Wriging

Hum, looks like the whole site itself is tedious with their own opinion, but it's a pretty topic specific blog so they have the right to do whatever they want. In the end it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks you should be able to do whatever you want at your blog.

I would delete a comment which made no sense, or a comment where one commenter called others who commented names.

I spell Michael wrong all the time, so I don't think I'd go that far.

Really horrible spelling and grammar in comments may make them hard to understand. If they are hard to understand there is no point in having them there.

I regard blogs as living rooms. When you're invited over to a friend's house you don't go ballistic and start swearing at all the other guests. So the host has a right to throw you out, no matter what exactly you did.

That said, the Michael, don't thing is slightly presposterous. I suspect there's a degree of *I can't accept contrary opinions so I'll just control what you say here*, which is a little immature, if you ask me.

On a side note, go check out the I Can Has Cheezburger site for a dose of comment pidgin. There's a whole new language evolving right under our noses there ...

There is a difference between throwing someone out and editing someone's words. There is a legal aspect there that could get that blogger into a lot of trouble. When I make a comment on a site I own those words. The blogger has the right not to display them but changing my words opens up a legal can a worms that 99% of the time is not worth it, just like taking ownership of commenter's words so they can be edited is not worth it. There are many people who purposely make a mistake in a comment just to see if the blogger will change it. I posted in notes about how many people do that on the BBC site all the time. Daily. Once it is know the blogger edits comments at will (no clear policy) it's like an accident waiting to happen. Of course no one thinks anything bad will happen to them until it does...

I understand the "my site, my prerogative" ideal, but even though I'm a grammar freak, I think editing for grammar/spelling is taking it too far.

To me it plays to the differences between journalism and blogging. Blogging is grassroots, citizen-based, and anyone can participate. If you want to be a grammar nazi go find a copy-editing job.

No better way to lose my interest than to start deleting anything other than spam comments I don't believe in corrections or editing. If someone takes the time and effort to post, they deserve to be heard regardless of their gramatical mistakes or point of view. If you can't handle that, turn comments off.

I understand editing for legal reasons, but I think the flavour of comment should be as said. I'll add this though; I think we should write in an eloquent manner. 9Rules is supposed to represent the best writing on the web; so let's get the punctuation and grammatical phrasology correct. Personality and attitude can still shine through....

9Rules is supposed to represent the best writing on the web; so let's get the punctuation and grammatical phrasology correct.

I tend to think that 9rules represents the best <i>content</i> on the web. If I read a brilliant piece of commentary and the "grammatical phrasology" or spelling is wrong (I don't even know what grammatical phrasology is, but isn't it supposed to have an 'e' in there?), I could care less. If 9rules was a collection of lit majors or book reviewers... then maybe. But I don't think most people have time to look up proper punctuation in the MLA style guide. :)

I'm pretty hard-core about grammar, spelling and punctuation...when I'm writing something or when I'm responsible, in some way, for it. I am not responsible for commenters, and don't feel the need to edit them. The only reason I could see to edit them would be if they posted a link to a URL and made a typo in that link that I discovered. I'd fix that. But otherwise, no way.

However...there have been two commenters who have posted flame attacks on my site. I deleted their comments without guilt or regret. I did not stop to edit them.

People have a right to whatever comment policy they want on their blogs. The whole "social web" thing doesn't force anyone to follow totally open rules. That being said, I might not want to comment on a blog that does this, but there's a good chance that the policy at officetally would work in my favor since I'm a fan of the show.

When I comment on a blog (something that happens all to rarely, I know) I like to think that when I get back to it the comment will say what it said when I left it. But then, as shadowsun7 said, I treat the blogs I read and comment on as other people's living rooms. I try to be polite and as well spoken as possible. If nothing more than my comment leads back to my blog!

When people comment on Bright Meadow I will leave the comment alone, regardless of what it says unless:
1) It's spam
2) It's openly derogatory and offensive to other readers. People are free to call me an uniformed, stupid cow (though I'd rather they didn't of course), but if they want to insult others they have to do it elsewhere.
3) If the person who left the comment expressly wishes me to change something in the comment

Those are the only three times I'll edit a comment and it says as much in my comment policy.

As an aside, I think a comment policy clearly stating where you stand is something all bloggers should have. It can help you clear up misunderstandings if nothing else.

As for editing for bad grammar etc? Only if my rule 3 comes into play. If the commenter makes no sense (but isn't spam), then I'll just ask them either in a reply comment or email to clarify.

aboslutely should be edited , and deleted by topic starter

I only delete comments under 2 conditions:

1. If it does harm to others. I like Cas's rule of deleting comments that are derogatory and offensive to other readers. People have often said some mean things about me in the comments, even so far as a death threat, but I kept all those comments there... just so everyone else can see what a moron sounds like. But if a comment ever threatened another loyal reader (or not so loyal) I would press 'delete.'

2. Spam. I hate spam. It gets deleted as fast as I can hit the button.

I have a comment policy that says I reserve the right to change the comments that have spelling errors at least. Usually I don't mess with the grammar or spelling if it was written in a slang. Other than that, serious comments are edited.

It's only trolls or spammers that are deleted. Everything else is saved.

I used to edit my commentator's spelling, grammar and punctuation errors but I stopped doing it recently because I figured that the comments "represent" the commentators in one way or another.

But I still edit links posted in the comments because they are sometimes too long and break my theme.

I think "Freedom of speech and expression" might be considered here, as your blog is Public to read, and allow the reader to express his/her feelings about that specific topic, why change it? if someone can't spell it's his problem not yours, I think it's more important to get the message through... ofcourse (of course?) you should have the right to leave or delete the message, if not appropriate to the topic or offending other readers. anyway i know wordpress has badword filter for comment and also a plugin to put new comments on hold, and needs to be checked by owner/moderator before it will be shown to public...

^_^

I get quite a few commenters on my blog whose second language is English (first is Spanish), so when they make simple spelling or grammatical errors, I clear them up. In the case of my blog, this helps my other readers to understand the comments and for everyone to interact better.

I've never deleted an offensive comment, though I've certainly been tempted to. I don't like flamers, trolls, or big, fat meanies, so my unwritten comment policy is the respond to the comment, warning against further inappropriate behavior and then, if my warning is ignored, to delete/ban that person. Luckily, that followup action has not yet been necessary.

I second Erin's reason. It's the other reason why I want to clear spelling errors as well. It helps other readers understand the comment better. In a way, your comments help reflect your blog even if they were posted by other people.

It's the same as the notes.

If you see a string of nonsensical replies on a note, depending on your mood, would you take it seriously?

luckily I have no readers at my blog ^-^ haha, no one knows it... in a way it feels like a relief.... although I'd like to have a comment once and a while *sob * sob*

In the case of a website or blog like this, I don't even know why you'd bother having comments enabled at all if you're just going to edit or delete them anyway.

In my opinion, blogs are something that's meant to not only express your opinion but to hear the opinions of others as well. You can't really do that when you're deleting or editing comments so harshly.

I do understand editing inappropriate comments but that's a completely different matter.

I don't edit any comments on my site, but if someone comes through my web space and is basically an ass towards me and my readers, I ban them, no questions asked.

I used to send e-mails of warning, but those were just met with more bad language and crazy behavior. So now, I figure if someone leaves a bad comment on my space, they did it with intent once they clicked "Submit Comment", so I don't waste any time trying to qualify their stupidity.

While bad spelling/grammar is one of my pet peeves, I still won't go as far as to edit comments. The only time I edited a comment is when one of my readers misspelled the link to her site, so I fixed it. I've yet to delete a comment other than spam.

After reading that particular post, I would have stopped visiting the site, had I been a reader. Being that anal just isn't called for in my opinion.

Sometimes I delete comments if they're not constructive or worthwhile. (I have a couple friends who comment on my blog for no reason; their comments go in the trash bin.) I rarely ever edit comments except for punctuation, grammar, or spelling. If I feel that I need to edit a comment for other reasons I'll just delete it.

I don't think comments should be edited (unless it's a case of censoring swearing on a site, that say, appeals to families) because it's unfair to suggest that a person has said something they haven't. If a comment has spelling or grammatical errors then it only reflects on the commenter, which in turn gives a good idea of the quality of the response.

Removal of comments should be kept to a minimum, used when a user posts something that breaks your own 'acceptable use' policy (offensive messages, off topic, spam, etc). If this should happen then the commenter should probably be informed as to why it has happened.

I hate when I visit a blog and am reading the comments and find that the owner had edited a comment for any reason. I don't think it's a problem to trash trolling or flamey comments - but to change someone's else's thoughts is just wrong (even if they use improper grammar or spelling). I especially hate when I see edited comments where the blog owner has responded to a comment in that person's comment! Just write your own new comment!

Personally, the only comments i would delete would be spam bot ones. People are entitled to their opinion. Even if they word it like a 9 year old on speed, or are blatantly offensive. If you stand by what you say, you shouldn't care if others disagree.

Hell the point of blogging is to share information, isn't it?

I usually NEVER delete comments.
Grammar errors ? Well, typos happen to everyone and I think it's even an act of disrespect to commenter doing so.

Regarding deleting, I kept/moderated even offensive ones, asking right after what was the point of all that.

I've only deleted spam.

I recently had to wrestle with this issue as well. My problem was a little different, though. My Dad was getting on my blog and defending me against dissenting commenters. I finally decided that as long as the comments are clean and non-violent, I will let them ride. I'm sure at least someone got a kick out of watching my own father defend me on my blog.

I put it this way... If someone can't speak in English like a normal person then I don't allow them to participate. If you're comment is readable, then I will not delete it. I say that if you can't participate like a normal human-being, then you don't deserve to have your comment posted for the public-eye.

I'd rather just have comments turned off completely and have one-on-one conversations with people by Email or in a discussion forum. It seems that some people think that it's alright to say comments along the lines of

You're opinion is stupid. The fact is that I'm right and you're wrong. It's so noticeable that I'm not even going to tell you!

Pffft, all that's saying is that you're stupid because you don't believe in their opinion and they can't find a valid reason for people to go bye his/her beliefs.

Blogs are for the reader, but also for the writer as well. If the writer doesn't want to cope with people who speak as if they're on top of the world or no one can make sense of them... I think that the writer can choose to delete it.

A newspaper doesn't have to include a letter to the author if they don't want to. A blogger doesn't have to include a comment written to them (or other commenters) if they don't want to.

I only delete comments if they are spam, or contain a few swear words. I don't like my blog getting "cluttered" with spam, and I want to keep my blog family-safe.

I only edit comments if they have a bad url (then I change the url), but never change the grammar or spelling of the commenter. Also, if the comment messes up my theme then I will adjust it to not do that. I always say at the bottom of the comment I edited "Comment Edited by Chris Thomson: Corrected Link", or for whatever I had to change.