Should I require registration for comments? Yay or nay?
169 thoughts on “A Quick Survey About Comments”
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Cats, charts, and politics
Cats, charts, and politics
Should I require registration for comments? Yay or nay?
Comments are closed.
I think it's only practical.
Yay
There's an odd double comma around the dates. Maybe go with [number][month][year] format and there's no need for commas at all?
Yeah, I intend to be visiting regularly and complaining about stuff almost as regularly. Can't wait!
Depends on how much time you plan to devote to policing your comment pages, including older postings. If you want to not worry much about spam and idiot trolls, require registration. The downside is that you will certainly get fewer potentially thoughtful comments from folks new or "just passing through."
Feel like you'll be able to ride herd on the comment sections (again, not just for new postings, but old ones also), not requiring registration will invite a more lively discussion forum.
I mention older postings because I noticed that, on those occasions I jumped into the comment threads at older postings at Mother Jones, it was shocking how much brain-dead troll-crap had accumulated. A very few times I went down an older thread flagging dozens of spam comments ... but Mother Jones never seemed to police any of that, so they remained and (I'll best) are there still.
I'm still here.
Ha, this is a living example of why a vibrant comments section is A Good Thing. I posted my wishy-washy response above last night. But now, having read dozens of subsequent comments, I see that registration has numerous benefits I hadn't considered ... notably, preventing people from abusing online handles. So I switch my vote to a solid "Yes."
Hey....don’t think you need to register from comments
Absolutely yes.
Yay
FWIW, I've set the defaults so that comments automatically close after ten days.
No, I don't want to register again.
Nay. Closing comments after ten days will greatly reduce unwanted commercial messages in your comment section. Akismet will do the rest. If not spam, what benefit is there to you if we register?
The benefit, Larry, is that it keeps me from commenting using your name. I'm Ken Rhodes, but there's no mechanism to make me sign my real name. How will you like it when your name starts showing up on far-right propaganda comments?
No, I'm Ken Rhodes
We are all Ken Rhodes!
Happy for the assurance that we will continue to hear of the escapades of your cats (& hopefully also of the youngsters with your mom). Don't neglect giving health updates as needed. I'm glad to get the data & graphs with some of the commentaries. I enjoy your photos but was especially thrilled by those of the "slot canyon" and others on that trip to my soul country. Looking forward to the new year.
Yay.
Except I can't even figure out how to subscribe to the blog... 🙁
I would prefer no registration but can see that might cause some work on moderation.
The icon on my RSS reader shows you are using WordPress. One option on WordPress is to have comments hidden until you approve them. Might be less work to moderate things that way.
Any reason why you didn’t resurrect the Cal Pundit branding you were using when I first started reading your blog?
It's hard to have a conversation in comments if they don't show up quickly.
I will not register so, if you require registration, I will not comment.
The various anti-tracking and privacy measures I have make registration impractical.
I think if you are getting more than 25 comments or so per post, then yes. Your stuff gets pretty decent traffic, and that mean spammers and trolls might show up if you’ve got a lively comments section.
I don't see a problem registering on your site, since I trust you will not abuse the data. And it might reduce the spam and trolling.
YEA
My personal preference is that you require registration. I’ve stopped reading comments on sites that don’t have this requirement - they tend to get taken over by trolls rather quickly.
Best of luck on your new blog platform, Kevin. I’ve been a devoted reader of yours for years, back to Political Animal days, and I look forward to your thoughtful commentary.
Yes, please do. Registration = troll prevention. Or at least troll reduction.
Yes, I think so.
Impersonation should be prevented.
This is the key comment so far in this thread.
I am used to seeing trolls. They are annoying, but we've all learned to live with them. But the way the blog is totally open now, the danger is not trolls, it's spoofing somebody else's name.
I'm Ken Rhodes. But what does it say at the top of my comment?
I've been reading you since 2002. I think registration is a good idea.
Sounds like a good idea to have folks regester to comment. Know where to find them when they get nasty.
Yes. If you require registration, but if that registrations isn't onerous, you will reduce the trolls and bots
You could try and see how it goes, but I bet after a while you'll have to do it. Best of luck though!
Yes. You will get hammered by bots and trolls otherwise, guaranteed.
????
Yes, on registration.
YES.
Forget about trolls. They're a little annoying, but that's all. Forget about policing the comments. That's labor-intensive, and you could be staying at Mother Jones if you had an unlimited supply of your own time and energy.\
The problem is that there is now no way to prevent me from using somebody else's name, which can quickly destroy your entire Comments community. My name is Ken Rhodes. Look at the top of my comment here.
I’m going to add an “Oh God YES” to the should I register question. If you’re worried as a user about being tracked, you’ll already have a strategy for this...
Being able to actively block trolls is helpful and user accounts give some additional options for management. Otherwise, Akismet or not, you’ll be playing whack-a-mole.