A blog is not a democracy
Summary
- A blog is not a democracy. The author has the right and responsibility to manage the conversation
Details
- THis may involve deleting comments from trolls.
References
Quotes
The second rule I have always lived by is something I once heard at a conference, which is that a blog is not a democracy. The blogger is allowed to control the conversation, to some degree, and should. That doesn’t mean deleting comments that challenge your opinion or make you think. Those are actually some of the best comments, because they push you to open your mind and expand your viewpoint. But it does mean deleting comments from Internet trolls—people whose sole purpose is to seek out other people they can argue with online. As the word suggests, they hide behind anonymous names and, as soon as they find a blogger who is willing to publish their comments and fight back, they tuck in and make themselves at home. If you scroll through any of the posts on my blog, you might think I’m one of the lucky few who doesn’t have any trolls. That is a lie. In fact, I have many. I simply don’t let their comments invade our space. I delete comments from trolls for the same reason Brené Brown doesn’t read reviews: As she says, it doesn’t serve the work. But unlike Brené Brown, in order to know which comments to delete, I have to read them first.