The Best Way to Handle Nasty Blog Comments?

No doubt there will be someone, at some time who will dish up a nasty comment on your blog, how do you handle it? I did think that the best way to handle it was just to leave it there because doing otherwise would be somewhat biased. But now I’ve stated to rethink this after seeing some comments on other blogs.

When I read something really nasty on another blog I feel empathy for the blogger, but I wonder if leaving those comments there might place a damper on their reputation. Should you allow allow your reputation to be compromised in your own publication?

Two Type of Negative Comments

I think there are two types of negative comments. One that offers legitimate push-back to the stance you are taking in your blog post. The other is the Negative Nellie that seems to leave the nasty comment for no good reason other than to stir up controversy.

I wouldn’t suggest removing comments that counter your arguments just because you don’t like what they don’t agree with you – there is great value in this both to you and readers. But what about Negative Nellie?

So should you delete the negative comment? Offer some sort of response?

For example, magazines often publish reader responses to previous articles. A good magazine will publish both positive and negative feedback. But I don’t recall seeing many high quality magazines that publish out and out rants based on unfounded logic.

Liz Strauss told me during our interview that many people have some fear of commenting on blogs because it opens their ideas up to scrutiny.

As a blog publisher, it is your role to set the tone of your blog. If your goal is to provide a positive atmosphere where people feel comfortable leaving comments, this type of negativity in the comments section could dissuade others from participating in the conversation.

If a person who would like to engage in the discussion sees that you allow people to leave nasty comments, could this dissuade them from joining in? As the publisher of the blog, is it our responsibility to set the tone for what is and is not acceptable?

What Other Bloggers are Doing

Marketing Profs Daily Fix
Ignore ‘em or Embrace ‘em? How to Handle Negative Blog Comments

Tech Forward
Negative Blog Comments – Keep Your Focus!

Here’s a funny one (I don’t see myself using this but I think the concept is hilarious for the right blogger):
Young Go Getter

What do you think?

What is the best way to handle those few nasty commenters and why?