Home Forums Blog Talk Have you banned a blog commenter?

32 replies, 11 voices Last updated by Carma Allen 10 years, 8 months ago
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    • #21680

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      I am getting very frustrated but am having a moral dilemma. I swore I would never ban someone from commenting on my blog unless they were belligerent and offensive.

      However, there is this one raw food fanatic that has been commenting on my blog for over 6 month. EVERY TIME I post about something dog-food related she leaves a comment “informing” me and my readers how bad feeding anything other than raw meat is…carb, vegggies, kibble, etc. (she even told me once that is was her duty to set my readers straight).

      In the beginning we went back and forth for a while and it escalated into her being pretty argumentative, even after I said we can agree to disagree and that I did not wish to engage in this conversation with her anymore. She left essentially the same comment after each other reader comment on my blog saying how bad feeding kibble was. I felt a little like she was harassing my readers that time.

      I can’t remember exactly when but at one point she said that feeding dogs kibble was animal abuse and that I was killing my dogs. I stopped engaging with her and that conversation eventually ended. I was REALLY bothered by her (what I felt like was) an assault and it left me in a very negative head space for a while about my blog. One blogger friend suggested I should block her because, although she was entitled to her opinion, it was having a very negative effect on me. I didn’t.

      Now I know to expect that she will be there every time put up a food or treat related post and it didn’t bother me so much. Now I am just getting plain ol’ annoyed. In her mind, there is no room for an alternate opinion about what to feed your dog. She posts the same comment every time (in different words but the same) and I feel it is not adding anything to the conversation.

      I have become increasingly annoyed with her relentless presence again lately and am considering banning her from commenting after all. It leaves me with the same moral dilemma again though – she is not being belligerent or offensive so would that be the right thing to do? I am also a little afraid of potential backlash if I do.

      Has anyone had an experience like this? Thanks for listening.

    • #21712

      Amy Shojai, CABC
      Participant
      @shojai

      I’ve not banned anyone yet but I think that in your place I’d make comment IN YOUR ORIGINAL POST that all comments are welcome but that badgering/repetitive comments that add nothing to the conversation will be deleted and repeat offenders blocked.

      Betcha you’ll get some YES THANK YOU! comments from some of your other folks. That gives this person one chance to comment–and you can reply politely thanking them for their opinion, and then delete or whatever if they persist.

      They can turn their own blog into a pulpit. But I wouldn’t let them hijack your blog.

    • #21711

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Thanks Kimberly. I thought about emailing her directly but 1) I don’t have anything else to say that I haven’t already said in the comments to her and 2) I am not comfortable with her having my personal email.

      The thing with this lady is that after the first interaction, I don’t think she has gone into “rude” territory. It’s just that she says the same thing over and over, does not add to the conversation in a positive way and has no room for any opinion but her own. Therein lies the real dilemma….I don’t agree with her view (meaning raw is the ONLY way), do respect her opinion and don’t feel she has crossed the line into rudeness. I am not sure it is ok to ban her just because it bothers me.

    • #21710

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      @Amy

      Actually, during our initial interaction, I suggested that she start her own blog where she can inform and educate people in her own way to hear hearts content. Her own blog would be a place to push her opinion, not mine. She said she didn’t have her own blog but wrote in several “authoritive” places. Her conduct made me doubt her professionalism but she did produce some articles she wrote on the subject. Several of them were for that website that is all about raw food.

      I guess I may not block her after all. Although I find her repetitive comments annoying, she is not what I would consider “badgering” and her comments are repetitive only in that she posts essentially the same comment and view on each post about food/treats.

      For example, today I wrote about a Kong Stuffing recipe I created. It contained peanut butter, bananna, coconut and butternut squash as the mail ingredients. The main point of the recipe was that it is lower in calories than straight peanut butter.

      Her comment was: “If you stopped feeding your dogs carbs they would lose weight and not be hungry for more. The ingredients you are using are not appropriate for a carnivore and thus cause weight problems.

      Normally I ignore her and she does not make a second comment on the same post. Today I responded saying that I disagreed but respected her opinion. We’ll see if she responds argumentatively like she did last time I replied to her comment.

    • #21709

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Looky here….Here is the response:

      It doesn’t matter if you agree with me or not. What I’m posting isn’t opinion, it’s factual. Dogs have no nutritional need for carbs and feeding them cause them to be fat. I don’t have to watch how much my dogs eat and none are overweight because they stop eating when satisfied. When you feed a food that lacks things they need they are never satisfied and eat too much. What you are feeding is not something they would eat if they had a choice. My diet is exactly what they would eat. That difference is fundamental for their health. Healthy dogs can fight off heart worms on their own, hardly ever get stomach worms of any kind, never need a “dental”, hardly ever get diabetes (your kong recipe is diabetes waiting to happen) and the list goes on. Science is behind what I say, not opinion.

      It feels like she is pushing her own agenda and possibly own product. She just makes my blood boil but it may have more to do with our initial interaction than this specific one.

    • #21708

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Thanks. I think that is a possible way to go about it….although she blasted me for “hiding her comments because I didn’t want my readers to know the truth” when her comment was held in moderation once. I can’t imagine what she would do if I actually started deleting them…..but then I could just delete those too 🙂

      Bonnie, owned by Cheysuli said:

      I’d start posting something like Amy suggested as far as repetitive comments and repeat offenders blocked. This would give her fair warning. It allows her to voice her opinion (which you can ignore and if you ignore it your readers will) and then if she continues you can delete those comments. I think you could also add in your deleted comment note that this comment has been deleted due to policy violations and actually link to a page or post that has the comment policy spelled out. That way if she goes back and starts wondering why her comments are being deleted she can read it on your blog (no email necessary). 

      If it makes her worse, you can set your filters to block her ip address.

    • #21707

      Lenore Pryor
      Member
      @Lenore

      Yes. I’ve had a similar, unpleasant experience. My blog is mostly about TNR (Trap Neuter Return – Rehome) for free roaming cats. There is someone out there who posts long comments about how the only solution to free roaming feral or stray cats is to shoot and kill them. He goes on and on.

      However, I feel that it’s my blog, my time, my forum and I do not have to tolerate abusive comments. I do allow differing opinions within the range of civil discourse.

      I added a page called Comments and Communication that spells out what is acceptable and what is not.

    • #21706

      Amy Shojai, CABC
      Participant
      @shojai

      Ah yes, “The Woodsman” is notorious for doing this. He stalks TNR posts.

      Lenore Pryor said:

      Yes. I’ve had a similar, unpleasant experience. My blog is mostly about TNR (Trap Neuter Return – Rehome) for free roaming cats. There is someone out there who posts long comments about how the only solution to free roaming feral or stray cats is to shoot and kill them. He goes on and on.

      However, I feel that it’s my blog, my time, my forum and I do not have to tolerate abusive comments. I do allow differing opinions within the range of civil discourse.

      I added a page called Comments and Communication that spells out what is acceptable and what is not.

    • #21705

      Jackie Bouchard
      Participant
      @jackiebouchard

      Hmm. This sucks. I really dislike it when folks try to beat you over the head with their opinion. (Oh, sorry – not her “opinion” but “facts” – or one version of them anyway.) As Kimberly says, bullying someone into agreeing with you is not a good way to go!

      You say she hasn’t been “belligerent or offensive” but if someone called me a dog abuser, I’d be pretty darned offended. That’s about the worst thing you could call me, in my book. Also, posting essentially the same thing over and over again sounds a lot like spam to me.

      I guess you have 2 options – just completely ignore her and never respond to her comments, if they are on the blog post in general. Or, if she responds to others’ comments and you feel she is harassing them, then I’d probably do what Amy suggests and leave a note that badgering/repetitive comments will be deleted and ultimately blocked.

      Sorry you are having to deal with this! Sounds very frustrating.

    • #21704

      Melody McKinnon
      Member
      @MelodyM

      As a general blog rule, no, you shouldn’t ban someone unless they’re being rude or obnoxious.  It upsets me that you’re upset though, because nobody has the right to do that to you.  It makes me think she’s being inflammatory, which is banned in places like discussion forums so I see no reason why you can’t make it a rule for your own blog. 

      I like Amy’s idea of stating what you will and will not tolerate.  I usually add something like, “In order to maintain a friendly atmosphere…” and “We believe pet parents are perfectly capable of researching and making their own choices, and we respect their right to make those choices.”

      In journalism, an editorial that gets the fur flying is considered a good thing.  It means you’ve inspired a passionate response and engaged your readers, even in a negative way.  Maybe it would help if you approached it from that point of view?  Or you could picture yourself throwing kibble at her ;-).

    • #21703

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Thanks @Lenore and @Amy. It helps to know that I am not alone in getting these types of comments.

      @Jackie – I have been using the “ignore” tactic but I am about at the end of my rope and finding it really hard not to respond to her. Even if I can still resist, it takes up at least a day of my mental realestate lamenting about it and what to do since she gets under my skin so often. I need to find a different solution but I am not sure what it is – change my perspective or block her it seems.

    • #21702

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Thanks Melody. I like your suggestion for “we believe per parents are capable of….”.

      As for your last paragraph, I have already been down that road. I even had a discussion with her in that regard in the beginning. My issue is that her comments do not lead to a real conversation. She never moves beyond “I am absolutely right and you are absolutely wrong.” I am all for controversial comments that contribute in some way but these do not.

      For me the biggest deciding line is helping or hurting the conversation? Her comments certainly aren’t helping but aren’t exactly hurting either…except for me and my wellbeing….but then I worry I am just being a selfish baby about it.

      Melody McKinnon said:

      As a general blog rule, no, you shouldn’t ban someone unless they’re being rude or obnoxious.  It upsets me that you’re upset though, because nobody has the right to do that to you.  It makes me think she’s being inflammatory, which is banned in places like discussion forums so I see no reason why you can’t make it a rule for your own blog. 

      I like Amy’s idea of stating what you will and will not tolerate.  I usually add something like, “In order to maintain a friendly atmosphere…” and “We believe pet parents are perfectly capable of researching and making their own choices, and we respect their right to make those choices.”

      In journalism, an editorial that gets the fur flying is considered a good thing.  It means you’ve inspired a passionate response and engaged your readers, even in a negative way.  Maybe it would help if you approached it from that point of view?  Or you could picture yourself throwing kibble at her ;-).

    • #21701

      Carol
      Participant
      @fidoseofreality

      Love this and agree: “In journalism, an editorial that gets the fur flying is considered a good thing.  It means you’ve inspired a passionate response and engaged your readers, even in a negative way.  Maybe it would help if you approached it from that point of view?  Or you could picture yourself throwing kibble at her ;-).”

      Melody McKinnon said:

      As a general blog rule, no, you shouldn’t ban someone unless they’re being rude or obnoxious.  It upsets me that you’re upset though, because nobody has the right to do that to you.  It makes me think she’s being inflammatory, which is banned in places like discussion forums so I see no reason why you can’t make it a rule for your own blog. 

      I like Amy’s idea of stating what you will and will not tolerate.  I usually add something like, “In order to maintain a friendly atmosphere…” and “We believe pet parents are perfectly capable of researching and making their own choices, and we respect their right to make those choices.”

      In journalism, an editorial that gets the fur flying is considered a good thing.  It means you’ve inspired a passionate response and engaged your readers, even in a negative way.  Maybe it would help if you approached it from that point of view?  Or you could picture yourself throwing kibble at her ;-).

    • #21700

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Ha, ha. Thanks Kimberly. The things is that I don’t disagree that raw food is better than poor quality kibble. I just believe there is a lot of gray area in between and we can all make the choices we think are right for our dogs and family budgets.

      Yes, I also don’t mean to get into the raw food debate here. My point is that I feel very similar to you about her comments and it rubs me the wrong way. Again, that would be irrelevant if her comments went somewhere and sparked meaningful conversation but they don’t. I just feel like she comments so she can push her own agenda and is totally missing the point about “community” that a blog creates/provides.

      Kimberly Gauthier said:

      I know this is getting off track, but I find several things off about this comment and very irresponsible:

      1. the raw diet doesn’t help dogs fight off heartworm on their own; this is an irresponsible comment – granted, some heart worm medications have been shown to be dangerous for some dogs, and I agree that a healthy immune system (one gained through proper nutrition) can help a dog fight off heart worm, I wouldn’t take the word of a dog owner about the raw diet being preventative.

       

      2.  a Kong recipe is NOT diabetes waiting to happen unless you’re feeding a dog something high in carbs and fat all day long; I do agree that grocery store brands are terrible for our dogs – I think poor quality foods and over feeding food/treats/table scraps is the reason why we have an obesity epidemic and diabetes problem in our dogs.

       

      3.  there are several raw diet models – it sounds like she’s talking something similar to a prey diet.  When she says her dogs eat what she eats, then I take it she doesn’t eat veggies/carbs.  People in the raw community go back and forth on which model is best and it comes down to choice.  Also, there are plenty of people who feed raw/kibble diets (not mixed together) and the thought is that some raw is better than none – not everyone holds this opinion

       

      Basically, she’s just spouting her opinion over and over.  Since she’s not a veterinarian or nutritionist, nor is she paying for advertising space, I wouldn’t allow her the platform to spout her views.  If she wants to do this, she can create her own blog 🙂

       

      Maybe

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia said:

      Looky here….Here is the response:

      It doesn’t matter if you agree with me or not. What I’m posting isn’t opinion, it’s factual. Dogs have no nutritional need for carbs and feeding them cause them to be fat. I don’t have to watch how much my dogs eat and none are overweight because they stop eating when satisfied. When you feed a food that lacks things they need they are never satisfied and eat too much. What you are feeding is not something they would eat if they had a choice. My diet is exactly what they would eat. That difference is fundamental for their health. Healthy dogs can fight off heart worms on their own, hardly ever get stomach worms of any kind, never need a “dental”, hardly ever get diabetes (your kong recipe is diabetes waiting to happen) and the list goes on. Science is behind what I say, not opinion.

      It feels like she is pushing her own agenda and possibly own product. She just makes my blood boil but it may have more to do with our initial interaction than this specific one.

    • #21699

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      @Carol I have been down that road with her and now we are on the highway. I was considering blocking her instead of throwing kibble (or at least we are past that point too. Ha, ha). Her comments do not spark meaningful conversation. The only fur that is flying is hers and mine and it’s going in so many repetitive circles we are spinning yarn 🙂

    • #21698

      Lenore Pryor
      Member
      @Lenore

      Amy – Why yes! It was that same person. I filter him out.

      Amy Shojai, CABC said:

      Ah yes, “The Woodsman” is notorious for doing this. He stalks TNR posts.

      Lenore Pryor said:

      Yes. I’ve had a similar, unpleasant experience. My blog is mostly about TNR (Trap Neuter Return – Rehome) for free roaming cats. There is someone out there who posts long comments about how the only solution to free roaming feral or stray cats is to shoot and kill them. He goes on and on.

      However, I feel that it’s my blog, my time, my forum and I do not have to tolerate abusive comments. I do allow differing opinions within the range of civil discourse.

      I added a page called Comments and Communication that spells out what is acceptable and what is not.

    • #21697

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      This woman’s name is “Cyndi” or “Cyndiann”. anyone have experience with her?

      @Kimberly Yes, you do present some good discussion points but any similar conversations I have tried to have with her all become circular Arguements similar to her initial one. The only interest she has shown is with driving her point home. I did ask her what she meant by “my diet” to see if she meant a particular product.

      I guess another thing that bothers me is that her comments are off topic. My post as about low calorie kong stuffing, not about different feeding methods out there.

    • #21696

      Dawn
      Participant
      @petproductreview

      Jessica- what backlash are you afraid of?

      I think at this point it has gone so far beyond being an actual discussion that you have every right to block her. Your readers may appreciate it especially if she has been replying to their comments in a similar fashion. I know when I see these types of comments I am less likely to comment because I don’t want to risk waking the dragon and have her start again especially if she is going to go after my comment.

      It sounds like you’ve made every effort to engage her, but she doesn’t care. She has an agenda regardless. Life is too short and we spend too much time developing our blogs to deal with toxic people. 

       

    • #21695

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      @Dawn  I don’t know and that is what makes me nervous.

      Today (and this happened before too) she said I was purposely not letting my readers see her comments because I didn’t want them to “see the truth”. One of her comments (out of the 5+) somehow got caught in moderation and I had not approved it within two hours. FYI…I was out doing my job walking my doggy clients and was not near a computer. I will also note that this particular blog post was for Tasty Tuesday and about a Kong Stuffing recipe. She interjected that I should not be feeding my dogs this peanut butter, banana and coconut mixture and that it was “diabetes waiting to happen”. Pretty off topic if you ask me.

      I guess I fear that she will target my Facebook page or something and start badmouthing me. I have been nothing but polite and accommodating to her but she keeps turning it around to me not being educated about the issue, not wanting people to see the “truth” and that I am somehow against her and her comments. I have merely stated that I do not agree and do not wish to argue the point with her. She seems like a lose cannon to me and I am not sure what she would do or how far she would go.

    • #21694

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Thanks everyone. I feel like such a whiner but your feedback and suggestions has been really helpful. I am definitely going to write a comment policy (basically aimed at her at this point 🙂 ) but am going to continue to ignore her for a while until I decide what to do. I just wish she would come out an be an obvious turd so I could block her guilt-free. She keeps dancing the thin grey line so what to do about her is not so clear though.

    • #21693

      Mary E Haight
      Participant
      @dancingdogblog

      Um, that is unacceptable behavior and very annoying to others commenting. There is no need to put up with harassment.

      Backlash? Maybe from the ever present person who has hijacked your topic, but it’s *your* blog, and you get to decide to change your policy at any time.

      It is belligerent behavior in my view because she attaches her POV to each and every comment, if I understood you correctly. If she wants to be an evangelist, she can write her own blog and shout all she likes. Doesn’t really matter one way or the other if she does or does not. You need not waste your energy on an unwelcome influence undermining your writing efforts, attempting to make you look less than knowledgeable on the topics you address. People like that can do a lot of damage if you let them.

      I would ask, what would your impression be if you had never seen a blog and your first visit had comments like hers everywhere? Maybe that will help guide you in your decision.

    • #21692

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Hi Mary. Let me clarify, this lady left follow up comments to every comment the first time she appeared only – back in August. Since then she has only left one, independent, comment per blog post that is related to dog food or dog treats. These comments are the same message over and over using different words – that Raw is the only way to feed your pet. If she had continued to leave comments after every poster since our first interaction I would have cut her off long before now 🙂

      However, I have gotten a little bit of feedback that other commenters have seen her independent comments and don’t appreciate her “tone”. She is clearly interested in only pushing her point of view and the same message over and over gets old. They just ignore her and move on but I am beginning to wonder if her even “being around” is beginning to sour some readers.

    • #21691

      Mary E Haight
      Participant
      @dancingdogblog

      Oooooh! Okay, I understand now 😉 I would classify her as an “internet troll” for that behavior and ban her. I bet you are right about souring some readers — it would probably be a relief for some to not see her comments appearing anymore. As you noted, she is only pushing her agenda and not adding anything to the conversation so it’s not about excising opposing views 😀

    • #21690

      Sue at For Love of a Dog
      Participant
      @sue3

      Jessica – I read this discussion yesterday and didn’t comment because I had nothing new to add.  However, this morning when I visited your blog, I saw exactly what you posted about in action.

      As a READER, I found it annoying.  As a human being, I found HER attitude very offensive and felt sympathy for you.  As a blogger – knowing the backstory – I’d be afraid of posting much about dog food (meaning me posting in the comments) for fear she might decide to target me!  (Okay… I can be a bit paranoid )

      Have you tried just ignoring her?  (I understand your worry about her targeting your FB page or whatever).  Let her comment stand, but don’t respond in any way at all?

    • #21689

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Hi Sue –

      Thanks so much for your feedback. It helps to know that other people are bothered by her and that I am not just being a princess. I am a VERY tolerant person but her approach and incessant beating of the same drum hits me VERY wrong…especially on a blog where I am in no way claiming to be an expert on how to feed your dog. I merely list foods or treats I am personally interested in to feed my dogs and she tells me I am wrong and that I am killing my dogs.

      Yes, I have been ignoring her for 6 months and she does not continue a “conversation” about the issue or has not left follow up comments to other readers since the first time 6 months ago. I posted this discussion because I am at a crossroads with her. This is not something I just thought about last night. It’s something that has been seriously bothering me FOR 6 MONTHS! (not suggesting you are implying anything, just letting you know where I am coming from).

      The problem is that ignoring her is no longer working for me. It takes great restraint to ignore her and her incessant hounding of me gets under my skin so much I spend at least a day lamenting about it after each comment she leaves. Her “harassment” makes me give a second thought to posting anything food each time before I hit publish. I am pretty much at the end of my rope as far as not engaging her but continuing to let her beat me over the head with her point of view.

      After the exchange yesterday, and everyone’s advice here, I am closer to just blocking her but not ready quite yet. For now I am going to draft a comment policy (pretty much written so I have justification for when and if I do finally block her) and go back to trying to ignore her for now.

    • #21688

      Sue at For Love of a Dog
      Participant
      @sue3

      Jessica,  6 months?!  Okay… if it was me?  I would blog her.  ASAP.  Delete her comments from now on.  It is not worth your time/worry/stress.  Call a halt.  End it.  It is YOUR blog.  Just my 2 cents (and probably about what it is worth)

      And if she follows you to FB or wherever?  Delete her there and report her.

      It is harassment at this point.  Harassment:  the act of systematic and/or continued unwanted and annoying action of one party or group…     Be kind to yourself.  Stop reading her comments and no longer publish them.  You and your peace of mind are worth it!

    • #21687

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Thanks Sue! Obviously, this is not something I take lightly. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion and expression of their opinion. EXCEPT these comments are the same message every time and are not adding to the conversation. I have already told her several times that I do not agree but she continues to feel she needs to “inform my readers of the truth”. It just feels abusive to me.

    • #21686

      Dawn
      Participant
      @petproductreview

      Instead of deleting her comments, I would just keep them unpublished and hang onto to them. I would expect once her platform is taken away from her, she will grumble and then disappear, but you never know. And it doesn’t hurt to have proof.

      Sue at For Love of a Dog said:

      Jessica,  6 months?!  Okay… if it was me?  I would blog her.  ASAP.  Delete her comments from now on.  It is not worth your time/worry/stress.  Call a halt.  End it.  It is YOUR blog.  Just my 2 cents (and probably about what it is worth)

      And if she follows you to FB or wherever?  Delete her there and report her.

      It is harassment at this point.  Harassment:  the act of systematic and/or continued unwanted and annoying action of one party or group…     Be kind to yourself.  Stop reading her comments and no longer publish them.  You and your peace of mind are worth it!

    • #21685

      Felissa
      Member
      @Twolittlecavaliers

      First I am sorry you have to deal with this person. I would ban her for not playing nicely with others. I have never outright banned anyone but I have sent repeat offenders to the spam folder and now don’t have to deal with them because I don’t have to see their comments.

      You said that you are worried that she will retaliate in some fashion if you ban her. That in itself is reason enough to ban her You don’t want her having your email address because you are scared of what she might do. Don’t feel bad about what you need to do. Your Blog is your business you shouldn’t feel bad about posting something you personally feel is doing right by your dog and that offers an alternative to other dog owners out there. You should be focusing on what other low calorie Kong Stuffings you can come up with and spending time taking great pictures because they do really well on Pinterest. Not worrying about her or feeling sick over the fact you know she will post.
      You are blogging about dogs. The atmosphere on your blog should be friendly with some debate on posts that you ask for your readers thoughts or opinions. This person is making a post that could bring in a lot of new traffic to your blog into a negative post that people might not share or as Sue pointed out comment on for fear this person will start doing the same to their blog.

    • #21684

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Thanks Felissa. I WOULD rather be concentrating on improving my content than worrying about what to do with this person 🙂

    • #21683

      Carma Allen
      Participant
      @carmapoodale

      I agree with the rest and I would ban her. She is just bad karma. In this house our dogs won’t eat raw. We have tried it but their reaction is that I am trying to poison them.We have mixed it with kibble only to have the kibble eaten and the raw meat to be left.  That being said there are many that do the raw diet and have seen dramatic changes for the good but that doesn’t give her the right to tell you that its borderline animal abuse to feed kibble. But when it comes to the point that EVERY post you make becomes one of her targets for shaming you (that is what I basically see) then it becomes a problem, not only to you but to your readers. 

      I also have a feeling that you have this woman on your mind while writing blog post because you know she is going to comment neg. on what you write. That right there should tell you that she needs to be gone. Sometimes you have to chase the trolls away. 

    • #21682

      Jessica/YDWWYW/PetTalkMedia
      Participant
      @adventurejess

      Good for you Kimberly. If people can’t be civil then they shouldn’t be allowed to comment. In the feedback I received during discussions of this issue, I have also learned that some readers will not comment on your site if they feel like they may be attacked by the offending person.

      I have not blocked the person that spurred this discussion because she hasn’t been around commenting since it started (I didn’t write anything about dog food…only because it hasn’t come up). However, I did update my comment policy to prepare for any trouble in the future)

    • #21681

      Carma Allen
      Participant
      @carmapoodale

      GOOD FOR YOU! 
      Kimberly Gauthier said:

      Well I did it!  I banned 2 people from commenting on my site.  I had a post about the ASPCA’s commercials that rubbed two people the wrong way and the discussion became abusive.  This discussion was very timely, because everyone’s comments were fresh in my mind as I was making the decision to block the two people.

      Thanks!

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