How to Write a Blog Comment Policy

One of the most important aspects of a successful blog is the conversation that occurs through comments that visitors publish on blog posts. However, comment conversations can sometimes take a negative turn or feature spam links. That's why it's helpful to have a blog comment policy so visitors understand what is and is not acceptable when commenting on your blog posts.

Why You Need a Blog Comment Policy

One of the main purposes of encouraging comments on a blog is to promote a sense of community. If your comments section is filled with rude remarks, spam and promotional content, the community flounders. When you publish a comment policy and enforce it, you provide a better experience for the people you want to comment on your blog. Even though a comment policy may discourage a few people from posting, they are probably not the people you want to post anyway.

You'll need to personalize your blog comment policy to fit your blog. While you can prohibit hate speech, you shouldn't ban all disagreement with your blog. The point is to connect with your blog visitors and honest on-topic negative comments give you an opportunity to respond to criticism. 

A sample blog comment policy is a good place to start when you are writing a comment policy for your blog. Read the sample blog comment policy below thoroughly and make any changes necessary to fit your goals for your blog. 

Sample Blog Comment Policy

Comments are welcomed and encouraged on this site, but there are some instances where comments will be edited or deleted as follows:

• Comments deemed to be spam or solely promotional in nature will be deleted. Including a link to relevant content is permitted, but comments should be relevant to the post topic.
• Comments including profanity will be deleted.
• Comments containing language or concepts that could be deemed offensive will be deleted. Note this may include abusive, threatening, pornographic, offensive, misleading or libelous language.
• Comments that attack an individual directly will be deleted.
• Comments that harass other posters will be deleted. Please be respectful toward other contributors.
• Anonymous comments will be deleted. We only accept comments from posters who identify themselves.

The owner of this blog reserves the right to edit or delete any comments submitted to the blog without notice. This comment policy is subject to change at any time. If you have any questions about the commenting policy, please let us know at [blog contact information].