Comments, Anonymous Cowards, Reciprocal Links

Every so often I find it useful to review blogging rules of the road and general etiquette. Ever since I upgraded the theme that powers this blog and the comments are consistently working for the most part (I can’t do much to fix the spam filter on blog comments, sorry), I’ve noticed that people are feeling much more comfortable leaving comments.

If you comment somewhat regularly, create an account here. I took the time to implement Facebook Connect so you can log in with your Facebook account. Registering is important because then I don’t have to approve your comments, they are posted immediately. Instant gratification for you and less work for me.

Most people are pretty good about using their real identity. Anonymous Coward is a term used for people who leave comments without leaving their real email address. This blog gets it’s fair share of cowards. Most anonymous cowards run dating sites. They provide the website address for their site but make up a fake email address.

Let’s think about that for a second. You run a dating site. You want it to be popular. You found this blog. You read a post, any post. Then something at the base of your reptilian brain stem said, “Why don’t I spam this blog comment and leave a link to my dating site?”

I understand that getting links to your site and having those links counted by search engines can increase your organic search results ranking. Google has been telling us about this for a decade, and I’ve read several white papers about how Google works, yet in the last year or two I have received hundreds of requests for bi-directional linking from people who don’t realize how ridiculous they sound. Especially if you’re going to ask to be placed on my home page but my link gets stuck deep down in your website. But that is the mentality of the spammer. Ask 10,000 sites to link back to you, a few will fall for it.

Commenting on a blog in a respectful manner about your dating site, in a post that’s relevant to your audience, is a good thing, and appreciated by the audience and yours truly. This is online marketing 101. People who fail to accomplish this incredibly simple goal usually aren’t capable of running a decent dating site.

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