Do you reject comments for poor spelling or low relevance?

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   promisemposted 7 years ago

   I think the subject line says it all!

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I am more worried about relevance than spelling, unless it's just a total mess. I do reject comments that I believe do not add anything to the hub.

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      Sherry Hewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      You can find more info on what HP considers low quality comments on the FAQ. Here are some samples of comments that are considered OK and not OK. Scroll up to # 24 for the guidelines they used to moderate comments
      
      http://hubpages.com/faq/#comment-mod-samples

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      peachpurpleposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      nope i don't reject them all, because sometimes we may mistype due to small screen on smatphones, I can understand that,
      Furthermore, not everyone mother tongue is English

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         promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Do you reject any?

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      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Let's put it another way. If you wrote a Hub about the Honda Accord, and someone posted a comment about early Ford models, is such a comment so irrelevant that you would reject it?

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   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   I used to accept comments with poor spelling but I notice they're getting deleted by HubPages anyway so now I'm more likely to reject them

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      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      I have read that search engines take spelling and grammar into account with their ranking systems. They are another reason why I'm tempted to block comments with those kinds of problems.

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         promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Let me add that a good comment with a single typo is not something I would reject.

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   Mills Pposted 7 years ago

   I did it once on a piece where someone simply commented my movie review was nice. I'd seen people like this in my Bubblews days, and they were spammers. In another case, I have chosen to not approve or deny another comment because I thought the commentator was just trying to belittle my enjoyment of a film. Otherwise, I happily accept comments.

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   chef-de-jourposted 7 years ago

   Good point. I've been deleting irrelevant and poor comments on many of my hubs and am now a bit confused as to what is a meaningful comment and what is not! In fact, I've come to the conclusion that comments in general could be harmful because they're often full of empty compliments that add nothing to the hub. And isn't Google likely to view these comments as some kind of spam? Are we heading towards a commentless future for our hubs?

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      TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

      You may be right.  To me, a meaningful comment relates directly to the info in the hub and adds information to it that would help the reader.  HP has told us to get rid of spam hubs, those that simply compliment us, those that include links, those that are poorly written, etc.  I do that regularly because I don't want anything to negatively influence my views.

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         Dolores Monetposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Timetraveler, when I went through my comments to delete unhelpful remarks, I felt bad about removing some. Sure, they would be meaningless to many readers but they were a lot of fun. People often wind up in ongoing conversations on their hubs, conversations that wander away from the topic, silly stuff, pun comments that used to make me smile. Oh well, HP changes and one must roll with it. I felt that with the new take on comments, I deleted most of  them. Sadly.

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            TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Dolores Monet:  I feel the same way, and I've had the same things happen.  I guess the best way to interact is here on the forums.

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            Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            People whose Hub comments end up like that are probably social Hubbers so it doesn't matter.
            
            The only reason to worry about those rules is if you are trying to earn an income from your Hubs.  If your focus is on networking with other Hubbers (which is where those conversations come from), then just go on enjoying them and don't worry.   
            
            It's only an issue if you're trying to attract external readers - which is where the income comes from - and if that's the case then yes, you need to keep comments on track and free of irrelevant material.

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               wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               What's your take on quick, simple compliments?  A "Well done", or "Thank you" or maybe "Great information"?
               
               I tend to keep them as an indication to anyone bothering to read them that the hub is indeed useful and not just something thrown together to put a few ads on.

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                  Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  There's a thread somewhere, when HubPages announced the new approach to comments, and someone (Robin?) specifically said those weren't acceptable any more.

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                     wildernessposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                     Come to think of that, I've seen that.  And I've got hundreds of them...mostly on niche sites now.

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               Dolores Monetposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Marisa, I've been working on that and it's been quite a job! One must read the comment before deciding if it should stay or go. It's been quite a job as I've been here for quite some time. But I do want external readers so I've been slashing through them. And it seemed like most of them were irrelevant! Oh well, one must adapt!

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      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      For me, a decent comment is a chance to make an informative reply that adds value to the Hub and possibly increases its ranking in search engines.

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         TIMETRAVELER2posted 7 years agoin reply to this

         Agreed...but the key to what you just said is "decent comment".

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            promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            Right. I believe it gets back to spelling, grammar and relevance. Also not writing the entire thing in all caps. 

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               Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               Yes, I have a couple of comments which are all caps, both of which were moderated for "low quality".   Which is a dilemma, because both were excellent questions directly relevant to the topic of the Hub.  I decided to approve them again but I just checked and it looks as though one of them has been removed again - which makes my thorough reply in the following comment look extremely odd!

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                  Glenn Stokposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  I once had the same situation. Someone left a really good comment that was very much related to the subject of the hub, but they included one sentence that was self-promotional. Since the rest of what they said was meaningful, I just reposted their comment myself  (minus the spammy part) and deleted the original. Then I posted my reply.

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               Protaskerposted 7 years agoin reply to this

               All caps usually means they are screaming at you. Those I won't post, even if they are good. Strange?

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                  promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

                  I agree. ALL CAPS ALSO ARE DISTRACTING FROM THE OTHER COMMENTS!

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   Marisa Wrightposted 7 years ago

   Suggestion - make sure you go to the Comments section on your Account regularly and check for "Low Quality" comments regularly.
   
   I hadn't done it and was surprised how many excellent comments had been moderated simply because of a minor spelling mistake.

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      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the tip!

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   Protaskerposted 7 years ago

   No. If they leave me a comment, are positive and not spam, I'm happy to hear from them. When you say low relevance, do you mean the spammy ones? They just post their junk every where?

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      Marisa Wrightposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      No.  "Low relevance" means that the comment doesn't specifically address the subject of the Hub. So if someone simply leaves you a "great Hub"or "good work" type comment, that says nothing about the subject and is not acceptable any more - HubPages expects you to delete such comments 
      
      If you're commenting on other people's Hubs, the implications of this are:
      
      - If you want to congratulate a Hubber in a Hub comment, you must now to take the time to say something meaningful about the topic. 
      
      - You can no longer go off on a tangent in Hub comments.

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      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      The other day I received a comment on a Hub about Cancun weather and the best time to go there for good sun and low rain.
      
      The commenter asked for tips on where to get a good hotel deal. The comment had nothing to do with the weather or the best time to go. I believe that's a comment with low relevance. I decided to delete it.

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         shewinsposted 7 years agoin reply to this

         I'd have to see the comment, but I think that was an opportunity for you do give more advice, if you have it.

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            promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

            I'm concerned that the search engines will see the article as less relevant to the topic if it has too many comments that are off topic. If it becomes less relevant, it might drop in the rankings.
            
            I think it all comes down to a matter of opinion along with some common sense.

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   Rock Artistposted 7 years ago

   I can't stand typos bit I'm not sure I would reject a comment because of one.

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      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      Personally, I wouldn't reject a comment just for a single spelling mistake because everyone makes them. I would reject it for a combination of reasons.

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   ddsurfscaposted 7 years ago

   A typo is unintentional, not a spelling mistake, although we all have spellcheck now don't we?  A comment that is not on topic is, and also a lot of people I have found leave comments that are so generic that they can only be left so that you will return a favor and go leave a comment on one of their hubs.  You know like you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.

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      promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

      If the commenter is a Hub writer, it would certainly be polite to return the favor.

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   Shyron E Shenkoposted 7 years ago

   No, because when leaving a comment we (some of us) quickly type the comment and send without checking our grammar or spelling.  If a comment is really bad I would go to the Hubber who commented and check out a hub or two and if their hubs are ok, I would let it go.
   I have not rejected any comments on the grounds you mention here.

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    Greensleeves Hubsposted 7 years ago

    I think we  are in danger of going too far with this censorship of comments. Certainly comments which are clearly spamming with links to non-relevant sites etc should be removed. So should offensive posts. I have no problem with that at all, and indeed once wrote a hub page strongly advocating the censoring of such comments.
    
    But poor spelling and comments which contribute little? For many writers, English may not be their first language, and they should not be punished for simple spelling mistakes.
    
    As for the suggestion made by some that comments such as 'nice hub' are no longer acceptable, well, that's far too draconian. For goodness sake is HubPages or Google saying that in the interests of increasing income by what would surely be a tiny amount, compliments and thank yous are no longer acceptable? Is a polite accolade to be dismissed as unacceptable? What's happened to simple good manners in the pursuit of the dollar?
    
    Does it really make all that much difference? Check out many of the biggest websites on the net and of course all the biggest social networks, and there are literally millions of irrelevant, offensive, antagonistic, unhelpful, poorly spelled comments posted every day. Are all those sites about to be taken down?
    
    I will delete spam, swearing, offensiveness, flame war-type comments, and maybe repetitive comments and some others. I won't be deleting simple compliments from my hubs in order to earn a few extra cents. That would be just plain rude.

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       promisemposted 7 years agoin reply to this

       You raise an interesting point. Maybe there is an important difference between HP writers who write for pleasure and writers who write to earn a living.
       
       When you are trying to earn a living for your work, I believe it does matter if certain comments detract from a Hub. Google apparently thinks that way.
       
       If you are writing for pleasure and interaction with other people, then yes, it would be rude to delete a poorly written comment.

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