Just like with any other type of media (books, movies, plays, etc) there will always be mixed reviews. The good, the bad and the ugly. As a blogger, it is important to know how to deal with these negative comments. Do you leave them on the comments section for everyone to see? Do you delete them ASAP? Here are some tips to take into consideration.
Have a Policy
By having a comment policy, you can provide guidelines to which the users can follow when posting comments. You may ask for a commenter’s email address to ensure validity. Giving them a brief and general set of rules lets them know what you expect as the blog owner. You can set the tone for their comments here.
Confrontation
Most of the times there will be some negative along with the positive. There are different opinions as to what to do with these. Sometimes by deleting negative comments, it only provokes people to comment more negatively. Of course many people have different opinions, so recognizing that is important. Try not to get defensive when responding to the comments and keep it conversational.
Contact Information
Having contact information is a nice thing to have. If you need to email a commenter to talk to them further about their words, this is the easiest way to do so. You can send a friendly reminder warning them of the guidelines or asking them to revise their comments or tone the next time they post a comment.
As much as you may want comments on your blog, not all are what you are always expecting. Be careful with your responses, use good judgement and keep it conversational when responding to the negative ones!