Setting Up A Comments Policy On Your WordPress Blog

Let me ask you, do you have a Comments Policy displayed on your blog?

A policy to cover this area of your blog can be very important, especially as you become more visible, and hopefully, your Google Page Rank starts to rise.

Setting a policy in place before you need it makes a lot of sense.

A few comments that I have received over the past few months could be considered defamatory, and this is where a policy is especially needed.

While plugins such as Akismet can deal with spam, if someone defames another person on your blog, or breaks the law in some other way, this could cost you – big time!

If a comment is made that even hints of defamation, or makes a personal attack on anyone, it doesn’t see the light of day here!

I make sure that all comments are held for moderation before publishing, and while this may upset some, I feel that it is necessary, simply because of the ‘junk’ that used to get through before I began doing this.

I use a few WordPress plugins to help maintain a spam free comments zone.

Setting Up Your Comments Policy

There are two ways of doing this. The first is by editing ‘comments.php’, and the second is by using Alex King’s Plugin License

Regardless of which method you use, I’d recommend placing the policy on a page on your blog as I have, so that it can’t be missed.

As your blog grows, you can add other policies on new pages if needs be.

What should you put in your policy?

Well, its your policy so you choose. A good place to start is by using the default text on Alex King’s plugin, and adjusting it along the way.

I try to maintain a balance between being friendly and inviting comments, and being legalistic.

Do I succeed? Well, that’s for you to decide, though I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter!