One of the issues we hear about most frequently from business bloggers is comment moderation. Apart from the chore of wading through hundreds of spam comments daily (Akismet helps, guys!) a lot of business folks aren’t sure they want to put in the time and effort to effectively guide the conversation going on in the comments.
A recent discussion surrounding my personal blog reminded me of the importance of getting involved in the conversation at a deeper level than just clicking the “spam” and “not spam” buttons and responding when you have something to say. This is not to say that you need to make sure everyone is playing nicely, but you do have to set the tone.
Cliquishness — particularly if your blog targets a niche of industry insiders — can be a huge problem on a blog. New commenters may feel that the entrenched relationships between the bloggers and the existing community are too impenetrable to effectively join the conversation. This can become even more pronounced when longtime commenters or real-life contacts of the blogger become sarcastic or mocking in their tone.
Again, I don’t think it’s a blogger’s responsibility to protect commenters from criticism, debate, or even the occasional ribbing. But if your blog projects an overall climate of cliquishness, it can stifle intelligent conversation and alienate readers. That’s the last thing you want.
My response to this problem was to post a new comment policy that included guidelines discouraging sarcasm and mocking. I hope that goes a long way to solving the problem. Going out of your way to make new commenters feel welcome can also help, and I intend to do more of this in the future.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
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