Let me offer a quick refresher on policy and procedure here on the blog.
For most posts, I turn comments on. I enjoy discussion. You’re welcome to express your opinion and disagree. But it’s my house. If you’re being uncivil to me or the other people here, I may warn you, or simply kick you out.
When new users post a comment, the system holds it in moderation until Matt, Ryan or I have a chance to review it. This helps cut down on spammers and scammers.
Far too often, I’ll find something like this in the moderation queue:
The fact that you deleted my post but kept Synthian’s just shows how you don’t care about rude or downright insulting comments as long as they support your agenda. Anyway, good luck with that, John. Hard times ahead for hacks and studio pets like you.
This charming person’s prior comment wasn’t deleted — it was in the moderation queue right above it. The fact she couldn’t wait one hour before going apeshit helps explain why comments are moderated in the first place.
(I don’t leave anything lingering in moderation, by the way. A comment is either approved or trashed.)
There is also an automated spam detection system (Akismet), which will occasionally flag a valid comment as spam — particularly if there are more than two links embedded in it. If your comment hasn’t shown up for 24 hours, send us an email and we’ll check for it.
When necessary, I delete comments. Here’s a guide for making sure your comment doesn’t get deleted:
- Stay pretty much on topic.
- Don’t link to your own sites, except in the URL spot.
- Be polite. Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in my living room.
When a comment violates any of these three points, I’ll happily delete it. It’s one click for me. So keep that in mind before you spend 10 minutes writing something that won’t show up.
These are all fairly standard Living Room Rules, but some people seem unfamiliar with them, so I thought it would be better to state them explicitly.
A few other helpful tips:
Use your real name. We will take what you’re saying much more seriously if there is an actual name attached. Plus, I want to say, “Hey, I know that person!” when you set up a project at Fox.
Use an actual email address. I understand the temptation to use an imaginary email address when filling out a form, but there are at least two reasons not to. First, while the public doesn’t see that address, I do. If it’s clearly fake, I’m less likely to take you seriously. Second, I sometimes need to follow up with readers, and I can’t if I don’t have a valid email address.
Get a gravatar. These helpful little icons follow you around from post to post, blog to blog, and help us remember who you are. They are incredibly easy to set up.
Lastly, if you’re posting a tag-along comment (“Me too!”) on a post that’s months (or years) old, I’m likely to trash it. We keep comments open on old posts because readers sometimes bring new information. Simple agreement isn’t enough to resurrect a dead thread.