I run a blog on SEO and its obvious that comment system is vital for a blog. Presently, I do comment moderation manually. I never leave it for any stupid AI or anything. I get a lot of comment spam related to casino and illegal stuff. Thats why I started to moderate. But, a friend of mine told me to leave some space for readers to discuss. I'm really skeptic of what to do.

If you get a lot of spam it will be better for your users to moderate comments.

I never let the spam through. I have things set to approve the comments. I can't see any good reason to allow the spam. It will just characterize your site as spam too.

I don't moderate real comments, since I don't want to alter what someone says and change their message. If I were to start getting inappropriate language I would probably edit that out, but the language would have to be pretty objectionable for me to do that.

yes, to control spam

I never change the comments. I delete spam and allow good ones. Just asking since a friend talked to me about this. He likes the site to be out of moderation and should be free for public.

There's a happy medium, and if you look at Matt Cutts' blog and post there for a while, you'll see it.

Here's what he does:

1) He pre-moderates at first.
2) Once someone's trusted, he allows that person to post automatically.

That will let you weed out the scum while still encouraging discussion among those who have earned it.

you can moderate the comments on your blog by Putting a "nofollow Links".

yes you can moderate comments... and so, it can protect your blog from spams

How Adam describes things is really how I have mine set up as well. The first time you comment I need to approve the post, but once I've come to trust you the comments will go through automatically. Of course if you later abuse that trust it's back to needing approval.

It can be a pain to have to approve the comments sometimes, but it helps keep out the spam and still allows regular commentors to have their comments appear as soon as they post them.

I like the method. Are there any plugins for Wordpress for the purpose ? And, about nofollow links, the problem is that they aren't posting links at all but bad words and abusive sentences.

If you are not touching the comments made by actual visitors then there is no problem in editing out those spams. The fine line is you have to be honest in deciding which one is spam and which one is not. If you control spam in your site that should not hurt your genuine visitors.

You don't need a plugin to require moderation of the comments. Just check the WordPress settings to require an email, etc and also that comments need to be approved.

by controlling it you'll set your blog as clean as it is...not full of comments that was really a spam...

Well, I think the questions needs to be changed here. Do I need comments ? A lot of webmasters told me to turn off comments. See this How Comments Can Make You Lose Readers.

bit of an odd idea really. It would be a bit like opening a forum and not allow qestions to be answered until there is "enough". Whatever "enough" may be.

Blogging originally began for people to put forward their point of view and for others to comment on it and put theirs forward. Not allowing comments then, would have ensured the death of the idea fairly quickly and I would think that the very idea is an anathema to many "bloggers".

But of course by making the post (and allowing comments) he has pretty much guaranteed that there will be many other bloggers linking to and discussing the point. "Link bait" at its best.
"Good news doesn't sell papers" was the by-word for every newspaper editor, and the same is true for blogging. Being controversial or at least a little outside the "box" is what gets the majority of bloggers their reputation and readers.
Maybe "Boring doesn't get links" should be the by-word for bloggers.


I'm "speaking" as a total non-blogger BTW

I don't have one and probably not likely to. ( although one ongoing coding project is to write a "blog" style CMS application)
I don't read any as a matter of course. (not even Matt Cutts)
I don't comment on anybody elses.

Make what you will of my POV and comment away

Chris it does seem odd at first, but it does make some sense to me. There are so many blogs out there now on most topics and the next one is only a click or two away.

When you see a blog like Matt Cutts with comment after comment you know people are reading and I guess there's a sort of hive mentality that if all these other people are reading it must be good. Every comment is essentially a testimonial for the blog.

Now I'm sure you'll agree that a blog (as with everything) should be judged on its own merits. If you read it and like what you read you should come back again regardless of what anyone else thinks. We know that's not how it works for a lot of people though.

When you see a blog that's empty of comments you may think that no one is reading and that maybe no one's reading because the blog isn't so great.

When I first started my own blog I left the comments on since I wanted them. There weren't many or even any comments at first, but after awhile it started to build. I think the comments are an integral part of a blog and so I always wanted to leave them open.

You do get a lot of comment spam even if you're blog isn't all that popular which is why I have things set to require an email and also need to approve the first time someone comments. It helps prevent the spam from getting through. Otherwise I don't moderate comments at all. As long as it's legit it goes through barring something like me accidentally deleting the comment.

I don't know if it's really that big a deal to have a lack of comments, but it's an argument I've seen often for turning comments off, another being because of too much spam. I can understand where the argument comes from, but I'm not sure how valid it is.

Well, comments are an integral part of a blog. I agree. But just visualise this :-

*mind = surf internet *

• I'm visited a blog.

• I saw a "controversial" post.

* mind = excited *

• I said "Hey, this is cool. Wonder what's inside".

• I read it and I say "this is so unbelievable to be true".

*mind = confused/uncertain*

• I say "Lemme see what others have to say".

• I check the comments. RESULT = *crickets*.

• I say - " Wonder why no one is commenting. Maybe bcuz this guy is unreliable".

* mind = not impressed *

• I say " Why should I read this loser's blog ? "

*mind = should get my butts outta here *

So, the blogger lost a reader. This might happen. I mean there are a lot of people with this kind of mindset. To tell the truth, I act like this. So, comments might make you lose readers. Atleast first time readers. What do you think ? I've another idea in my mind. Now, this is a wacky one. What if all (atleast few) of us join together and comment on each others' blogs. This is possible I guess.

*mind = Matt Cutt's Blog sux * lol