__http://www.thecitywire.com/index.php?q=node/19016 By Jennifer Douglas 11/28/2011
The Good:
Commenting promotes a feeling of community on your website and allows
your guests to offer valuable information. When people come to your
website, information is what they’re looking for. Leave the fancy,
pretty, eye catching things for the real world. On the Internet, the
human brain is working quite differently and such things are nothing
more than irritating distractions from the “meat” that they’re looking
for. And often, comments help offer a valuable balance of views for the
visitor to be able to chew on. Differing opinions, thoughts, suggestions
and advice add an interesting layer to your site that many visitors can
spend hours reading. And long story short – the more pages people are
reading and the longer they’re reading them, the more Google will look
at you as a valid source to recommend to the next wandering web-surfer.
The Bad:
Comments can go both ways (as many of us here have seen). Many times,
we’ll get comments that are less then helpful – ranging from simple
negativity or insults to spam for Viagra or porn sites. Though there
are ways to trap for spam, it’s the more valid user that causes our
woes. Unfortunately, not much can be done for the human condition.
Everyone has a view point, and thank god that it doesn’t always match
our own. But it’s the opportunity to express that view point that makes
the Internet (and our country) so great! Criticism, insults, or
jaw-dropping displays of the less intelligent of our species is
something we just have to learn to deal with in life. And displaying the
bad with the good, believe it or not, just ads to the spice and
validity of your site! So take the Bad with the Good – it still is
helping your site to be a success!
The Ugly:
Unfortunately, some people are just never happy unless they’re making
everyone else miserable. This is the wheel that will continue to squeak
no matter how much oil they get. They’re the ones who hide behind an
anonymous face or ambiguous username. They threaten, scream, intimidate,
and do anything within their power to bully all other viewpoints out of
the discussion. In Internet slang, they’re called a “Troll”.
Quite appropriate, I believe. They’ll say whatever is necessary to
illicit the emotional response they need. Trolls pose a huge threat to
your site. They take the relevancy of the topic for discussion and
basically tear it up, put it in a blender, and set it on fire – causing
users who could offer beneficial viewpoints and/or information for your
site to take their high standards elsewhere or just remain silent to
avoid the mess altogether. A troll is like a disease – infecting your
site everywhere he’s allowed to spread to, killing your traffic,
participation, and potential content. And perhaps someday, they’ll get
their come-uppin’s… something like this, I hope.
The hard question for you is where you decide to draw the lines
between the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. At what point are good comments
considered bad. And what separates the bad commenters from the ugly
Trolls?
There are some things that you can do to help enhance the quality of your site’s comments:
1. Get involved in your comments. Responding to commenters and
thanking them for reading and commenting is a way of setting a stage of
expectation. Encouraging people who express differing points of view is a
respectful thing to do after they just spent their time reading what
you had to say.
2. Moderate your comments. It’s your site. You have the right to
decide what goes up and what doesn’t. However, this can hurt your
participation level. Some people may feel like their comments are being
ignored, judged, or completely squashed.
3. Block anonymous comments. Anonymity can be a great way to allow
some people to express thoughts that they might feel should be
repressed – especially if they’re well-known or in a “fishbowl” career
such as a politician. But if things are taking a turn for the worse,
forcing the creation of an account to be able to comment can keep
emotions and behavior in check. Participation in a site’s discussions is
a privilege, not a right. And as the site owner, you have the right to
decide who gets to add their two-cents to your site.
4. Force a real-life login. This takes the “login to comment” rule
to a whole new level and is becoming more and more popular among highly
commented websites. Sites are forcing accounts to be formed from
real-life accounts such as Facebook or other such social ID sites. It’s a
way of telling trolls, “Sure – say what you want… but everyone might
see you for the troglodyte you really are. Your call.”
5. Allow your visitors to handle the comments. Implementing a
“voting” functionality on your site can allow all of your site’s guests
the ability to show their support of a comment or user – or use the same
ability to tell them to sit down and let the big people talk. Liked
comments can get promoted to the top. Un-liked comments can get pushed
to the bottom.
Obviously, there are more ways to skin the proverbial cat here. All I
can do is assure you that comments, even those that differ from your
view, can be add immeasurable value to your site – but to use this
benefit to the maximum of its potential, the environment needs to be
kept as a fair and fun field for everyone.