Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Comment Moderation Gone Bad

I rarely use it myself (except when trivia contests are underway here), but I certainly understand the value of comment moderation on blogs. I've had comments posted here that I've read and then deleted once I realized they were racist, sexist or simply promotional bits disguised as comments. But fortunately those are few and far between and so I leave moderation off, by default.

Over on his blog (which I've enjoyed for quite awhile), Sean Twist has recently introduced comment moderation. I'm not sure what prompted it; it just started happening. I only noticed because I posted a comment (after he reviewed The Road by Cormac McCarthy) and yet it wasn't there the next time I visited his blog. I waited a few more days, checked again, and it was still nowhere to be found. I then posted a followup comment, inquiring as to whether anything in my first response had given offense, and it, too, disappeared into the ether.

I've since left another comment or two, none of which have made it through the moderation process. Other comments, from other regular readers of his blog, have shown up with quick and dependable regularity. Clearly I've made it into Mr Twist's bad books, but for no reason that's discernible to my thick skull. Which kinda sucks.

1 comment:

cjguerra said...

Guess some people just can't take it. Seems pretty petty to delete comments because you've suddenly taken a dislike to a certain person. Oh well - hope he changes his mind. I'd think it important to let comments stand unless they cross some line of decency. Usually they can stand alone and reflect on the poster more than site.