the blogger is responsible for setting the tone on their blog. Respect usually gets mutual respect. But in the rare cases that this wouldn't be the case, I'd rather my readers have a positive user experience and not have to deal with reading abusive stuff. And I wouldn't want the readers to feel the need to defend me and have things turn into a trolly free-for-all.

Fortunately, I haven't had this last item happen. But I'm braced for if it did.

Zobop, being polite is definitely advisable in most cases.

SweetViolet, I think you are correct in pointing out that criticism can be helpful. Criticism definitely makes you think harder about your own stances in order to defend them, or alter them if need be.

I think the way you respond is a great way to go about it.

It depends on what kind of negative feedback I receive: spam, ki$$ my ads, ad hominem attacks, and trolls all get deleted.

But criticism can be valuable, so if the negative feedback is not presented as an attack, I mull it over and eventually respond. If the comment was meritorious, I will say so. If it is not, I will defend my position, usually by responding point-by-point to the negative comment.

Mostly I get positive comments...although I generally don't get a lot of comments in the first place.

I thank people for making any kind of comment on my blog. It's the courteous thing to do. Feedback is important!

Jonny, I guess you are right. It is kind of like an initiation huh?
CA, I wouldn't expect anything less from you! Cool and calm doesn't seem to be your style.

This post sucked! Just kidding. I get negative comments every so often from idiots who can't cook and call my recipes bunk but usually my readers nail them before I can. When I do respond I fly off the handle and verbally berate them but that is just my style.

I've only had one. I was pretty pleased, I just mentioned in my next post that I had my first troll, and was now part of the blogging community

I captured one point from this article that is, remain always cool and unruffled under all circumstances. Thank to you for sharing.

Usually I response to a negative comment with a sense of friendship. Reply with angry probably will produce another negative (unhealthy discussion).

An unique case is sometime the author of a blog activate moderation feature with the purpose for preventing (maybe afraid with) a comment that could indicate something is not right in his/her article.

Tikno

As a total novice to this topic, I find this information most enlightening and helpful.

I will love to respond to negative comments. though I didn't get till now but what i get most are spams.

Yes I will remain cool and try to respond plus open a way for a discussion for all the readers on the negative comments.