It's Good to Be a Reviewer

[alanajoli]

I got a surprise package in the mail today from DAW. Last year, DAW sent me a copy of Red Hood's Revenge by jimhines that I reviewed for Flames Rising. Apparently, I am still on their reviewers list, because today, a good month before it'll hit store shelves, I got a copy of Snow Queen's Shadow! Woo! I do reviews for several places now, and I'm just starting to get used to how fun it is to see reviews I've written, often anonymously (as is required for some of the places I review), show up in blurbs and marketing material. Reviewing doesn't pay much, if it pays at all, but the perks -- showing up in blurbs, getting books from publishers, having an editor who sends me books by writers I'd go fan-girl on in person -- are really nifty.

--

A quick note about comments here, as I've had someone ask why I've chosen to delete some comments. Until this past year, I've never had a problem with commenters, so I never bothered to make an official policy. Basically, if I feel a comment is offensive, I won't approve it. If a commenter new to the blog, I may send a message saying why I removed it, but if I find subsequent comments also offensive -- whether or not they're offensive for the same reason -- I may ban them. And honestly, if a commenter is insulting me or other commenters, I'm not sure what they're doing here in the first place.

A lot of friends of the blog are much better known than I am -- and you all probably have to deal with this much more frequently than I do. I'd love to hear if people have developed official stances on how they judge comments, or on how they deal with people who seem intentionally antagonizing in comments. (Given the types of topics that jimhines covers, for example, I'm sure he sees his fill. People like jeff_duntemann and sartorias have had web presences for as long as I've known them, so by virtue of seniority, I'm sure it's come up one or twice. What do you all do?)

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I nuke 'em. I figure, it's my space, and if someone is insulting, out it goes. (Though I have issued warnings first.)

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Wow, that makes me feel better. :)

[jimhines.livejournal.com]

Oh good, I'm glad that got to you :-)

It's your space, so you have every right to set whatever rules and boundaries you need. Personally, I try to give a warning if someone is crossing lines (insulting people, or coming off as trolling). I've found that setting those boundaries and enforcing them actually cuts the abusive comments down to almost nil. I still have to ban-hammer someone occasionally, but it's much less frequent than you'd expect.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

It really made my day! :)

[jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com]

I moderate all comments from people who have not commented before, both here on LiveJournal on on my main WordPress site. My personal guidelines for moderating comments are fairly simple:

1. No gross obscenity or clear racial/ethnic/sexual epithets.
2. No anonymous anger. I.e., you can be angry or anonymous in the comments, but not both.
3. No commercial pitches that don't follow naturally from the topic under discussion.

Point 3 sometimes takes a little discernment. I'm not talking about people mentioning their books and articles in a comment thread, but rather people who look for comment threads that might be a loose fit for a (mostly) canned pitch. Much of the discernment lies in being on the lookout for boilerplate, which as a longtime editor I have good antennas for. (In tough cases I google on distinctive passages to see if they've been used elsewhere.) All that said, this issue doesn't come up very often.

I encourage people not to be angry in comments, and I reserve the right to point out to commenters that they're being angry (I think some may not even know it!) and that anger makes you look stupid. My longtime commenters understand this (it's not a new policy) and others either learn quickly or vanish.

I haven't found moderation to be a huge burden. I don't generally take up vexatious topics, and when I do, I make sure I don't take them up in a provocative way. When such topics turn up, I always exhort my commenters to exhibit what I call "heroic courtesy." Mostly, they do--and the scant handful who don't are easily dealt with.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I dealt with the anonymity here by just making it so people had to log in -- considering how many log in options there are now! I do think the policy of no anonymous anger makes a lot of sense (and I've been in a number of forums that would have been better for a rule like that). The phrase "heroic courtesy" works well for me, too. :)