Bent Corner

I hate blogs that moderate comments. I hate blogs that only allow readers to post comments after they have been approved by the blog’s owner. Nothing demonstrates just why I hate comment moderation more then a recent post on Occasional Superheroine. Valerie D’Orazio, the blog’s owner, must first approve a comment before it appears on her blog.

She wrote a post that asked if comic book creators and other funny book professionals should have private security with them when they attend comic book conventions. What would prompt such a question? She pointed to a recent discussion that took place on Newsarama between TV producer and comic book writer Marc Guggenheim and comic book reviewer and blogger Kevin Huxford. The discussion spiraled into the recent WGA writers strike and Marc Guggenheim’s comment that there was nothing wrong with a non-WGA member crossing a WGA picket line. Huxford rightfully pointed out that no good union member approves of or encourages any person to cross a union picket line. Guggenheim responded that since Huxford didn’t work in Hollywood and wasn’t a member of the WGA, he lacked the ability to understand the “nuances” pertaining to the WGA strike. Huxford responded to this snarky comment by stating that since his knowledge of the particulars was being called into question, he was turning the matter over to the WGA so they could decide if Guggenheim actions were indeed improper or not.

Of course some people freaked out over this.

Valerie D’Orazio tried to make the asinine assertion that Kevin Huxford posed some type of threat to Marc Guggenheim’s physical well being. As if reporting someone to their union for encouraging or condoning people to cross a picket line means that next they will obtain a high powered sniper rifle and try to take them out from 500 yards away at the next Wizard World.

That’s just dumb.

What does this have to do with comment moderation? She wont allow Kevin Huxford to defend himself. Over 45 comments have been left on Valerie D’Orazio’s post. None of them have been from Kevin Huxford. She evidently is not allowing them to get through. Who else is she not allowing to comment? I left two comments. One she approved, the other one she did not. Why not? Because my opinion didn’t mesh with her opinion? So what? I just don’t get that. Click here to read my second comment, the one that she didn’t “approve”.

Allowing a free flow of ideas is an important part of the blog equation. When a blogger employs comment moderation and uses it to filter out opinions that differ with their own, they might as well ditch the blogging platform and just write Word documents. It’s dishonest. It gives the false impression that everyone reading and commenting agrees with the author. That very well might not be the case. Bloggers shouldn’t be afraid of people not agreeing with them. Bloggers shouldn’t be afraid of someone pointing out that they are wrong. They shouldn’t use comment moderation to discourage dissenting opinions. In fact, they should be encouraging people to weigh in with contrary opinions.

If there is one thing I hope 2008 brings is an end to comment moderation. You read an interesting blog post and you decide to leave a comment. You put your thoughts down in the most coherent way that you can, making sure your grammar is correct and your spelling is right. You then type in the series of fuzzy letters and numbers appearing on the screen to prove that you are not a robot. Why is it that a robot can be programed to drive around on the surface of Mars and send back photos but it can’t be programed to type “er57z” when it appears on the screen?

You then press Enter and wait for your comment to appear. Instead of seeing the comment you just posted, you see a message that says something like this:

Your comment has been submitted and will be viewable once it is approved

Why must my comment be approved? I typed in the short string of fuzzy numbers and letters proving that I was not a robot. Why then do I have to have my comment approved?

I just don’t see the point. Why do some bloggers do this? What are they afraid people are going to say? Are they worried that they are going to be called a derogatory name or that a disparaging thing is going to be said about their blog? If so, it’s time to grow up. Stop being such a pussy. Either let people leave comments or don’t. Don’t insist on micromanaging each little thing someone has to say. It’s pathetic.

The thing I hate the most about bloggers that insist on approving comments is that they never inform you ahead of time that they will need to approve your comment. They could save everyone a whole bunch of time by letting that fact be known ahead of time. Not only do I not what to leave a comment if it must first be approved, I don’t want to read comments left by other readers. If the comment section doesn’t truly reflect what other readers are thinking, I don’t want to waste my time reading it.