blog comments, approve or not?

[Noa Put]

I know that some of you use a blog to display your work, one of the best features I thought it had was the opportunity for friends and family to place a reaction in the blog.
Only now I had a demo were I got some very positive comments on but the mother of the groom reacted that she found it great as well but she was disappointed that she hardly saw herself in that demo. She also corrected us for writing "the bride" and wanted us to write "the bride/groom" because she felt that the bride was getting too much attention in this way.

I explained to her, also in the blog, that she was looking at a demo which is not the same as a finished product and that it shows just a very small part of the day, I also said it was not intended to show everybody but just the major highlight involving the bridescouple (duh) with main emphasis on emotion. Also said that comments that go with a demo is something we choose and cannot be changed.

then I got the bride responding, defending me again and now I got another reaction of the mother of the groom who reacted to the bride which I didn't publish anymore.
I did write a email directly to her explaining my motives why I didn't want this to end in a personal discussion on the blog.

I just wonder, how do you guys/girls deal with this, do you let them post anything, even if it's ends in personal discussions/attacks? What do you do f.i. if someone posts a message telling you your demo is no good, do you defend yourself or take it out as well?

If someone would tell me a demo is no good, I would publish it and react to it asking them what they thought was no good, that's for sure. Only in this case it was different, I know it's one of the downsides of a blog that like any other forum f.i. you could end up in endless discussions. In a forum a moderator also has to react sometimes by closing a discussion but here I feel it's a bit different because you are dealing with clients/future clients.

[Chris Harris]

That doesn't sound like a good position for a videographer to be in. However, I would imagine that a situation like that is the exception rather than the norm.

Either way, I'm not sure that I would want to even deal with the hassle of allowing comments on a site that I'm using to sell my services. If I want a professional opinion, I'll post the video on here. If I want the bride/groom/family's opinion, they can send me an email.

[Noa Put]

Well, it's actually the first time I encounter this, having people react on your work if it sounds like "wow", "amazing" this can be the best advertisement you can get on your work.
Sometimes you see videographers adding a separate section on their site were they add reactions from people they get through mail, ofcourse those comments are handpicked but with a blog your showing people that your not afraid to get criticized, in a good or bad way.
But it can be, as you say, have a negative impact, that's why i was wondering how others that have a blog with possibility to comment deal with this.

[Ger Griffin]

MY opinion would be that its your site, your material, your work and your time.
You are entitled to moderate your site anyway you see fit.
Obviously anything negative gets taken out. If they have a problem let them take it up with you in private.
The work is still on display. Thats what you are willing to stand by.

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Ger Griffin

MY opinion would be that its your site, your material, your work and your time.
You are entitled to moderate your site anyway you see fit.
Obviously anything negative gets taken out. If they have a problem let them take it up with you in private.
The work is still on display. Thats what you are willing to stand by.

I have considered this, especially since I do a lot of site development work for others and haven't significantly touched my site in nearly 6 months.

But I would not allow a back and forth to get posted. I would probably put all comments as "most be approved" because after all, this is your public facing site and careless comments, or comments that could be read differently than intended could alter prospective client's perceptions of you. And that just is not worth the risk in my opinion.

[Matt Duke]

I'm about to launch a blog component into my site and I will be making the comments as moderator must approve. I think its great to have comments from clients, as it does act as a testimonial, however I don't want random spam on there which usually happens from blogs.

Cheers,
Matt

www.matthewduke.com.au

[Ger Griffin]

Matt, I too am in the process of starting a blog.
I went with blogger.com (google related) and signed up not realising I had to
include a navbar on the top which in my mind ruins it.
Also the google video res is just not up to scratch.
see www.griffindvd.com

Sorry Noa for highjacking this thread, but is there a program I can use to construct and maintain a blog on my own website/webspace. I currently use dreamweaver but am not very good a this at all.

Perhaps I should post a new topic. I'll wait and see.

[Noa Put]

thanks all for the answers so far, I do have an option checked on my website to moderate comments so I have the possibility to decide what I allow or not. It's just that I have a blog integrated as well about video (in Dutch) were I post an average of 20+ posts a month. I don't get that many reactions but I always moderate mainly to block spam, but I do allow all non spam comments.

Only between the blog and work related entries (demo's) I find it more difficult telling people I don't like their comment because it will harm my business. Usually if I read customer testimonials on someone's site I often don't believe it because it can be manipulated to give you an idea that your good, having more "honest" replies, even if someone criticizes your work can make you look like a more honest person if you react on them because people see you take a lot of pride in your work and you're not afraid of defending it.

You see the same approach on webdesingers blog as they often put their blog upfront, they allow all reactions and not all are nice but they react on them as well or another reader does it. At the end it gives them a lot of extra traffic and most likely more sales.

ofcourse in case you're a videographer it's another line of business but when I got the comments on my last demo I didn't publish it and it made me doubt whether to just block comments on demo's completely. This just because I don't like manipulating the reactions to make me look good.

Originally Posted by Ger Griffin

Sorry Noa for highjacking this thread, but is there a program I can use to construct and maintain a blog on my own website/webspace. I currently use dreamweaver but am not very good a this at all.

Why don't you use wordpress? I didn't know anything about building websites either a year ago and I"m quite proud actually what i achieved with only a minimum of knowlegde. Wordpress has a very good support forum and tons of plugins to do the job for you - you can check my website by clicking on my name and then follow the link.

[Ger Griffin]

Thats a really nice site. Looks very 'magazine' like.

I understand where you are coming from to allow a raw honesty about you and your business to develp on your blog. I just feel in an ideal world this approach could work great. But unfortunately not everybody has good intentions when posting online. Particularly if they can remain annonymous while doing so.
I personally feel that the bride in question was less than wholesome towards you by posting anything derrogatory about the video on your blog. Because of this example I feel moderating is a must.

Ger.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Ger Griffin

Thats a really nice site. Looks very 'magazine' like.

Actually it is based on a magazine style theme, they have become quite popular the past months on wordpress. They take away the "blog" look and make it look more like a normal site were the front content refreshes every time you publish something new.

regarding having the possibility to moderate, I can't agree more that it is a necessity.