Blogging is nothing if not a form of publishing. And like any publication it is the responsibility of the publisher, or in this case the blogger, to keep everything moving in the correct direction. The correct direction for both the blogger and the majority of the readers.

Furthermore, blogging isn’t a one way street. Discussion is paramount and is, some would argue, the one thing that really sets blogging apart from other more traditional publishing mediums. It is vitally important that all bloggers are level headed and open minded in their approach to comment moderation, otherwise comments could be stifled unnecessarily.

And therein lies a problem. A problem that grows and grows in line with a blogs popularity.

It’s my personal opinion that comment moderation is essential. Enabling live and open commenting on a PR7 blog with thousands of unique visitors per day is, frankly, asking for trouble.

Developing a troll proof comment policy requires a spam filter like Akismet to take care of the obvious junk followed by a second line of intelligent and, as mentioned before, level headed moderation.

As sad as it sounds there are those who target popular blogs with little or no intention of anything other than trolling. Deliberately, and frighteningly enough intelligently, commenting not to further the conversation, not to add value, but to bait a reaction from others.

The only way to deal with these sort of comments is to delete them. It’s that simple. Click delete and don’t give them another thought.

But what happens if an otherwise honest commentator unintentionally adds a comment that threatens to derail the conversation and potentially undermine the blog? And I don’t mean unintentionally as in making a mistake, perhaps commenting on the wrong blog, I mean unintentionally in the most genuine sense of the word.

The answer is again simple, albeit with a few more steps. Leave the comment in moderation, email the commentator directly to explain your actions and then allow them to choose between making a mutually agreeable amendment to the comment or letting it be deleted.

I can almost here some bloggers shuddering at that last paragraph. But the blogosphere is not the same place that it was a few years ago. It’s a much more profitable place to be, a much more monied place. And with that money comes the same risks to security that we face in our offline lives.

The reality of the professional blogging world demands an equally professional comment moderation policy. You wouldn’t leave the door to your house unlocked all day and all night, it’s beyond contemplation. If your blog is a valuable property, don’t leave it unlocked, or the trolls will move in and rearrange the furniture faster than rats up a drain pipe.