What's your feeling on deleting comments?

[upbeatunicorn]

Hi all,

I'm a relatively new contributor. I like writing, but know my writing needs work. I appreciate when people leave feedback on a story or send me a private message, especially if it is specific about what someone liked or not.

But I got a lame comment today that was just:
"I'm STILL laughing at how bad this was."

By Anonymous, of course. I try not to let these bother me since I get positive feedback, too, either in the comments or just the ratings and favorites. But I kind of want to delete this comment because it's not helpful.

What is the general consensus on deleting comments? Do people delete spiteful comments? Or is it just the price you pay for allowing public comments? I don't feel like I want to delete all the negative comments I've gotten, and I've come to expect them in the non-consent category. But it's hard to get up the courage to post my stories and then have a comment like be attached to one of them.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[TxRad]

If they are rants or just blasts about the subject of the story instead of the story, they usually bite the dust. Obvious troll bullshit does the same. The rest stay whether they are good or bad comments.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

The comments are your property. Delete what you want. I keep mine unless it's an obvious troll or the commentor is so rambling and incoherent that I can't make out what he's saying. If they attack the work but make reasonable points I'll let it stand.

 

[sr71plt]

I don't delete many (I don't receive many), but any that I think are irrelevant to the story or are unfair, or show the commenter's knowledge is half baked, or that appear to be going after me rather than the story, I delete, if I wish. Some here try to guilt authors to leave comments on, but I say just zap any that bother you for any reason you chose to do so. They aren't paying for the story.

 

[HeyAll]

If a bird shits on your car, do you leave it, or wash it off?

I look at troll comments the same way.

You worked hard on your story, don’t let people leave those comments on it.

 

[BlackBeardedBasteerd]

If a bird shits on your car, do you leave it, or wash it off?

I look at troll comments the same way.

You worked hard on your story, don’t let people leave those comments on it.

^Spot on

 

[holliday1960]

I don't delete many (I don't receive many), but any that I think are irrelevant to the story or are unfair, or show the commenter's knowledge is half baked, or that appear to be going after me rather than the story, I delete, if I wish. Some here try to guilt authors to leave comments on, but I say just zap any that bother you for any reason you chose to do so. They aren't paying for the story.

This is what I do as well. I leave some that are helpful negatives, but I don't need the added stress of bored haters, so those, I delete. (One attacked the names of my characters which just so happened to be the names of two people I knew.) The comment said, 'Stupidest names EVER!'

I personally think 'Anonymous' is about as stupid a name as it gets. But, what do I know? (I do know how to hit DELETE!)

 

[NOIRTRASH]

If the reader makes, say, a criminal or over the top accusation you know cant be true, delete it. For me its okay if I'm an asshole, but I don't abuse or neglect animals, so don't say I kick dogs. If a reader thinks my wares suck, its okay, prolly they do.

 

[Hypoxia]

I deleted a comment once and immediately regretted doing so. Any comment means the reader has been affected by my words. Every comment is a badge of honor. I keep them all.

 

[CyranoJ]

What is the general consensus on deleting comments? Do people delete spiteful comments?

There isn't a consensus, everyone has their own approach. Personally, I keep and respond to constructive criticism, and of course I keep praise because I'm vain. I delete one-liner criticisms (nothing there to engage with) and accusatory rants, most especially when their content hints that the commenter hasn't actually read the story.

 

[SamScribble]

If a bird shits on your car, do you leave it, or wash it off?

I look at troll comments the same way.

Sounds about right to me.

 

[NicoleZ]

Comments like these stay because they show the ignorance, prejudice, sexism and malice of the commenter:

Anonymous: idiot rubbish you little coward are rubbish! Go trash yourself please!

Anonymous: rubbish hey, bulldyke, stop wasting literotica server space with your effluvia

Overcritical: Just plain awful Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention when Sam gave that convoluted explanation... ...but I couldn't keep track of it because no names were given during the rant... ...but I read most of it since it was only one page long.

They make such a lovely contrast to the other, nice and enlightened comments don't you think.

 

[Sammael Bard]

It's your lawn.

Whether you choose to showcase garbage or not is, and should be, your decision. Nobody is forcing you to do otherwise.

 

[sr71plt]

This is sort of weird. Every previous time for years that we've had this thread topic, the opinions have been at least evenly split. Not this time. I think I know why, but it's just weird.

 

[CyranoJ]

This is sort of weird. Every previous time for years that we've had this thread topic, the opinions have been at least evenly split. Not this time. I think I know why, but it's just weird.

Care to elaborate? I'm curious.

 

[legerdemer]

This is sort of weird. Every previous time for years that we've had this thread topic, the opinions have been at least evenly split. Not this time. I think I know why, but it's just weird.

Care to elaborate? I'm curious.

Me too.

 

[sr71plt]

Think about it. Not a single poster to the subject this time has tried to guilt authors for not leaving all comments up? And you don't notice who is missing?

 

[AlliaPotestas]

Hi upbeatunicorn,

I am also new to writing, I know I am not very good at the moment, but I am hoping to improve with practice and I am really enjoying the writing process.

I have also debated removing the odd comment, so far I have resisted because it felt a little self-sanitising to me but it is entirely up to you. It’s your story hub to control how you see fit.

My first bit of troll feedback was removed, I assume because someone else reported it, I wasn’t too bothered about it, not least because it seemed all the recent non-con stories had an unpleasant review left at about the same time - I doubt that particular anonymous troll had even read most of them…

If it makes you feel any better I would trade you the following comment for your "I'm STILL laughing at how bad this was.":

“absolute load of crap story , your obviously a fat fuck with a little dick to have an imagination like you have ,i bet you have cheese under your foreskin and your into baby animals”

That one I really debated deleting but I have left it up and I’m glad I did, another author PM’d me to tell me he was jealous he’d never had a comment like that. It was sweet of him and his camaraderie made me feel marginally better.

What I have noticed, and this is only my experience and not statistically significant, is that when a really bad bit of feedback appears, others seem reluctant to post their own positive comments next to it and I see an increase in positive feedback instead being emailed to me - so maybe you should delete the comment if you want to encourage your other readers to feedback on the site rather than email…

Good luck, x

 

[Bramblethorn]

Comments like these stay because they show the ignorance, prejudice, sexism and malice of the commenter:

Anonymous: idiot rubbish you little coward are rubbish! Go trash yourself please!

Anonymous: rubbish hey, bulldyke, stop wasting literotica server space with your effluvia

Overcritical: Just plain awful Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention when Sam gave that convoluted explanation... ...but I couldn't keep track of it because no names were given during the rant... ...but I read most of it since it was only one page long.

They make such a lovely contrast to the other, nice and enlightened comments don't you think.

Hard to be certain but I think the top of those three is arguing with the middle commenter (calling them a coward for trashing you) and not with you?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Agreeing with everybody else, you have the right to delete anything you like on your stories.

My personal policy is that the comment section on my stories is for discussion of those stories. If people have criticisms, even misguided ones, I'll leave them up. But if they want to use it as a platform for their own pet topics, they can go post it themselves in the Essays section and not piggy-back on mine. Happy to say I've never had to do that, but I've certainly seen such comments on other people's stories.

I'd also likely delete homophobic, misogynistic, or transphobic comments, but again that hasn't been an issue so far.

The only comment I can recall deleting is one of my own where I inadvertently breached site policy. I may have deleted some blatant spam, I don't remember.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have no compunction deleting comments that are trolling, poisonous, or an anon expressing some half baked opinion. It depends on my mood at the time. Sometimes it's just fuck you, your comment is zero, gone; other times it's meh, who cares, you can stay. Generally, if my first response is "who the fuck are you, sunshine, what do you know?" then it's gone. Generally though, I fly beneath the radar, and my crap comment delete count is actually quite low.

I stupidly argued once. I came back a couple of months later and deleted both his and my comments. Thinking about it, it's kind of surprising the joker came back. Maybe he liked the story, but not the turn a particular chapter took. Someone else then had the hide to say, "good, you're back on track now." Umm, whose story is this?

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

I don't think I've deleted any comments yet, I figure they took the time to comment so unless it's an obvious troll, or just bashing me personally, I'll leave them.

I did have one that bothered me, and I even replied right after reading it when I was still upset by the comment. I will calm down next time if I decide to reply to a comment like it again.

 

[NicoleZ]

Hard to be certain but I think the top of those three is arguing with the middle commenter (calling them a coward for trashing you) and not with you?

One would hope so even if they were almost two months apart, but the top two are at least from the same story.

 

[tomlitilia]

I leave everything these days. I have in the past deleted comments that could be interpreted as death threats. But I leave them alone too, and lit admin usually deletes them within a few days. I think there is a point to let lit handle this to give them some overview of the vicious commenters.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

Think about it. Not a single poster to the subject this time has tried to guilt authors for not leaving all comments up? And you don't notice who is missing?

I've been noticing a particular conspicuous silence (and if anyone would notice, I would). At first I thought my iggy was giving new and better service, but that's not it.

At the risk of being seen as taking the easy climb to the high ground, I hope it's not a medical situation. To prove I'm human and all too capable of schadenfreude, I was starting to wonder if he'd finally said something outright actionable and got in legal trouble, or at least sailed a little too far and Lit gave him a talking to. Given his rabid approach though I can't really believe it's the latter. It has the feel of something serious.

It's Christmas, so I'm going to say the right thing even if my teeth are grinding: I hope it's not as serious as my worst speculations. But I did a post on how Xmas has become an offensive term to some people, and if he'd seen that nothing on earth would have stopped a reply. Except a lawyer or a coma. Any day now I'm going to reach the Mildly Concerned stage, and maybe nicer people should already be there.