Saturday, May 19, 2012

Mean Old Nasties.

For the first time since I began this blog, I'm having to moderate a bunch of comments. Most of them are spam messages which are written in barely legible English that I have no problem deleting, but the other day a comment went to moderation that I really had to question whether to publish it, or delete it. 

The comment was from a really old post (at least a year ago) and it was mean. Really mean. It really bummed me out because blogging is supposed to be a hobby, something I enjoy, and who wants to be abused doing their hobby?! If a comment came through from someone Anonymous who disagreed with my review/opinion, I wouldn't hesitate to publish it and respond back. Conversation like this, I think, is a good thing. However, this comment wasn't suggesting an alternative view to a book or writer, it didn't really have anything to do with the post. It was just a mean personal attack at me, so I deleted it. Any response I made to this one would have been overly defensive or aggressive, and it would really darken my relationship with commenting on this blog. 

Was deleting it the right thing to do? Should I be letting new/old blog readers know exactly what other people think about me? I don't think so, especially when it's such an unprovoked and nasty attack, but I'm curious what everyone else thinks about this issue. Have you had to make the same call on your own blog? What is it with people hiding behind the veil of anonymity online that brings out the inner ass-hat?

7 comments:

  1. I have many thoughts about this (I was in fact going to write a whole post about it, but then I kind of thought, well, no one's actually been mean to me so I'm proper like stealing other people's anger) and they are mainly WHY DO PEOPLE THINK IT'S OK TO JUST BE MEAN ALL THE TIME! I mean, if you don't like something, then just go 'meh' and move on- I'm sure there are plenty of things on the internet for horrible people who are just mean!

    So basically- bad anonymous commenter! And as for deleting it, well, it's your blog so you can do with it as you please, and if you don't want someone else's issues cluttering up your lovely internet space then deleting it is the best choice. Especially since, replying to it probably isn't going to do much good since they're probably not going to come back because they've forgotten the comment like 2 minutes later, OR that's exactly what they wanted and it's best not to give it to them.

    Sorry for the essay, BUT people being mean on the internet because no one can see them is one of my biggest pet peeves!

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's one of mine too Laura! Whenever I read a news article on a site that I know allows comments I always avoid them because people just unleash such vitriol. And over nothing, most times anyway!

    It's such a mood spoiler, I put a lot of work into this blog and while it isn't the greatest one around, this isn't something I get paid to do. I'm doing it because I love it and I love the people I've met blogging. Why people have to go and ruin that I'll never understand

    ReplyDelete
  3. odd... I keep seeing blogs get these comments lately. I don't know what I would do. I guess if it doesn't add to the review or the blog then I wouldn't publish it either.
    Angie
    Angela's Anxious Life

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hate it when people use internet anonymity just to be rubbish to each other! Your blog is lovely and you are evidently a lovely person! Far lovelier than I am, because I would've posted the comment and then enjoyed ripping it apart! I would've been all furious and evil and I'd have enjoyed every second lol.

    Well done for being so much bigger and better than the small minded li'l ass-hat who sent you the nastiness.

    Here's some love to make the world a happier place! *LOVE*

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Laura, that was lovely to read first thing on a Monday morning!

    I love the internet, hence why I spend way too much time on here, but the amount of nastiness seems to be growing by the year. It's incredible what people seem to think is OK to say.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I hate when people use anonymous logins to attack people. People got to doing this all the time in the Sims community that I stopped going to those journals. I think if you are going to talk smack about someone, have the courage to claim your comments. Which is why I had anonymous comments turned off on my blog, until I switched to Discus commenting.

    I would have done the same thing, even if they had logged in.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That sucks! You're completely within your right to delete it. If someone's just being mean then nobody needs to see it. Some people are just horrible trolls.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...