Comments on: New commenting policy.. use your name, please.

By: Rif Chia

Rif Chia — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 17:12:35 +0000

Hi Neil, i have seen blogs using name + keyword in the comment name field. Looks way better than just a keyword rich name. One good example will be Rif Chia @ Singapore SEO. In this way, it represents both the real name as well as a link back to the website. This is just a suggestion. Opps, i sneaked a link into my comment. Hope you don't mind.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:34:49 +0000

Totally understandable. I’ve always removed comments that didn’t use a name for that field. It’s only acceptable if using the KeywordLuv plugin.

By: Neil_Shearing

Neil_Shearing — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 07:08:01 +0000

Hi Allan,

I have no problem with that at all.

I also don’t mind people placing a link to their site in the comment itself, which, from an SEO perspective, may actually be more useful, although I haven’t tested it.

I guess I just don’t like people posting anonymously because it’s much harder to have a discussion with them.

Neil.

By: Allan Gardyne | AssociatePrograms.com

Allan Gardyne | AssociatePrograms.com — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 04:42:48 +0000

Good luck with the spam fighting, Neil. What’s your policy on person’s name + domain?

By: Thom

Thom — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:10:02 +0000

Dan’s comment: “What really bugs me most is when people offer do follow links in their blogs and then donâ€™t allow people to use keywords!”

I agree, Dan. It makes it difficult when people with good intentions are posting relevant, quality comments in order to obtain a decent back link to their website. And by decent I mean using anchor text that is relevant to the theme of their website, rather than their name, which as we all know is not looked upon by the search engines as necessarily relevant.

I can understand Neil’s concern:

Neil’s comment: “Well, I didnâ€™t originally mind it, and if you see the ‘Real Link Finder’ posts, youâ€™ll find hundreds of comments, many with keywords in the name field.

But, when I want to reply to someoneâ€™s comment, itâ€™s hard to say, ‘thanks for visiting the blog, Goldfish Food, hereâ€™s what I think about your reply’.”

But there are ways to get around this dilemma. One is to allow a partial anchor in the name field such as: Thom from 10 Minute Forex Review or some such. That gets the name in the name field along with a relevant anchor text for the person making the comment.

Another is to require the person using only anchor text in the name field to sign their name below their comment (or somewhere in the comment) so that yourself and others can respond using it. Just something to consider that might make a good situation better for all around.

Thom

By: Neil_Shearing

Neil_Shearing — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:29:39 +0000

Hi Dan,

Well, I didn’t originally mind it, and if you see the “Real Link Finder” posts, you’ll find hundreds of comments, many with keywords in the name field.

But, when I want to reply to someone’s comment, it’s hard to say, “thanks for visiting the blog, Goldfish Food, here’s what I think about your reply”.

So, if someone’s willing to leave a quality comment and add something to the discussion, I’d prefer that they didn’t spoil it by putting keywords in the name field.

At least, that’s my reasoning.

Neil.

By: Dan O'Neil

Dan O'Neil — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:40:45 +0000

What really bugs me most is when people offer do follow links in their blogs and then don’t allow people to use keywords! People who market themselves by their name are laughing, whereas people who are genuinely interested in adding value but who really want to use their time wisely (and use relevant anchor text for their links) get a rough deal.

It’s great that you allow people to use anchor text links in the body of their comment (a lot of blog owners don’t) and I completely understand about all the v1agara and other spammy comments. Personally, I’ve implemented the keyword luv plugin on my personal development blog and that ensures that I get a name as well as allowing people to leave anchor text with their link. Something to perhaps consider!

Regards, Dan

By: Mike Paetzold

Mike Paetzold — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:11:05 +0000

I agree that giving a live link for a quality comment on my blog is a fair trade. Had not thought of requiring a name although the majority of my commenters do use a name.

The ones that don’t for the most part are not taking part in the conversation so they never gt approved.

If more people would actually take part in the conversation it would benefit all.

By: Edward Langenback

Edward Langenback — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 17:09:11 +0000

I’ve been implementing similar policies on my blogs. I am *so* weary of seeing things in the name field like “Sweating During Sleep” or “cheap v1agra” and dreck like that. So I decided that if a comment doesn’t contain a name or at least a reasonable handle then I’ll change it to Anonymous.

If in addition to the keyword name thing the comment is more of the mindless drivel like “this learns me a lot”.. I just hit ‘spam’ and be done with it.