How often do you moderate comments?

[Inkhorn]

I tend to read all of the comments that my stories get, good and bad alike, and I’ve always just let them stand. But today I had one that was filled with such vitriol (from an Anonymous, of course) that I felt instantly compelled to delete it. At the same time, I feel a little bad for doing it.

So how often does everyone else moderate comments, and is there a line not to cross?

 

[KeithD]

My author's page shows when a comment has been made. That's the only time a moderate it.

 

[NotWise]

So how often does everyone else moderate comments, and is there a line not to cross?

Personal judgment. If a comment is factually incorrect, or full of bigotry or hatred then I'll take it down. I'll usually leave things that are merely critical, but Laurel will sometimes remove them even after I leave them.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I very rarely have to do it, but my general principles are:

- No bigotry.
- If you're there to criticise the story, that's okay. If you're just using it as an excuse to launch into an essay about your personal bugaboos, nope. This site already has an Essays section, there's no need to hijack my mentions with soapboxing.
- Stalker behaviour gets reported (and deleted by Laurel).

 

[SamScribble]

Most of the comments I get are positive. And if I get a negative comment that appears to be the expression of a genuinely-held opinion, I'll leave that for others to read and consider. But if the comment is just a bad-tempered rant accusing me of being 'another fucking Limey jerk who thinks an apostrophe is a quote mark', I'll normally pop it in the dustbin.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I regard junk comments as I would a dog turd on my front lawn. Would you leave a turd on a lawn? I don't have a problem with reasoned commentary, it's Johnny Stupid I delete, when they have nothing to say.

Some folk keep trash comments like a badge of honour, and that's their choice, good for them. But there's no shame in cleaning away garbage, and don't let anyone tell you there is.

There are "latest comments" on the category hubs, so in that sense they're advertising for your story, another reason for some house-keeping.

Having said that, I don't seem to attract stupid. In five years, I've deleted maybe a dozen comments, more in earlier years when I thought it was clever to engage with category police. I don't see many inane comments, nowadays, which means something, I guess.

 

[SimonDoom]

In almost three and a half years of publishing 31 stories, I have only deleted one comment. Laurel has deleted many more, including some that I wish she hadn't, because they were entertaining, even if they were awful.

 

[yukonnights]

I don't get too many ugly ones. I consider a comment ugly when it is critical of the sexuality, or the fetish theme. These usually have no useful critique and are just spreading hate — these get trashed the day they show up. Since we can see new comments, I always make that my first stop when I log-in.

Comments that are sincere but wrong; I will leave these but usually I will leave a comment in response to clarify their error. I know they won't ever see it, I do this for those coming after them so the comment won't diminish that next reader's experience.

I also often drop in to leave a general 'thank you note' to the ones who have left a comment. I do this to show the next readers that I'm engaged with them and hopefully let them know their own comment is important.

My wish is that there were more comments — but, I wish for a lot of things that rarely come true

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Hey, if they hate the story that's on them. Usually, they don't like it because it's not what they expected out of me. The story might start out a BTB story yet after the divorce they get back together. A lot in the BTB crowd, don't like post divorce reconciliation. And that's their problem. In my 7 decades I have see both kinds of BTBitch and BTBastard where the two parties have gotten back together. Most of the time I get a good laugh out of the comments.

If they express any hate toward me for any reason, then the comment goes in the crapper.

Then there are those readers that leave comments almost as long a my story.

 

[yukonnights]

Hey, if they hate the story that's on them. Usually, they don't like it because it's not what they expected out of me. The story might start out a BTB story yet after the divorce they get back together. A lot in the BTB crowd, don't like post divorce reconciliation. And that's their problem. In my 7 decades I have see both kinds of BTBitch and BTBastard where the two parties have gotten back together. Most of the time I get a good laugh out of the comments.

If they express any hate toward me for any reason, then the comment goes in the crapper.

Then there are those readers that leave comments almost as long a my story.

I know! And then I feel bad when it's all off base — if it's well meaning but wrong, I usually respond with a comment of my own. If it's a long treatise informing me of my depravity — I flush it with feelings of almost embarrassing satisfaction

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't moderate, I let everything stay.

At this point when I see I received a comment I might not even read it depending on the story its on, because I've lost interest in all but maybe a few of my stories so I wouldn't even know if the site has removed anything at this point.

 

[lovecraft68]

Hey, if they hate the story that's on them. Usually, they don't like it because it's not what they expected out of me. The story might start out a BTB story yet after the divorce they get back together. A lot in the BTB crowd, don't like post divorce reconciliation. And that's their problem. In my 7 decades I have see both kinds of BTBitch and BTBastard where the two parties have gotten back together. Most of the time I get a good laugh out of the comments.

If they express any hate toward me for any reason, then the comment goes in the crapper.

Then there are those readers that leave comments almost as long a my story.

There is a poster "anubelore"-something like that. If you post LW stories you've seen him, he's left comments so long I get curious and copy paste them into a word doc to get the word count. one was 1500 words.....shows up in I/T once in awhile too. His comments seem as if he's making a point, but almost to himself like he's using comments to debate his own feelings.

He's never nasty that I've seen, but I've given up trying to read through them

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

I tend to read all of the comments that my stories get, good and bad alike, and I’ve always just let them stand. But today I had one that was filled with such vitriol (from an Anonymous, of course) that I felt instantly compelled to delete it. At the same time, I feel a little bad for doing it.

So how often does everyone else moderate comments, and is there a line not to cross?

I think I've only ever deleted one comment, which was personally abusive about another author. Other than that, I've just let them be. To be fair, I don't think I've had any really unpleasant comments.

 

[sbrooks103]

I tend to read all of the comments that my stories get, good and bad alike, and I’ve always just let them stand. But today I had one that was filled with such vitriol (from an Anonymous, of course) that I felt instantly compelled to delete it. At the same time, I feel a little bad for doing it.

So how often does everyone else moderate comments, and is there a line not to cross?

I VERY rarely delete comments, can't remember the last time. I'd say I never do, but I have a VAGUE recollection of doing so. I post many comments, as far as I know none offensive, but I know many have strong opinions about them, and wouldn't care to have them deleted, so I return the favor.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I get very few comments in general. I'm with Yukon, I wish there were more. That said, I have yet to delete a comment. Laurel deleted one for me once.

I could see myself deleting a comment that was hateful personally, or threatening, or overtly bigoted. But stupid? Meh, whatever, let your stupidity hang out for all to see.

 

[YDB95]

I mostly leave comments alone, unless they're really, outrageously nasty. Where's the line? I know it when I see it.

There is one exception: my story When We Get to San Francisco is about an abortion, and periodically it attracts commenters who use it as a soapbox for anti-choice propaganda. That gets deleted no matter how politely it is phrased.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Those simply expressing dislike stay, especially if they can make a half-way decent argument . Irrational, illiterate ad hominem rants are gone whenever they appear.

 

[Lori_the_Hoosier]

I patrol the comments BB1958 gets because he never does, and he never bites back or responds unless someone asks him a direct, pertinent question, or he feels the sender is so deranged he shouldn't be trusted to safely operate any machinery more complex than a Crayola, so hopefully his care-giver will read it and force-feed him his meds. If it's just an idiot airing his idiocy he likes to leave them up, on the basis that if they amuse him, they'll amuse others; the racist, bigoted, creepy, or just plain nasty 'you stupid English Limey's can't write or speak proper English (spot the irony there, folks)...' ones get deleted by me, because I don't like them; he doesn't actually care...

 

[gordo12]

I just deleted my second one last week. An absolute spew of vitriol. Most of the comments I get are positive and when they don't like something, they say why. I can live with that. My overall policy is let them have their say.

I had one on the 750 story that wasn't happy. I responded and told her to grow up, she'd been warned the story was dark ahead of time. There was nothing wrong with her comment though. She told me why she didn't like it.

Then the site deleted her. I had to put up another comment explaining why I was responding to non-existent comments.

The site has eliminated more than I have.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I thought about deleting some recently, but then they've spurred nice people on to leave appreciative and constructive comments, not to mention apologising for fellow Americans insulting British English, so this far I've kept them as they're funny.

I reserve the right to change this stance at any time.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

[/B]

I know! And then I feel bad when it's all off base — if it's well meaning but wrong, I usually respond with a comment of my own. If it's a long treatise informing me of my depravity — I flush it with feelings of almost embarrassing satisfaction

Same here, except I rarely respond to a reader unless they are completely off base on their criticism.

There is a poster "anubelore"-something like that. If you post LW stories you've seen him, he's left comments so long I get curious and copy paste them into a word doc to get the word count. one was 1500 words.....shows up in I/T once in awhile too. His comments seem as if he's making a point, but almost to himself like he's using comments to debate his own feelings.

He's never nasty that I've seen, but I've given up trying to read through them

I don't think I have had him comment on any of mine, I'll have to check, but I don't recognize the name.

Welcome back.

 

[PennameWombat]

I tend to read all of the comments that my stories get, good and bad alike, and I’ve always just let them stand. But today I had one that was filled with such vitriol (from an Anonymous, of course) that I felt instantly compelled to delete it. At the same time, I feel a little bad for doing it.

So how often does everyone else moderate comments, and is there a line not to cross?

Critical but lucid ones I'll leave. One example commented (with slightly stronger language) "where's the second half of the story?" Fair enough, I chose an ending point that resolved most plot strands but not all of them. But it also wasn't a cliffhanger where a sequel is required (but open enough to allow). So that's a valid point that any two readers might see radically differently and the language was a bit harsh but they had READ the story, liked it, but were put out by the ending. I keep those because I can always go back over and use such to mull on for my ongoing endeavors.

But I've deleted, across all of my stories, only a couple that were bonkers with no actual criticism, just abuse. And that line will always be your personal choice. Although, others on this thread mention Laurel will delete comments, I'm not aware that's ever happened to me but it's not something I track carefully.

I don't think there's a hard or single line. I see no reason to allow anything that's simply insults, or focuses on that as opposed to making a hard but lucid critical statement. But others might feel differently. I'm also a tad more lenient on 'named' comments versus Anonymous. Not that I auto-delete the latter but if they put their name on it I'll be slower to hit the button.

 

[vanmyers86]

I've deleted only one, a false accusation of plagiarism.

 

[RejectReality]

I think I deleted one that was attacking another author at some point in the far-flung past, but that's all I can remember.

Most of the time, nasty comments prompt other readers to refute said nasty comments, creating plenty of balance, so I feel no need to remove anything.

That said, if a comment bothers you, remove it. The tools have been provided for you to do so, and you don't owe anybody a soapbox in your comment section.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

I have yet to delete any comments. Maybe I don't get really nasty ones or maybe my sense of humor enjoys the fact that they seem to care about my characters enough to let me know about their little flaws.

On the other hand, if someone does cross the line and make a comment that is blatantly racist, sexist, homophobic or generally disrespectful or distasteful, then I would have no qualms about shitcanning that comment.

James