comment policy

Names

No nicknames, initials, optimized anchor text, etc. Only real names that mothers give their sons and daughters. First name is sufficient.

Exceptions:

  1. If you’re commenting under the name of your linked blog or business AND it’s a quality site readers would find helpful AND you can be contacted, I’ll allow it. For example, if I were to leave a comment on another blog as Expat Chronicles.
  2. Eater is a long-time reader. Eater’s not his real name, but he’s a real person who enjoys my site and sometimes leaves comments. He can be contacted through his own site; his nickname is part of his identity.
  3. “Anonymous” as a nickname.

Smell test:

  1. What does your mother call you?
  2. What does your father call you?

This isn’t to say I don’t allow anonymous comments. But you’ll have to type “Anonymous” into the name field. Or use another name a mother would give her newborn like Maria or John. Nobody’s going to know.

Email Address

No false email addresses. It doesn’t have to be your primary email address. As with Names, I can’t verify it’s yours. But if I can tell it’s fake or I respond and get a bounce, the comment’s coming down.

Smell test:

Email the address you want to use right now. Did you receive the message?

Respect

You can argue, but keep it about the subject at hand. If I deem the comment to be personal, I’ll take it down. I’ll accept a lot aimed at me, but I don’t want anybody else to be discouraged from commenting.

Smell test:

Would you talk like that to Kimbo Slice?

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Links and Spam

If you leave a spammy comment, I’ll remove it. There are exceptions. If a comment were rich with information, relevant to my post, and the link were to a helpful, quality site, I’d leave it in.

Any comment that promotes competition to my businesses or my advertisers (subject to my discretion) will be taken down. I may leave linked comments which are information-rich or helpful even if from competitors and certainly if you’re a long time reader linking to your own business.

Smell test:

  1. Do I know Colin? Does Colin know me?
  2. Does the information in the comment compel readers to continue reading?

I am certainly not against blog commenting for marketing and SEO. But there are rules and best practices. Read Mostly Maths’ piece on how he grew traffic through blog commenting. Here are his six recs:

  1. Comment only in posts that interest you
  2. Add value
  3. Always add a link
  4. Promote posts where you comment
  5. Try to land one of the first 5 comments
  6. Look for interesting posts constantly