COMMENT NAZI’S

Posted on May 9, 2007 at 9:51 pm in General
Popularity: 16%

NO COMMENT FOR YOU!

Comment authorizer’s listen up. My boy Cord over at Marketing Hipster has writtin’ a few tight posts about how old school companies don’t get it. My boy C- points out how old school companies and folks keep trying to control everything and don’t recognize that the new world of the net is about loosin’ up, lettin’ go and not trying to control everything. His most recent post about Disney and Charter is a tight illustration of this control. I agree with big C-.

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It got me wonderin’. If it ain’t about control, and bloggers are supposed to be at the core of this new era, why are so many of ya’ll checkin’ the author approval box for comments?

If I’m leavin’ a comment on your blog, the first thing I do after clickin’ “post comment”, is look to see if it is published OR if it is in the author approval queue. If it is queued; I can’t help but be like, whas up dawg? What are you afraid of? Why you screenin my comments? Why you putting me in the queue like the soup Nazi? Why you frontin me? Wass up? Why do ya feel the need to “authorize” my comments. If you are afraid I might say something you don’t like, then why are you askin for comments?

I’m wittcha money, you’re thinkin’ you don’t want anybody throwin out the nasty stuff, but I ain’t buyin’ it. You can delete any comment. You can block anyone who comments inappropriately. Akismet handles spam. You got other options. So why do ya do it. Why don’t ya open it up?

I know, I know, ya wanna make sure it is appropriate, we just went through that. My point, there is no such thing as an inappropriate comment, except something that is of bad taste. Swearing, sexually explicit, spam, racially off color comments are the ONLY exceptions to this rule and how often does anyone leave these types of comments; almost never.

Let’s be the appropriate stewards of this new open medium. Remove the controls, don’t be afraid, promote the dialogue, accept the discourse, and embrace the conversation from all sides. It’s open ya’ll, let’s keep it that way.

So now tell me, just for my own edification, why do ya do it? My comment lines are open and filter free. Give me some love and the 411 from all ya’ll comment authorizers whas up?

Comments

I have to agree with you. I’ve come to a conclusion about the “type” of people to screen their comments, and it’s usually the I’ll-publish-your-comment-but-only-if-you-agree-with-me type. I can usually tell, by reading a person’s blog, if they screen or not even before leaving a comment. It’s a talent, really ;-)

If someone posts a rude comment to my site, which I’ve had happen only once, I want EVERYONE to see it. More often than not, it casts a bad light on the commenter instead of the author.

But there are some authors, who for one reason or another, have been the victims of a barage of nasty notes. These are people who are hardly controversial in their content, and yet they are being bullied. Then they are made to feel as though they should moderate.

Comment from Melissa R. Garrett on May 11, 2007, 5:22 am

[...] - Comment Nazis Let’s be the appropriate stewards of this new open medium. Remove the controls, don’t be [...]

Pingback from Brown Thoughts » Blog Archive » Brown Batch #5 on May 12, 2007, 9:02 am

I’ve got my Moderate Comments turned off!

Comment from Scott Townsend on May 14, 2007, 7:51 am

MG,

It is funny, I agree with you. You can almost always tell when someone is a comment nazi or not. It is a sense ya get. The second I click publish, I look to see if if is published right away or if I’m gonna git “censored” first. I think it is a control thing.

As always MG, your insight is impressive, thanks

Scott,

Way to go brotha!!!! Glad to hear you ain’t no comment Nazi! Now let’s see if we can the rest to follow.

Thanks for visiting money!

Comment from Antman on May 14, 2007, 2:37 pm

I let ‘em all come in. Very inclusive. Of course, I find out as soon as the comment appears, and if I don’t like it I just rip it off the page, tear it into little bits and throw it to the cyber winds! Nah, not really. Only the spam. I’ve learned to let others have a different opinion, even criticize me personally, and express those differences on my own blog. Be pretty hypocritical of me to do otherwise. Right?

Comment from Georganna Hancock on May 16, 2007, 9:53 am

I don’t care so much that someone disagrees with me, but I don’t have time to be spending all day watching that someone says something they “shouldn’t” (not like many people say anything anyway). It’s more of a safeguard than anything. Just in case. *shrug* That’s just my opinion.

Comment from Tracy on May 30, 2007, 8:35 pm

m0pi0l4b0xg@yahoo.co.uk

Comment from vuv on October 30, 2007, 11:42 pm

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