What drives you to delete a comment on your own story?

[PeytonMirabelle]

I've only deleted two comments. The first was some kind of spam selling something. It didn't have an complete link, which is maybe how it got through the filter. I axed that since it's against site rules.

The other was something that offered me tepid praise but then went on a wild rant against another author on the site. Confusing, since I didn't get the association. Maybe someone just glitched their cut-n-paste and didn't mean to put it in. Either way, it was gone. If you want to leave someone a nasty comment, at least do it on their story and let them decide how to deal with it.

 

[SissyBrandi19]

TL,DR: why do you delete a comment on one of your stories? What is it about a comment that says 'This needs deleting'?

In the years that I've visited here, I’d never voted or commented until very recently.

My first low-vote-and-comment-explaining-it was to a relatively recent story that just bugged me. The more I thought of the story, the more I hated it. Hated the characters. I'd initially just left nothing, but seeing it again in the story list a few days later, after my festering hatred for the story grew, pushed me to vote/comment.

Another, more recent, story - this story was pretty basic trope, nothing bad, in and of itself, just no great shakes - was only three pages long, but I couldn't get past the typos.

Shock! If a story is poorly-enough written, it erodes my liking (thus, potential vote) for the story.

As I've freely admitted since I created this account, I get wordy (see: this post), and my comments follow that philosophy - these weren't two-word, drive-by comments.

There were several times the writer used the wrong words in places (still noted in other remaining comments), but his personal bete noire seemed to be your/you’re.

Typos happen. I get it. We all do it. Done it plenty of times myself. In some cases, it can get so bad that I can't not remark upon it.

I posted a rather negative comment (but left no vote, this time) on it. A few days later, I checked the comments on the story (after the sometimes-snarky follow-up comments regarding my first-ever comment, elsewhere, I like to see if anyone refers to it – it’s entirely possible that I may be a masochist) and my comment was gone.

On the first page of this particular story, your/you’re was used, IIRC, eighteen times. Twelve of which (I suppose it might only have been eleven) were the wrong choice. For me, shit like that is like stepping on a Lego fucking LEGO® element in the middle of the night. It doesn’t matter that I might be heading for the bathroom, I stop to bitch and moan loudly about it right there.

I still have the account activity notification that I’d commented on the story, so I didn’t figure that I’d imagined that I’d done so.

I haven’t felt any burning need to delete any of the (fairly few) comments left on my own stuff. Even the guy telling me I needed to learn how to craft a basic sentence.

Why do you guys delete comments (if you have)? Some can be unhinged rants and ought to go, but what crosses that line for you?

Ironically, that first comment I made, where I trashed the characters, is still up. The author never commented upon it, other than a tepid, passive dismissal in one of his own later comments, but it's still there.

P.S.
I wish that I'd saved a copy of the comment. While it wasn't any Literary Award Winner, I really did enjoy writing something along the lines of 'One time is an accident, twice is a coincidence, twelve times is enemy action.'

I've never deleted a comment, not even the hyper-critical comments that show zero thinking. What is the saying, never interrupt the enemy when it is making a mistake?

 

[MrPixel]

I get very few, so it's not an issue. Nonetheless, I delete anything that's personal and offensive that the moderator didn't catch, and comments that amount to, "What's your point here?" "Anonymous" frequently gets zapped; if you're not man enough to stand behind your words, then why should I give you a platform, huh?

 

[BellaBestia]

Just one trying to sell a natural erectile dysfunction cure, using my story as a test of its effectiveness maybe…

 

[Cagivagurl]

The only comments I delete are ones that attack my friends.
I've had commenters complaining about the shitty editing, and how I should use better editors...
The kind generous souls who offer to help me, reading, and editing on my behalf don't deserve that level of insult.
They offer their service freely, and I cherish their input.
Those types of comments I delete on sight.
Readers are free to criticise me, my story, my writing ability, the ridiculousness of my plot or characters. All of that I accept, but I refuse to accept impolite insulting attacks on my friends.

Cagivagurl

 

[WaxPhilosophic]

I've only deleted two comments. The first was some kind of spam selling something. It didn't have an complete link, which is maybe how it got through the filter. I axed that since it's against site rules.

I had a similar experience with spammy comments, but that was a long while back. Those were the only ones I've deleted. The filter seems to have improved since then.

 

[dream_yahoozie]

I guess I feel kinda blessed. Haven't felt the need to remove any comments. Only have a few works published ATM, but I feel like if it gives me ick it should be removed.

 

[Voboy]

The other was something that offered me tepid praise but then went on a wild rant against another author on the site. Confusing, since I didn't get the association.

Oof. Yeah, I'd probably nuke that one, too. I've never seen anything like that on one of my stories, but that wouldn't sit well. I don't want to give anyone a platform for bashing someone who isn't even involved with the story, nor with me.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Only if one cares more about the trademark guidelines of a corporation one has no beholdence to, than about just talking like a regular person

Treating "Lego"/"LEGO" as a countable noun ("a Lego", "my Legos") is not so much a "regular person" thing as it is a "North American who is more of a casual enthusiast than a serious fan" thing. (I'll grant that capitalisation is not very consistent and that like many adjectives it does get turned into an uncountable noun for convenience.)

"Mummy, can I play with my legos after Billy goes home?"
"If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times! Not until you learn to capitalize them properly and call them bricks!"

How are Mummy and Unspecified Child conveying capitalisation or lack thereof in speech???

I didn't intend to suggest that trademark guidelines are the last work in language, but it was past my bedtime and the household LEGO obsessive was asleep; I didn't feel like digging up multiple usage cites so I went for the first thing that had a clear statement on usage. If you want to go look at fan sites, conventions etc. you'll find that they generally avoid treating "Lego"/"LEGO" as a countable noun, e.g.:

https://www.brickvention.melbourne/about-brickvention/
https://www.bricklink.com/v3/about.page
https://brickcon.org/about-us/

 

[Britva415]

How are Mummy and Unspecified Child conveying capitalisation or lack thereof in speech???

that's half the joke

 

[caleb35]

If the comment merely amounts to "you suck" or something equally banal (or worse), I'll delete it. I invite critical comments on my works, not insults.

 

[vanmyers86]

In seven years, I've deleted only one comment, a false accusation of plagiarism. The rest - the good, the bad and the frankly mystifying - I leave up. In writing and posting a story, I've had my say, and I feel like it's only fair to let readers have theirs (unless they falsely accuse me of plagiarism or some other type of intellectual property theft I did not commit. I may be unusually tolerant, but my boundaries do exist!)

 

[ICantLeafYou]

I would only delete the following:

+Spam.
+Rule-breaking content.
+Full-on trolling.

I've only had to delete one comment on my works, and it fell under the last category. Someone had seen my nudes on the forum, went to one of my stories, and anonymously ranted that I was fat, hideous, and unfuckable even with a bag over my head.

 

[Katie_Mae]

I've deleted one comment. It was my own, letting readers know there was an issue with the chapter numbers and confirming that the next chapter in the series was the next chapter. I deleted it because I fixed the issue and it was now redundant.

I would delete comments which have the potential to be harmful. Eg doxing. But I don't know on what other circumstances.

 

[lc69hunter]

I had someone delete my comment this morning, and I had actually given him a compliment. I posted that I hate these morality tales and normally give them a 1 or a 2 automatically, but that his was so well written I gave him a 3.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

I wonder if it would make sense to delete a comment if the commenter is helpfully pointing out a mistake in your story and you subsequently fix it? In that situation there are no hard feelings, it's just that the comment would be out of date by then.

 

[MrStill]

I deleted one comment, someone who didn't like my story (which was fair enough) posted their complaints halfway through a published series and gave away a plot point from a later part (which was not).

 

[Saturn0815]

Just one trying to sell a natural erectile dysfunction cure, using my story as a test of its effectiveness maybe…

Your whole being is a cure for erectile dysfunction.

 

[DHerbert]

I almost never delete comments. In almost 9 years I've done it once or maybe twice. I did it not because they were negative (though they were) but because they were idiotic and obscene.

Likewise. I'll leave the negatives but when they are obscene or completely off topic, I'll remove them.

 

[ChuckWolf]

I've never deleted comments and don't plan to; I like having a historical record of how a story was received, if for no other reason than a possible reminder of what not to do and/or just to laugh about later.

Case in point, in my entry for the Crime and Punishment writing contest, I was in a deadline rush and I failed to correct a LOT of name changes for the MC, that I had made midway through writing and the readers tore me a new one:

 

[ZinJ]

I've only deleted one comment so far because it was a stupid one saying something along the lines of "why do t you try writing more than a paragraph". Yes, that typo is how they left it. Still not sure if they were a troll, brain damaged, drunk or a combination of those things. Criticism is fine only as long as it's constructive.

 

[Rob_Royale]

To date I've done it twice and I'm fairly certain the comments were from the same person. The comments said in no uncertain terms that I was the lowest form of life on the planet and should die a slow and painful death for writing what I did.

I wonder if I triggered him somehow?

 

[ZinJ]

To date I've done it twice and I'm fairly certain the comments were from the same person. The comments said in no uncertain terms that I was the lowest form of life on the planet and should die a slow and painful death for writing what I did.

I wonder if I triggered him somehow?

I don't understand why there are people out there who feel the need to do that

 

[H. Jekyll]

Just to get in here very late (it's almost October) I never delete a comment. Ever. Moreover, if the comment is sent via a Lit account, I try to reply via Lit mail. For the first part, I let the person have his or her say (commonly that I'm a cuck and my story is a RAAC) because (a) at least s/he's reading, and (b) s/he took the trouble to express an opinion, so let it stand.

On my replying to comments: In the past I merely read comments, but actual conversation is so rare here (in my experience), and I hate the idea that my stories are simply disappearing into the cosmos, so I decided to try to engage people directly. Sometimes it leads to actual conversations and even friendships. If I were one of the true majors here, the ones who get hundreds of comments, I might have to rethink the policy. As it stands, I may take a few weeks to reply to all the early comments on a story.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've deleted a couple abusive comments that were directed against me rather than the story, which I disliked looking at when I looked at comments, and they weren't going to add to any reader's experience either - "You're a piece of shit", that kind of thing.

But that's only about one in a hundred. All the others, like "Boring, one star" or most recently "Too much dialogue - I skimmed through to the good bits and there weren't enough of them. Not your finest work" - I leave. That last one does contain a lot of dialogue and I don't care if readers know it. Some readers appreciated it.