Visitor comments must be approved before posting

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   sheilamyersposted 9 years ago

   At one of the other forum threads, I made a suggestion and was told to place it here so that it may be considered by the HP staff.
   
   From reading and commenting on hubs, it seems to me there are many members who would rather have their comments section set so that any comments being posted will appear without having to be approved by the hub author. This is how I've had mine set because it does make it easier for the commenter to reread what they wrote and click "edit" to add or delete things if needed. However, lately I've been receiving many racist comments on my hubs and have had to set them so comments have to be approved before being posted so that I'm not flagged for a violation of the TOS if it's seen before I get a chance to delete the comment. These comments have all been posted by "visitors" who are either casual viewers popping in from a search engine or HP members who haven't signed into their account - there's no way to tell.
   
   The suggestion I made at the other thread was for a way to allow members who are signed into their HP accounts to post comments which won't need to be approved by the hub author before they're visible yet we'd be able to set our account in a way in which any comments left by someone not signed into HP would have to be approved. The reason I suggest this is that visitors seem to be more likely to leave nasty comments, while HP members who are logged in won't. I think this split option would allow instantaneous comments from members to add to the free flow of discussion among members while eliminating the immediate posting of comments that may violate the HP TOS.

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      Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I would not like any comments to show up on my hubs till I approve them myself. It is not just visitors who can leave rude and inappropriate comments -- I have had hubbers leave some pretty nasty or irrelevant  comments that had to be deleted. The way it is now, I really appreciate having control over my own hub comments.

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      Venkatachari Mposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I do not know about any option available for setting comments. I need to approve all comments before they can be published. I think only one setting is quite okay instead of making it clumsy. Each and every comment needs to be approved by the hubber before it is published. No matter, whether it is a logged in member or anonymous visitor, the comment should be read by you and okayed before getting it published. This should be the correct procedure instead of putting different options for it.

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   Marisa Wrightposted 9 years ago

   I think what Sheila is asking for is this:
   
   Another option added to Comments so that comments from signed-in users are approved automatically, but comments from guest users are not. 
   
   Right now we can choose whether we want to pre-approve comments, but it's an "all or nothing" choice.

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      sheilamyersposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      That's it. Members can still opt for a setting for which ALL comments need approved before showing or they can choose one setting for logged in members and another for people who aren't logged in.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Oh! Ok, Sheila and Marisa, I got it -- it would be an extra option. Thanks for clearing that up for me.
         
         However, as Matt pointed out in the other thread, the best option is to have our settings indicate that all comments must be approved before publishing -- and I agree with that. 
         
         The only really bad comments I have gotten were from hubbers who were signed in. Most of the guest comments I get are polite and appreciative. There have been some spammers that I simply delete.
         
         For me it is simple and secure. I do not delete anyone who disagrees with my hub, for we all have our own opinions and sometimes a disagreement can correct an error or erroneous information I got from a source -- which makes me conduct deeper research to find correct facts. It is only outright rude comments, spam, or non-related comments I delete.

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   Homeplace Seriesposted 9 years ago

   Guess I'm just a non-controversial guy... I don't pre-approve, and don't recall ever getting an inappropriate comment. I have over 100 hubs, in my two accounts. Live and learn, I suppose. ;-)

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      Marisa Wrightposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      There are two possible reasons for that.
      
      One is that you're not realising that some comments are "spammy" (i.e. they are not genuine, the person is just posting to get attention, and their name may be linked to a dubious website).
      
      The other is that your Hubs get very little search engine traffic, and therefore are not attracting the kind of people who will leave inappropriate comments.  The more popular Hubs are, the more likely they are to have a problem.

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      sheilamyersposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      As someone mentioned in the other thread, since these comments seem to be appearing mostly on my law enforcement type hubs, some people may be leaving these nasty comments because of the recent shooting and riots.

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         Phyllis Doyleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         I believe you are right about that, Sheila.  People are very tense and frustrated over that incident and are looking for ways to express their anger. I would just delete them.

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   tillsontitanposted 9 years ago

   The spam comments I get are mostly advertisements though they can come off as racist or prejudicial in other forms.  I would hope HP gives us time to handle them without labeling our entire hub a violation.

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      sheilamyersposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      According to Matthew Meyer (I think it was), if someone reports the comment, we will get a warning. If we do, all we have to do is delete the comment and then notify HP it is gone and they'll check the hub and then throw away the warning. Or something like that.

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         Matthew Meyerposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         @sheilamyers I think this may be the thread to which you are referring.
         http://hubpages.com/forum/post/2622708

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            sheilamyersposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            That's the one. Thanks for posting a link to the comment.

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