Everything in moderation,
Is a maxim fairly sound,
Though I feel some consternation
When my comments there are found!
Though deploring altercation,
I think you will come to know
Moderating moderation
Is a better way to go.
Why do bloggers think they need to
Gaze suspiciously at each
Comment made, to be agreed to
Ere their blog those words can reach?
Is their filter, there for spamming,
Not sufficient for the task?
Surely, if one wants some scramming,
In response, you merely ask?
Could avoiding confrontation
Be the reason for this course?
Though those causing consternation
Can be booted out by force?
Why would trolls, on some occasions,
Pleasure find in being chased?
By responding to invasions,
One can make them feel disgraced.
Language earning disapproval
Can, with edit, disappear;
Standards will, with such removal,
Instantly become quite clear.
Are you looking for endorsement
Of each sentence that you write?
Anti-critical enforcement
Scarcely gets debating right.
Reconsider, I am urging,
Policy to moderate –
Such unnecessary purging
Is a practice that I hate.
Colonialist's Blog 
One more time…..No comment because I’m speechless.
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That motive for the ‘no comment’ might be acceptable for a lot of people – but from you it fails to hold water! 🙂
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I think it’s all due to settings… I believe my comments come to moderation if someone is new to my blog or left more than 2 active links within the comment…. but I agree with you… bloggers should allow all comments, the good, the bad and the ugly… unless they are pure spam ofc 😉
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Yes, the ones simply out to plug a product need zapping at source – but the ones being nasty can be quite fun to play with. They always end up looking as stupid as, of course, they are.
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I never check spam I best have a look, loved your poem
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Look, indeed! I have found many innocent and delightful souls languishing sadly in the obscurity of the spam/junk file!
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I sometimes find I’m being moderated when I’ve left comments on blogs previously. Hmmm, maybe somebody is trying to tell me something?!
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Those are probably the ones I am complaining about – those who moderate everything by default.
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There are a few blogs I follow that will give me “comment waiting for approval”. They are not blogs where I conduct real-time conversations, so I don’t care much.
I moderate if more than two links, and that’s because I’ve gotten a few comments with people selling stuff.
Also, it’s one thing if you can immediately look at a comment and approve it. If one has to wait a day for a comment to be approved, one might as well not even leave a comment.
. . . now I can say . . . no comment.
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You managed a lot of valid comment for a ‘no comment’!
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I used to moderate my comments when I started blogging. It was easier for me to keep track of all the comments and to make sure I replied to every one. Later it became much easier and I switched moderation off. Maybe some are doing it for that reason as well. Whatever the reason, I think everyone should do what they feel is right for them, whether moderated or not. That’s why I like the “like” button. Sometimes I do have no comment. 😆
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That could be quite a good motive for it!
Just that sometimes I want to go back and check if I have included an intended point in a comment, but then find it hasn’t been moderated yet!
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Glad you agree and yes, that must be quite frustrating. But it does still show your comment, doesn’t it? If so, can’t you then just reply to the comment and add more to it, or am I sitting the ball miss again, as usual? 😆
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No, the trouble is that it stops showing it! *lightbulb moment* Come to think of it, I would probably find it on my own dashboard or somewhere …’
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That’s strange, because I’ve done that in the past. Only when your moderated comment goes into the spam folder, then it doesn’t show again. I might be wrong or maybe WP changed things around again. But I think you’re right there, it might show up in your own dashboard. Interesting though. 😀
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I’m never surprised when I get moderated the first time I comment, but when it persists I start to wonder. Then again, anybody who has read my blog may simply be practicing reasonable caution. 😉 (I do try to behave myself on other people’s blogs, though.)
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One does need to modify approach according to the blog one visits – some people, for example, don’t ‘get’ my sense of humour at all. Still, only one or two have actually consigned me to ban-mation.
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‘Ban-mation’ – LOL! 🙂
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I can understand controversial topics being moderated, to some extent, as Viv says, there are trolls and I’ve had some in the past when I was using blogger.
I don’t see any need to moderate religious blogs, but the ones that leave me scratching my head are harmless bland blogs, book blogs, craft blogs, gardening blogs, photo blogs that are moderated. That’s weird. I don’t know if the bloggers suffer from paranoia or delusions of grandeur.
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With trolls, I suppose it depends if one has the time to play with them or not. The nature of the beast is such that it is usually relatively easy to subject them to utter ridicule.
As you say, the motives for moderating all comments on an innocuous blog with no contentious matter do seem obscure.
I know some bloggers have self-confidence issues and are deeply wounded by anything even hinting at criticism. For them, moderating doesn’t really help – by the time they delete it they have read it anyway. And, when something rather cruel is posted as a comment, I have often seen other commenters stepping in to tear the culprit to shreds. The blogger then has no need even to give it the dignity of a reply.
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Some trolls are just vicious and abusive. There are different categories of trolls.
I’m wondering why bloggers put their work out there if they have self-esteem/confidence issues. It’s a bit like writing books and not wanting /expecting criticism, constructive or otherwise. But it’s a fair point, one I’d forgotten about.
Mind you, some blogs out there are terrible. Taxes the imagination somewhat when they ask for a view about their blogs …
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Ag nee wat … moenie so knorpot wees nie. ‘n Paar woorde ne om te s^mens het gelees en dit geniet doen tog geen kwaad nie?
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Wat pla my is die mense wat eers elke kommentaar moet lees voordat hulle dit verlaat om in die blog te verskyn. Miskien skryf ‘n mens dat hy of sy die stuk geniet het, maar dit moet weggegooi word omdat hulle nie BAIE voorgeplaas het?
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Grinnik.. ek moet liewer stilbly… Lekker aand.
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Cat’s got the right meow!
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I do believe that would be typical cat humour!
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I search my spam every day, just in case some poor unsuspecting blogger has been banished there. Occasionally I find someone to rescue, but not often. 🙂
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At one stage WP decided almost all my friends were undesirables, and banished them there en masse. It came right after I had extracted them all several times, and I never worked out what had prompted it.
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Ha, I’ll join the club until further notice, lol!
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The comment, no comment, or no no comment one? 🙂
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Got the greatest kick out of the cat!! I find myself apologizing all the time for not having the time to comment….
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It is very difficult to comment on every post one likes, or to respond to every comment one receives. What I think has to suffice is doing so with sufficient regularity to demonstrate continued interest.
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My respose to this is threefold – WordPress automatically places in moderation any commenter the first time they comment on your blog. Onec you have approved that, they no longer go into moderatio. Secondly, have you ever been trolled? I have and it can be most unpleasant.The easiest way to stop it is to send the comment straight to Trash. They get the message in the end. A possible third reason can be because a bloggers young offspring read the blog, thus arousing protective instincts in the parent.
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Good points, all. The first-time commenter being moderated I cannot complain about. Those who elect to have all comments in moderation regardless? Unnecessary, I think. Trolls, if one has the time and inclination, one can have great fun with. They are generally dim creatures and easily ridiculed and tied into knots, whereafter they go away with tail between legs.
Censorship for the young is a tricky one. Sometimes I think avoidance and protection are used as an escape from the chore of education and standards-setting.
Choice of the right words, and saying not too much or too little, is one of the challenges one encounters, such as a couple of days ago when 7-year-old R, reading a billboard saying schoolchildren are demanding condoms, asked, ‘What is a condom?’
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I am in entire agreement with the “moderation for all” being OTT.
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No comment! 😀
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Asked for it, didn’t I?
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Indeed!
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No comment 🙂 !!
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I knew I’d get a lot of these! 🙂
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