Most of us like comments. Comments allow us to engage with our readers, and to further develop the ideas set forth in our online articles. Most comments convey at least some information, even the ones that are negative or rude.

Most of us are also familiar with bad spam comments, which are posted by people who do not even read our online articles, but simply want to create a cheap back-link to their own websites. Some people may also spam bad comments as a marketing strategy to trick reciprocation comments from us.

Recently, I have had the pleasure of receiving another form of bad comment - this one is more insidious than the rest because it appears to be an attack on my Google AdSense account. In particular, these bad comments contain certain bad keywords that are illegal in Google AdSense policies.

Other than the bad keywords, the comment looks generally innocuous. However peppering your article with these bad keywords, may result in the removal of Google AdSense advertisements from your article because of inappropriate content, or worse, you may get banned from Google AdSense.

This new type of bad comment is often posed as a question, and may include flattering language such as "Good Job" or "Well Done".

Presumably, flattery is used to encourage comment approval. The question, I assume, helps to engage me in a discussion around some bad keywords, thereby further increasing the occurrence of said keywords in my articles.

Frequently, multiple bad comments will be delivered in a row, and from seemingly different sources.

Another sign that these comments are irregular is that they contain specialized keywords. Normally, anyone interested in such specialized keywords would have done a more focussed Google Search, and would not have come across my more general articles.

I am unsure why I was targeted. It could have just been just a test to see if the strategy works. Or perhaps it was in response to some of my more controversial make money online articles.

Sadly, yes.

This has happened before to one of my HubPages articles. In this case, it was not by a saboteur, but simply by a friend who was joking around with me. He used some sexually explicit language, and his comment ended up getting all my Google AdSense advertisements removed, presumably for pornographic content.

So yes - the language used in your comments is also taken into account by Google AdSense.

In this case, the Google AdSense advertisements returned as soon as I withdrew the bad comment.

The next interesting question to consider is - can these bad comments get you banned from Google AdSense?

This interesting thread on WebMaster World seems to suggest that it can.

I was not able to find any more Forum discussions pertaining to this issue, so it is unclear whether comments with bad keywords can actually result in banning.

Another type of bad comment I have received are plagiarized comments, i.e. a comment that is a plagiarized passage from another website.

While I may never know why some of my online articles were targeted with bad comments, I do know that I will be more careful about all comments that I receive in the future. Here are some ways to determine if a comment is just a comment, or whether it is actually a ticking time-bomb -

1. Always do a Google Search on any terms or keywords that are unfamiliar to you. These keywords may be against the content guidelines specified in the Google AdSense Program Policies.
2. Always check the link associated with the commenter's name. If you do not like the associated website, it is better to block the comment. Remember that you may be penalized for linking to sites that are against Google AdSense's content guidelines, and a link in a comment is still an outgoing link. Note that all links in the HubPages comments section is marked no-follow, so there is some built-in protection for bad links. WordPress blogs will also mark all comment-links as no-follow by default.
   
3. Trust your gut. If a comment sounds wrong or spammy to you, then block it. It is better to be safe than sorry.

If you keep getting harassed by the same person/ IP address, then consider reporting them to their hosting website, Google AdSense (if their site is using Google AdSense), or whichever advertisement hosting service that they use. A whois service such as uTrace can help you get more information about their IP address.

1. Post controversial topics using an alternate web ID, and without Google AdSense advertisements.

Writing about controversial topics or topics about illegal behavior may generate some ill-feelings towards you. Some people may feel wronged by your article and decide to retaliate by trying to get you banned from Google AdSense, spamming you, or other anti-social online activities.

To keep your Google AdSense income and account safe, post your controversial articles using an alternate web ID and do not place any Google AdSense advertisements on those articles. Alternatively, post them on a site like Squidoo, so that your Google AdSense ID is not associated with those articles.

By creating multiple identities, it will be much harder for anyone to target you. Also by disassociating your Google AdSense ID with anything controversial it will less likely be the target of sabotage.

2. Do not publicly flag or report someone for bad online behavior.

If you detect any bad online behavior such as plagiarized content, inappropriate language, racist remarks, or personal harassment, then report that bad behavior privately to the people in charge. Many people will be tempted to expose the bad behavior publicly, but that will only open you to future retaliatory action.

Remember that the online bad boy can just abandon his old tarnished identity, and put on a new name. With this new name he can post bad comments, attack your Google AdSense account, or otherwise harass you.

3. Try to always be polite and keep away from flame wars or personal online arguments.

The less bad-will and controversy you generate online, the more clicks and money you will make.

Arguments and online attacks are bad for business. At the very least you will have alienated the person you are arguing with. Usually, in a flame war, you will end up alienating more than just one person. Even if the people do not take any explicit negative action against you, you will have lost some buying customers for all time.

4. Only allow comments to be published after they have been moderated.

In most blogs as well as online writing sites, you have the ability to control who can submit comments to your online articles and when those comments will be posted publicly. If you are concerned about bad comments, then set your comment options to only allow registered users, or to only post comments after they have been moderated by you.

The second option will save you from having to frequently check your comments to make sure that no bad apples have gotten through. While it gives you greater protection from bad comments, this setting may discourage some visitors from commenting. When their comment does not appear right away, visitors may think that they have been censored or that there is an error with your article.

This may discourage future visits and comments.

You may notice, however, that I did not follow some of my own advice on how to prevent bad comments. Unfortunately, I was not aware of some of these online dangers before blabbing my big mouth.

But there is a trade-off.

If you try too hard to stay out of harm's way, it will be difficult for you to say all the things that you want to say. Creating an alternate account may shield you from negative attention, but it will also limit the total attention or visitors that you can attract. By separating your main account from your controversial account, you will have a harder time getting good rankings on Google Search, and getting your message out.

Thus you must consider - do you want to make money? or do you want to say what you want to say?

If you are only interested in making money, then keep your head down and stay away from any controversy. If you want to say what you want to say, then you must take the good attention together with the risky bad attention.

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