I’ve talked about why this blog is usually closed to comments on my copywriting blog page. But things change and I haven’t opened the doors for ages. It’s about time I tested the blog comments situation again.
Blog comments – Fully expecting a spam tsunami
A few things were clear last time I allowed comments: comment spammers were still hard at it and automating it, which presumably meant enough unwary blog owners were falling for it to make it worthwhile.
Will I endure another vast comment spam tsunami, mostly caught neatly by Akismet but annoying just the same? Last time there were thousands of the buggers. All rubbishy, irrelevant, link-filled or spun, some pointing at sites I wouldn’t give a link to in a million years.
When comment spam isn’t so spammy
If someone makes the effort to leave a properly targeted, relevant, intelligent comment and they want to include a link to somewhere equally relevant, I’m usually up for it. It’s no skin off my nose and it makes marketing sense to generate goodwill. But if they can’t be arsed to get the marketing side of things right…!
So, open sesame. I’ll report back in a couple of weeks, at which point I’ll decide whether or not to open more posts to comments. Or open posts for comments for a day after promoting them on social media, then slam the gates shut.
It’s a value decision. Spam filters can slip up. I don’t want to miss a genuine comment. Is it worth my time going through masses of crappy comments to winkle out stray gems or could I spend the time more profitably? We’ll see.
Nice people, feel free to comment. Spam bots, please bugger off. Comment spammers, you might as well learn the marketing ropes – you’ll get much better results.
