54 Responses

1. Lee

   January 25th, 2008 at 10:58 am

   1

   On my webmaster blog I got sick of people keyword stuffing, so I made a post about it and said basically I would delete or edit the post if it was full of keywords. If I am in a good they get it changed to anonomous, If I am in bad mood it gets deleted. It has gotten better since I made the post.

   Lee’s last blog post..It Takes a Community to Raise a Blog

2. teeni

   January 25th, 2008 at 11:41 am

   2

   I guess I would delete it. I don’t want people using me for free advertising. So just for the lack of respect of your personal blogspace, I’d delete it. But if it is a really good comment, I like Lee’s idea of changing it to anonymous.

   teeni’s last blog post..Three Strikes and You’re Out!

3. pearl

   January 25th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

   3

   @Lee.. Hopefully this is that post then and hopefully those people would start leaving their names so we know them better and in time perhaps will also think of supporting them by buying something off their sites - but first thing is for them to tell us who they are…

4. pearl

   January 25th, 2008 at 1:26 pm

   4

   @teeni - I like Lee’s idea too to change it to anonymous! but I wanted to give a fair chance to them by announcing how I feel about talking to non living things! hopefully they’ll come alive now

5. Renato de Trindade

   January 25th, 2008 at 1:35 pm

   5

   Hello Pearl! My dear friend! How are you today? I’m here to leave a message for you, ok? Sorry, I think that my English is bad to leave a comment about your post, but I’ll trying someday. I had stydy hard alone for this. Hope you enjoying your weekend! Take care always! Your Brazilian Friend, Renato de Trindade

   Renato de Trindade’s last blog post..Prayer for Peace

6. Mike Scott

   January 25th, 2008 at 3:22 pm

   6

   I’ve been pretty lucky, and I haven’t had any comments that walked the line like that. I know it has been a problem for other bloggers. Usuaully with my comments, they are either legitimate, or they are total spam.

   I would delete them, but that’s just me.
   Mike Scott’s last blog post..I am Legend

7. pearl

   January 25th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

   7

   I’ve been deleting most when its like ‘great post’ or ‘yes, I agree’ ‘Interesting stuff’ etc, but when the comments are a bit more and seem relevant, but the name appears of some pharmaceutical, I can’t decide what to do…..

   pearl’s last blog post..Delete or Edit Comments?

8. Anthony Lawrence

   January 25th, 2008 at 3:50 pm

   8

   I delete. Actually most of the time those things won’t make it past my filters, but they do keep trying..

   Anthony Lawrence’s last blog post..The upgrade that wasn’t by Anthony Lawrence

9. dandellion

   January 25th, 2008 at 4:11 pm

   9

   If comment makes sense it stays. It is a bad habit to make own name just for SEO and adsense reasons, but if I delete one because of that, I have to make all kind of rules and to know when I will delete next comments. This is easier. And, after all, it’s about conversation, not our names.

   dandellion’s last blog post..Social Media Mega Project: Second Life

10. Aruni

    January 25th, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    10

    Sorry I haven’t been around to comment as much as before. I have been buried with funding documents, SEO, etc. It seems like I spend most of my social time on Twitter these days b/c I can read 140 characters pretty quickly.

    You are a great blogger! As I said on twitter, I would spam them. Personally, I would feel weird leaving comments on someone’s blog with the name of my company, Babble Soft or something like Baby Breastfeeding or Baby Software. Seems so odd to me!

11. pearl

    January 25th, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    11

    @Aruni - I know you are busy and thanks for the good words yeah, thats funny isn’t it? I don’t get mad at them, I smile and keep them but I’ll talk more about how else I’ve been handling them in the next post!

    hope you do come back again!

    pearl’s last blog post..Delete or Edit Comments?

12. kaylee

    January 25th, 2008 at 4:51 pm

    12

    I delete it hahaha!! how are you?

    kaylee’s last blog post..A Phone Call(well actually a day) of Happiness

13. pearl

    January 25th, 2008 at 4:57 pm

    13

    hey dandellion - good to have you here… exactly what I was saying.. It is bad manners to leave those keywords and a good comment - I wouldn’t delete anyone who otherwise left a good comment….

    Have I met you on some social network? I remember coming across ‘dendellion’ but this is the first time I saw your blog! thanks for stopping by and commenting!

    pearl’s last blog post..Delete or Edit Comments?

14. pearl

    January 25th, 2008 at 4:59 pm

    14

    Tony - its interesting how stubborn they are sometimes! Thats the reason some blogs went from do-follow to no-follow!

15. Anthony Lawrence

    January 25th, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    15

    Well, they are stubborn because a lot of it is just scripts - no human involved. I have my filters give them what looks like a successful response - a human would realize that the comment was dropped but the script doesn’t - so they keep coming back to post more spam (and get dropped again) until my filters see that they are way too active and start blocking them entirely.

    Anthony Lawrence’s last blog post..The upgrade that wasn’t by Anthony Lawrence

16. Diana13

    January 25th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    16

    Well, I must admit that until now I didn’t spoke with any furniture, but I spoke with some keywords, like “make money online”. Dear “make money online” how are you today? Haha… But I didn’t delete those comments, because some of them are pretty valuable. I’ve deleted a lor of spammy comments, though, if there are nothing but spammy, like “great” and other stuff.

    Diana13’s last blog post..I’m back!

17. Mark Dykeman

    January 25th, 2008 at 6:39 pm

    17

    If the comment was legitimate, I wouldn’t edit it at all.

    Mark Dykeman’s last blog post..Somebody is going to pay

18. pearl

    January 25th, 2008 at 7:20 pm

    18

    @Tony - Im not sure if ALL of these comments are spam through a script though…

    I think its possible that some people just become a bit careless and tunnel visioned where all they see is ‘making money online’ and forget the human side of blogging and community building

19. pearl

    January 25th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

    19

    LOL Diane - I think you are so lucky I did ask “ghillie suits” their name too after welcoming I think

20. pearl

    January 25th, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    20

    @Mark - are you fine with them leaving keywords in the name box though?

21. betshopboy

    January 26th, 2008 at 1:13 am

    21

    I won’t hesitate to delete or mark as spam comments that are full of keyword stuffing.

    I think it’s perfectly justifiable to delete those comments from people trying to gain free advertising. No matter how good the comment is, their intention isn’t sincere to start with.

    betshopboy’s last blog post..Featured At MagMyPic

22. Tay - Super Blogging

    January 26th, 2008 at 2:46 am

    22

    If people leave a spam comment, such as one that is just full of links or keywords, I obviously delete it. But if it’s a real comment from a real person, and it applies to the actual post and fits in with the discussion, I’m not going to delete the comment just because the person made their name link to their site as ‘Guaranteed Loan’. In all honesty, it doesn’t bother me too much or hurt anything, especially since I’m not using DoFollow anymore. If the comment is valuable and on topic, that’s what I’m asking for. If it’s about 200 links to Jessica Alba pictures and sites, then it’s going to be deleted.

    I love meeting and networking with other bloggers too; the whole community aspect is one of my favorite things. But I’m not going to delete all of my comments just because a legitimate person entered in their blog’s keyword instead of their name. I don’t accept spam, but I don’t believe THAT is spam.
    Tay - Super Blogging’s last blog post..The Best of the Blogosphere: January 25, 2008

23. pelf

    January 26th, 2008 at 5:39 am

    23

    Oh dear, Pearl. Do you EVEN have to ask this?! I am extremely QUICK at deleting invalid comments as well as marking spam as spam. I don’t give no 2nd chance

    But in cases where the comments sounds valid but the names not, maybe you want to try change them to Micky Mouse and Donald Duck? LOL.

24. Pearl

    January 26th, 2008 at 9:22 am

    24

    @Betshopboy and @Pelf -

    I understand you sentiments - really do. I have thought about ’sincerity’ issue but then it might just be an oversight on their part…. I am willing to give them a second chance though -

    believe me I won’t hesitate in deleting them if they continue to ignore the warning….

25. Pearl

    January 26th, 2008 at 9:35 am

    25

    @Tay - and believe me, I don’t consider inserting one’s blog name as spam either - but only if it is a blog! not some e-commerce site!

    but then again, may be my readers wouldn’t mind seeing 200 pictures of Jessica Alba anyway I could do a poll on that

26. Weekly Links - January 26th | Vandelay Website Design

    January 26th, 2008 at 10:15 am

    26

    […] Delete or Edit Comments? from Interesting Observations. […]

27. John Hunter

    January 26th, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    27

    Definitely delete the non-names. I get more spam comments with keywords even though I clearly say real names are required.

28. pearl

    January 26th, 2008 at 6:23 pm

    28

    This is the first time I am mentioning about it here so I’m hoping this to be considered as a fair warning to those who do it. If they don’t stop it, may be I’ll start to delete them.

29. Sueblimely

    January 26th, 2008 at 11:54 pm

    29

    Hi Pearl
    I would be inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt if it was obvious they had actually read the post and were contributing something in the comment.

    If you felt it was a valuable comment maybe you could check their blog out and change the name to the one they use when signing off their own posts? If not delete!

30. Alina Popescu

    January 27th, 2008 at 9:55 am

    30

    Hi Pearl! I mostly got comments that were clearly spam. So I deleted them. No that I have a spam filter, they rarely get through. But if I were in a situation where the actual comment is really good, I’d also edit it instead.

    Alina Popescu’s last blog post..WOBM Turns Three

31. The Ghillie Suits Guy

    January 27th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

    31

    Hi Pearl,

    Ghillie Suits here, I’ve been using The Ghillie Suits Guy for my name on blogs now. I am a real person who reads your blog regularly. I don’t use my name real name because I’m private about my businesses. If you want I can certainly put a name down like “John” or “Mike” but it’s the same as not knowing my real name. I certainly did choose a name with beneficial keywords for my site on purpose. Feel free to email me and I’ll divulge who I am and where my personal blog is.

    The Ghillie Suits Guy’s last blog post..Photos of the Ultra Light Ghillie Suit - Mossy

32. Shana Albert - TheNanny612

    January 27th, 2008 at 12:16 pm

    32

    Hi Pearl,

    Let me just start off by saying that this is the first time I stopped by your blog and I love it!! You have a brand new dedicated reader. What the hell took me so long to stop by? I love your fresh perspective of things.

    Anyway, your post…. I think I would delete the comment. It is unfortunate that if the commenter had something that would have started a wonderful discussion, but by using something other than his/her name on the comment leaves you to wonder whether they are trying to get a back link for his/her keywords. If we allow a few through then our readers will think it is okay to do the same. But, by deleting the comments that are there for the back-links we are letting our readers know that those kind of comments are unappreciated.

    Again, Pearl…. you have a wonderful blog and I will be back regularly to check your posts out.

    Shana

    Shana Albert - TheNanny612’s last blog post..26 Reasons Why I Love Twitter - Plus 27 More just in Case

33. pearl

    January 27th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    33

    @Sue - exactly - thats my stance, I’d feel a bit unfair to someone who otherwise adds a valuable feedback - thanks for stopping by

    PS: I replied to your email the other day… hope you rec’d it

34. pearl

    January 27th, 2008 at 8:05 pm

    34

    @Alina - same here… I’ll edit the comments instead… may be some of us are too soft glad to have you back Alina…. stay in touch

35. pearl

    January 27th, 2008 at 8:19 pm

    35

    @Shana - heyy I am soo glad you finally found the blog and I never realized you didn’t know thank you so much for the kind words and I am thrilled to have you as my reader Shana ..

    hmm whats it with me that I feel bad deleting people’s comments? I really feel they ought to have a bit of consideration for others ‘coz if everyone started doing this, it wouldn’t look like a conversation at all…

    please… do come back and I’d be looking forward to your comments here…

    Oh, my good friend ghillie suits is here today

36. pearl

    January 27th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    36

    Hi Ghillie Suits Guy - Im glad you came by! and let me first thank you for reading my blog… sincerely.

    Now I understand that you choose to be private and I absolutely don’t have a problem with that… and its not really about me wanting you or anyone to give me your real true names when you want to remain anonymous.

    May be if you had used any name - other than your business, no one would have noticed anyway..

    and with the commentLuv plugin, and this blog being do-follow, you were getting the benefit anyway… don’t you agree? let me know…

37. Mihaela Lica

    January 28th, 2008 at 1:07 am

    37

    No deleting unless they are spam or offensive to the readers. And no editing the comment either. What I do though is remove the link if it leads to offensive or questionable content. I don’t want to have my readers to land on pages that contain porn, spyware or anything that might offend them and I do not want my site to be associated with such elements. I am a “dofollow” blogger like you, and many spammers abuse this (actually my blog is listed in the ultimate list of dofollow blogs on many forums and blogs). I noticed that the spammers make now valid comments so I always check the link if I get a “new reader.”

    Mihaela Lica’s last blog post..Social Network Automation and Why You Don’t Want to Be Part of It

38. IAAdmin

    January 30th, 2008 at 3:41 am

    38

    Because my site is members only (although it’s free to join), all of my comments, at thus far, have been great. And yes, I love getting comments, too……………….:)

39. Matt B

    January 30th, 2008 at 11:45 am

    39

    I’m of the edit point of view. It does help to have a written policy (blog post or static page).

40. Stephen Cronin

    January 30th, 2008 at 10:18 pm

    40

    Pearl,

    It’s all about link juice, PageRank and ranking high in the search engines (SERPs).

    Because you’re a DoFollow blog, I get a little bit of PR for the link I leave with my comment. That helps with my PageRank, but not necessarily with the SERPs.

    If I leave my name in the name field, it really only helps me in the SERPs if people are searching for my name. If I leave my keywords instead, it helps me if people are searching for my keywords. That’s the reason people leave keywords instead of names - not because they are just advertising…

    Personally I allow keywords in the name field, because I don’t mind people benefiting - IF they’ve read my post and made a decent comment.

    Having said that, I’m starting to think about using the CommentLuv plugin as you do. That will help people get keyword rich links, so I may decide that the name must not have keywords. IF I do that, I’d edit my template and change the Name (required) prompt in the comment form to something like Name (no keywords allowed).

    Stephen Cronin’s last blog post..WordPress Plugin IFrameWidgets 1.0 Released

41. pearl

    January 31st, 2008 at 11:12 pm

    41

    @Mig - great strategy there

    @IAAdmin - hmm members only site - whats the purpose of that though? Are members able to publish their content as well on your site?

    @Matt B - I will be adding commenting policy soon… had been thinking about it for sometime but never got around to it!

42. pearl

    January 31st, 2008 at 11:22 pm

    42

    @Stephen - I understand people want to get the benefit, and I didn’t mind it either really - only recently it started getting to me - with commentLuv, they do have the keyword rich links as you said - so there was no need to over do it - just took the focus away from real conversation….

    good to have you back Stephen - hope you visit again!

43. RennyBA

    February 2nd, 2008 at 7:58 pm

    43

    Its a tough question and many have left good answers here already - sorry I’m late! My general rules are: if it’s commercial, I delete it and I also sometimes (if I have the chance!) like Sublimely: check their blog and correct the URL. If I am in doubt, I let it pass - commenter’s will have to stand for what they have done.

    Since we are at it: experience of blogging and commenting I mean: Why do you make a new comment when replying, instead of edit the comment with your own reply? The way I do it e.g. Just curious - I mean of course: you do it your way and that’s perfectly okay!

    Btw: Talking about experiences: Why don’t you join me in The Big Blog Bang: http://www.terella.no/2008/01/27/272/

    RennyBA’s last blog post..Canadian Maple Fudge invading Norway

44. Chris - soupornuts.com

    February 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 pm

    44

    Hi Pearl,

    Conversation keeps the brain stimulated, but not if it’s just to get you or someone else to click on over their blatantly commercialized, made for adsense site.

    Bring something interesting to the conversation. The sad thing is that most of the people who set up these kinds of sites could probably get all the traffic that they wanted if they would concentrate on publishing excellent content instead of mindless drivel and ads.

    Give a real name - no keyword stuffing - leave real thoughts or delete em all.

    Chris Melton

    Chris - soupornuts.com’s last blog post..Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it also creates millionaires

45. pearl

    February 3rd, 2008 at 8:03 pm

    45

    @RennyBA - hmm, I never even thought of it! guess, ‘coz sometimes I do not want to log in the blog just to reply to comments! and when I’ve filled out my info in the name, email etc, it stays for the next reply and its just easier anything for the short cuts! Oh, Im heading over there now (im surprised how your comment got through akismet with that link though :))

46. pearl

    February 3rd, 2008 at 8:09 pm

    46

    @Chris - guess some of us are a bit more sick of such spam and thats understandabe - I thought of letting all of these people in on how I feel on the issue - so if they are going to provide value to the conversation, I welcome them whole heartedly - but with commentLuv, they don’t need to worry ‘coz they get value back!

47. David Deangelo

    February 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 pm

    47

    I usually try to leave them if the content of their comment is good. If it’s gibberish I delete it. There are a few commentor’s that leave their business name in, and I’ve come to just use that as their “name” and it works great!

    David Deangelo’s last blog post..By: David Deangelo Announces New Live Program

48.   Weekly Links - January 26th by Joe McLaughlin’s Blog

    February 5th, 2008 at 6:49 am

    48

    […] Delete or Edit Comments? from Interesting Observations. […]

49. Don’t Let Your CommentLuv Be Stolen Away! | More Than Scratch The Surface

    February 5th, 2008 at 9:51 am

    49

    […] why some people put keywords in the name field - to help on searches for those keywords - at the risk of being marked as spammers. SERPs = Search Engine Results Pages or how high your site ranks when people search for a […]

50. Carolyn B.

    February 20th, 2008 at 4:24 pm

    50

    I’ll have to look out for that commenting tactic — huh. The only spam I’ve gotten so far is a TON of pharmaceuticals guaranteed to slim, firm or enrich me. Thank goodness for Akismet.

    I read a review of some dofollow plugins that mentioned Lucia’s Linky Love as one with more capabilities than the familiar DoFollow, fyi. It’s supposed to make it a less friendly environment for the spam commenters. I may switch to it if I start seeing much comment spam. Have you tried anything like that?

    Carolyn B.’s last blog post..Let an Old Reporter Talk: 12 Tips to Interview Anyone

51. Selif

    March 4th, 2008 at 4:31 pm

    51

    Lucia’sLinkLove is definitely the way to go. I also found that if you’re using Lucia’sLinkLove, then it’s a good idea to remove the dofollow plugin because the dofollow plugin overrides you Lucia’sLinkLove settings and makes for thigns being dofollow when they shouldn’t

    Selif’s last blog post..Weird Facts

52. Tom Lamothe

    April 30th, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    52

    I think that was a pretty good post. I couldn’t do it . Keep up the good work.

53. David Wh1te

    May 1st, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    53

    hmmm… I like a blog post that makes me think.

54. Work At Home - Bruce

    May 13th, 2008 at 6:29 pm

    54

    Why would you delete a comment just because of the anchor text? If they leave a legitimate comment on your blog then they are creating content for you for FREE!. Let them link back to their site. I always do. Now if it is a garbage spam comment that is different and I delete.

    Work At Home - Bruce’s last blog post..Work From Home Jobs / Work At Home Jobs