Blog Comment Etiquette

Blog comments can be the most fun part of the blog post.  A comment can also be viewed as a marketing tool. A good comment, that is acceptable to the blog owner, can be both. Think of the comments as a conversation about an idea. You would expect the people in a conversation to stay on-topic, at least for a while. If the original statement is “The Falcons are bums, and here’s why,” then the responses would be evidence to support or deny the original statement. A smart marketer would never inject into this conversation, “Buy Fancy Chocolates!!!” Such an ejaculation would be ignored by the rest of the people in the conversation, and in a blog, it is ignored as well (or deleted by the blog owner). As a blog owner, I trust my spam-checker (usually Akismet) to pull the spam comments out. If your comment has been automatically pulled, it will never be seen by me or any other human. Most auto-submit blog-comment software breaks the rules below, so that software is a waste of your time, internet marketers.

Do this:

• Write a direct response to a point in the original post or a direct response to another comment.
• Quote the sentence you are commenting upon.  Do this especially if you are replying to another comment.
• Write with proper grammar and usage
• Use a real email address – make sure you spelled it right.  Most automated spam checkers will toss your comment if the email is bogus.
• Add links to useful, 100% on-topic resources

Do not do this:

• Write a comment that is off-topic, which is to say it is not about the original post or a direct response to another comment.
• post “me too” emails. It does not further the conversation to say “Yes, it is true,” without adding some supporting information to the claim. Polite users of auto-submitter software often put up “Me to” comments, which the spam filter flags or the blog owner deletes.
• Use fake email in your information block.  This email is only seen by the blog owner, and occasionally may be used to check the reality of your post.
• Use a fake URL in your information block.  If you don’t have a web site, leave that field blank.
• Fill a response with off-topic links.  If there are more than one link in the body of your comment, outside of your signature line, your message may be held for consideration by a live human, or it will be automatically thrown away by the spam checker.