I keep reading that after a blog begins to mature, it becomes increasingly more necessary to come up with a comment policy so everyone understands what kind of behavior is welcomed and what kind isn’t. I felt like I was getting to that point, so here goes.
- Introduction and Philosophy
- Appropriate Behavior
- Do Follow Philosophy and Policy
- Spammy Behavior
- E-mail Address Use
- Comment Moderation
- Link Policy
- Signature Blocks
- Other Unwelcome Behavior
- Enforcement
Introduction and Philosophy
First and foremost, I welcome comments at Life in the Rough. Without the input of several regulars and many others who got off the information superhighway at this exit, this place would be no fun at all. Every post I make and article I write is open to discussion. I’m also available via e-mail for questions, discussion, idle chat or whatever you’d like.
My general policy is to personally respond to as many comments as I am able. Sometimes I won’t if it seems like it would be redundant. As Life in the Rough grows, it might become impossible to do so, but for now, I’m going try.
- Genuine discussion on the material that is posted or on anything that comes up in the comments, should the conversation drift from the original post.
- Try to limit comment drift and stay on topic. I’m bad with that myself sometimes, but I need to improve. New readers probably don’t want to tune in to read about a certain topic only to have the comments drift all over the place.
- Constructive criticism is something that I personally welcome. This can be about my posts, my golf game, my writing style, myself, etc. Anything that can help me improve myself in any area is welcomed. Honesty is always welcomed. There is no need to walk on eggshells here. If you’re honest and respectful I can take it because I will give it too.
- Friendly debate is fun. We can’t all agree on everything so it’s OK to debate, but it must stay friendly.
Do Follow Philosophy and Policy
This concept might not be understood by many. If you don’t know what it means, then you probably don’t need to be too worried about it. Basically, what it means is that when links are posted in comments, bloggers have the choice to use an attribute that tells search engines like Google that, yes, credit that site with a link from mine. Or, they can turn that off.
I choose to turn that on for a few reasons, the most important of which is that I believe that blogging is a community effort and if I can reward another blog with a link back for an insightful comment, then it’s worth it. In other words, it can encourage participation.
That said, there is a lot of potential for abuse. For a nice read about being greedy at DoFollow sites, read this post at Big Bucks Blogger.
To combat abuse, I’ve instituted some rules.
- If you’ve come here strictly for the DoFollow link, then you’re abusing the spirit of DoFollow. I reserve the right to remove any comment that fits this category.
- If you come here strictly for the DoFollow link, at least make the comment insightful and relevant. That increases the odds that the comment will stay.
- If you come here strictly for the DoFollow link, expect me to visit your blog to leave an insightful, relevant comment.
I consider DoFollow abuse to be spammy behavior. Primarily, this means posting several rapid, useless comments after having been redirected from a DoFollow list. If you want to genuinely participate, I welcome you here. If you’re not sure if what you want to do will upset me, please feel free to e-mail me.
I will not tolerate spam in any form. Here are some rules and guidelines to live by when you’re visiting:
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) keywords in posts or the Name field are not acceptable. If the best internet handle you could come up with involves medication that enlarges body parts, maybe we need to part company.
- I visit every link on every comment posted, if there is questionable content on the other end, or the target page is different than what the link text would lead me to believe, I will delete the link and possibly the entire comment.
- If you get caught up in my Akismet spam filter, it’s going to take some serious consideration for me to “de-spam” your comment and let it through.
Any and all spammy behavior, including DoFollow abuse, will be reported to Akismet.
E-mail Address Use
A valid e-mail address must be provided when leaving a comment. I will never intentionally provide any e-mail address to any third party. Also, I will never use it for any kind of spam or mailing lists. I may choose to contact individuals who leave comments from time to time, but if you prefer to not be contacted any more, please let me know and I will respect your wishes.
All first comments at Life in the Rough are moderated. They won’t appear in the comments section until I explicitly approve them. I will do so after ensuring that the comment is not spam and that the name and website URL meet my anti-spam guidelines.
I also review and moderate all subsequent comments. You are free to speak your mind here, but if a comment violates any of the rules set forth here, I will remove it. If I feel the comment has merit, I may edit it (in the case of profanity or something similar), but I will never alter the meaning of a comment.
- Links in comments are welcomed so long as they are relevant to the discussion. Please do not link to your website within the comment, as that’s what the “Website” field is for.
- Any link that I deem to be spammy or of no relevance to the discussion will be removed.
- I frown upon non-blog or personal website links in the “Website” field. I won’t automatically disallow them, but if you’re dropping a comment solely for the purpose of driving traffic, then I’m not a happy camper.
- I will not allow links to non-English language websites. My apologies, but if I can’t evaluate the content of the pages being linked, I don’t feel comfortable with the links. I do speak a little French, so I might bend the rules a little there, provided I can figure out what’s going on.
- When linking, please use proper XHTML markup with a descriptive anchor text so that it is apparent what readers will be clicking. For example:
- Proper XHTML markup: <a href=”…” title=”…”>Link Anchor Text</a>
- Please make sure your anchor text is descriptive.
- Bad: <a href=”…”>click here</a>
- Good: <a href=”…” title=”Google Homepage”>Google’s homepage</a>
Please avoid using signature blocks at the bottom of comments. Readers can already see your name and can click on it to get to your website. Any more information is extraneous.
- Profanity
- Links to adult or otherwise questionable material
- Treating myself or anyone else here in a disrespectful manner
I reserve the right to edit or remove any link or comment that I find to be contrary to the policy that I’ve set forth here. This includes any situation not listed here that I find to be in contradiction to the spirit of Life in the Rough.
If a comment of yours didn’t show up, was deleted, was edited, or if any links were removed, feel free to e-mail me and I’ll do my best to explain why. This policy should cover all my reasoning, but I’m willing to explain what’s going on, assuming I have time to do so.
In extreme cases, I will ban individuals that can’t respect the rules. I hope it never comes to that.
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