Now With DoFollow Comments

A few months ago I changed the copyright on this site to more of an un-copyright.

The logic behind this change was that the internet encourages collaboration and sharing of information and a Creative Commons license is the logical extension of this new technology.

I also think that part of this collaboration and sharing is giving people credit for being involved in the online community.  I’ve talked about this before as it relates to Twitter and Facebook, specifically that you should pay attention to people are involved online and judge them by their involvement.

NoFollow is a tag that was created by Google and implemented by WordPress and most other popular blogging and wiki software to prevent the passing on of ‘link juice’ to commenters.  The idea was reasonably solid: preventing any juice from passing in link comments should cut down on spam, because spammers endeavored to get some of that juice by filling comments with links.

However, it hasn’t really helped.  There are better ways, read Askimet, to prevent spam.  Personally, I think you should pass on some link juice to your commenters.  If someone takes the time to write a comment, why shouldn’t they get a little credit for it?

So there’s a new movement out there called DoFollow.  Here’s a nice Squidoo lens on DoFollow.  DoFollow is a bit of a misnomer, there’s no DoFollow tag, it’s just the absence of the NoFollow tag.  So I’ve implemented DoFollow on my site for the comments.

With that said, there are a few caveats:

• I will moderate comments.  I promise not to kill any comments that are constructive, even if I disagree, but I won’t tolerate hateful comments or personal attacks.
• Links are allowed and encouraged, but let’s not get too crazy here.  One link or two is great.  Three or more is probably spammy.  I’ll use my judgment.
• Comments have to be relevant.  So if you just drop a quick “Thanks for the post…Here’s a link to my site…” I’m going to delete you.  But if you comment on the content of my post or offer your viewpoint on the post, or link to a post you’ve done that’s related with a bit of background, I’m happy to have your comments.
• I think that’s it for now.  I reserve the right to change these rules at any time, without notice.

So, I’ll look forward to your comments.  Please let me know if you’re blog is DoFollow too.

Tagged as: comments, creative commons, dofollow, Go Here Next, nofollow, Spam