Chad’s Comment-worthiness Ranking Scale


I try to be fair to commenters and give them a say, even if they’re belligerent and obnoxious as long as their making good points or otherwise contributing to the thread (even if they’re disagreeing with me).

However, every now and then a comment comes along that just screams out DELETE ME. In the past, my criteria was somewhat arbitrary or loosely self-consistent. 

What prompted me to write this was the supreme idiocy of the anonymous/pseudonymous  poster ‘Philip’ over on Jeremy’s lighthearted “I thought this was funny” post.

This post is for other bloggers who struggle, like I do, in determining when to cut someone off.

I’m going to start with the Celsius model of measuring comment-worthiness. That is, 0 is minimal acceptance of a comment. Anything below 0 is delete-worthy.  As things approach –500, that might constitute a permanent IP-ban site-wide.  As things approach –1000, it might be prudent to notify other sites to block this IP address and ones like it.  As things approach positive 500, they definitely call for a thoughtful reply, or even another post.  As things approach positive 1,000, it might be prudent to write a series of posts or to elicit the response from higher authorities and the larger community of bloggers.

NOTE: This list will probably be changing as the days and weeks go on. I may update it again in the future as people suggest things. If you have a noteworthy suggestion, leave a comment or send me an email and I’ll add it with credits to you (and a link if you give me a URL)

So here’s the start of my grading scale:

Positive Effects

+100 Full, real life name used (not just last or first name)

+100 Public contact information left (the commenter’s web site, maybe an obfuscated email address, etc

+50 Private email left (for the blog author and site admins to be able to contact this person if necessary)

+50 for being a registered user on the site, possibly with a real avatar (showing that this person is interested in being a real part of the community)

+50 More than 50 meaningful words

+25 for good humor that is relevant to the post or other commenters

+25 for replying to another commenter in a polite way that contributes (answering a question, furthering the discussion, etc)

+25 per legitimate point made

+25 per significant, legitimate correction made to the original blog post (more than just spelling/grammar mistakes)

+25 for having the gumption to comment in the first place

+10 per legitimate minor correction made

+5 per incorrect correction made, but made politely with good intent

 

Negative Effects

-1000 (instant ban + warning to other sites) posting links to or direct embeds of pornography, shock links, images, or videos, etc especially extra vulgar ones

-500 (instant ban) for extreme profanity (gratuitous use greater profanity, excessive vulgarity, racism, sexism, or other extremely offensive bile)

-250 per use of greater profanity (the 7 deadly words, vulgar descriptions, or gratuitous use of the lesser profanities)

-250 for personal attacks on the blog author or other legitimate commenters

-150 for personal attacks on a bogus commenter (one who’s significantly in the negative range, but hasn’t yet been deleted)

-100 for use of lesser profanity (not one of the ‘7 deadly words’ except for maybe ”b.s.’ or just the ‘s’ word used without extra flare)

-50 No last name left

-50 No first name left (or a bogus name)

-25 general rudeness and uncharitably interacting with the blog author or other commenters

-25 per incorrect correction, or a correct suggestion made rudely

-10 per bogus or nit-picky correction made, made rudely, or with snark/sarcasm

Is Blogging Dead?