Weathering the Snarkstorm: How and When Do You Censor Comments?

• May 7th, 2009
• Posted by Ron Schott
• Posted in Social Media Case Study, Spring Creek Group, [redacted]

Recently, I read a blog post about the misfire between social media and PR-types. Being of that PR world (for three years) I thought that I’d drop a line supporting the story and give a bit of an opinion at the same time. The opinion, which wasn’t all that abrasive, was that perhaps PR-types aren’t best-suited for taking the social media reigns. Yes, before you ask, I did drop @SpringCreekGrp into my comment. However, it wasn’t in a “OMG, look at us!” way, but rather in talking about how social media marketing agencies partner with and compliment traditional PR and advertising.

I hit submit, waited a bit and noticed that my comment wasn’t showing up. A colleague posted their thoughts and their comment quickly moved through moderation and is on the page.

While we can’t be exactly sure why my comment was taken down (perhaps it was the view that PR people are simply missing the social media point), we (the SCG Blog Squad) can take this to school and learn a bit of a lesson.

We here on the SCG Blog Squad believe that communication and collaboration make the world go round. So, if one of you out there doesn’t agree with one of our stances, let us know. We won’t simply delete your comment just because you have a differing view, in fact, we’ll probably dialog with you more.

Of course, in today’s Web, it is necessary to sometimes censor comments. We here at Spring Creek Group World Headquarters try to stick to the “would you say it in front of your boss, mother, and the Queen of England” rule. This guideline rules out the profane, discriminatory, and just plain inappropriate. If you want to tell us how absolutely off our rockers we are, go at it – just try and do it without the four-letter words.