Over the years, our dear friend “Anon” has written poetry, musings and songs. They often leave me feeling romanticism, or wonder whom the soul is behind such writings that are lamenting on life.  For me there has been a lovely mystery around poem’s written by Anon; I ponder, was the author’s name simply lost? Were they scared to go against political and social constraints? Were they lover’s who couldn’t declare their love for public admonishment?

Fortunately, today no one has to hide behind the infamous Anon identity, with digital channels allowing open exchange of views and ideas, being an “Anon” has lost its appeal. Being anon makes people come across as someone not having the confidence in their views to come forward publically. Being Anon appears a cowardly way of criticising, having an opinion without putting a name behind it.

Particularly in social media channels, the medium affords an opportunity to challenge a person and an organisation, allowing for opposing views and open discourse. It really doesn’t matter if someone agrees with you or not, it is the ability to debate opposing views that is important. However, it is considerably frustrating to attempt to engage with a nameless person.

It poses a question for corporations who have set up their own blog or who are using other blogs to participate in the conversation about their organisation. How can they help a disgruntled customer who posts comments about their business under an anonymous identity? They can of course answer directly through the blog comment stream, but building open dialogue and engagement is pretty hard with a nameless voice, someone hiding behind the “anon” identity.

So, as getSocialAdvice has three seasoned,  highly respected bloggers to hand, I present my questions to my colleagues and other bloggers out there.

How do you deal with Anonymous comments on your site?

Neerav Bhatt:  If it’s neutral then it gets published.

If it’s overly positive than I might suspect its a case of astroturfing  (the artificial creation of grassroots buzz for a product, service or  political viewpoint) and I’ll probably delete it.

If its attacking an individual than i’m pretty strict. The comment may be  edited to indicate that this is unacceptable or simply deleted if it goes  too far.

Attacks on a company/organisation are different. People often get annoyed  and make passionate comments about a company they’re dealing with eg: if they think its’ ripped them off or giving poor service. Swearing and  defamatory comments are still a no go zone and can result in comments being  edited or deleted.

Dorothy Polka: The blogging platform I use enforces use of an email address and tracks IP.  If the comment is inflammatory in nature I make a decision about the basis of the comment based on the policies of my blog.

Gavin Heaton : I don’t allow them.

Do you have a policy?

Neerav Bhatt: This is my comment policy: Comments, suggestions, corrections and  additional information are all welcome I have no doubt you can  contribute something useful. Comments may be edited for spelling, grammar,  length, to remove foul language etc.

Dorothy Polka: I am all for debate! However I also know my blog readers and their style of commentary and use common sense! The policy as stated on PDB is that comments are not moderated (all comments are automatically approved and I monitor)  and I will delete comments containing
•    Blatant Spam
•    Attacks on others
•    Inflammatory statements
•    Vulgar or obscene language
•    Abuse
•    Off topic commentary

Gavin Heaton: Yes. I don’t allow them. If someone goes to the trouble of “gaming” the commenting system, then I delete their comment.

What advice would you give to a corporate blog?

Neerav Bhatt: Ideally all comments would be moderated but that can be hard to scale once comments volumes rise.

2nd choice is to moderate all comments for a persons first 2-3 comments,  then let them be published automatically from then on.

3rd choice is to have clear short comment policies, let all comments  publish automatically and enforce the policy with 24/7 roving moderators  who are trusted members of your forum/blog or your staff.

Dorothy Polka: Firstly I believe a corporate blog should  allow comments! Otherwise to a consumer it’s just a news page.
Allow your customers to speak to you but have a plan in place for reacting.
Include statements in your policy on how to react when a commenter abuses you, have one or two specific people monitoring the comments and interacting when necessary.

Gavin Heaton: There is no need to register to comment, but if you want to converse, then do so under your own name.

Is there really any simple way to deal with an Anon who is getting pretty vocal?

Neerav Bhatt: That kind of person is known as a Troll. According to the Urban Dictionary: “Trolling is the  act of purposefully antagonizing other people on the internet, generally  on message boards”

Trolls should have their comments deleted and replaced with a moderators  message saying that people who break comment policies will be kicked out  swiftly.

Dorothy Polka: How do you deal with vocal customers?
I don’t think a vocal commenter should be dealt with any differently to a vocal customer. Address the concern, deal with the matter and treat the comment as a valid statement.  Vocal comments can be vocal because they’re passionate about the issue- have they had a bad experience? Have they been treated poorly by the company?
It’s normally quite obvious to tell when a comment is “baiting” or “trolling” as opposed to a genuinely upset customer. Generally if a commenter starts becoming inflammatory on my blog, they’re having a bad day, have misread something or are extremely passionate about the subject.
Clarification and reaching out to those making a comment has always solved the situation.

Gavin Heaton: Yes, don’t allow them.

On the flip side, If an Anonymous person posts a slanderous view or a view that could compromise legal parameters, such as copyright, what are the risks they are taking by hiding being an “Anon” ?

Neerav Bhatt: The risk they are taking is that they think they’re anonymous when they’re  really not. Forum/blogging software can often tell you the computer IP  address where the comment is coming from. So if a person writes an  anonymous comment saying “XYZ company is terrible” and their IP address  shows they’re from XYZ’s arch rival - it’s obvious they are lying.

Dorothy Polka: I think anonymous commentators have to be careful. Some bloggers are not hesitant in “outing” them and it can not only backfire on the person but also on their company.  There are always consequences for actions and spouting vitriol and nastiness because you’re behind a computer screen just doesn’t work anymore.

Gavin Heaton: There is no such thing as anonymity on the web. When a comment is left, an IP address is recorded for the computer leaving the comment. That IP address can be run against a reverse lookup engine to show where the computer is located and under which network it operates. This is how the NAB fake identity issue came about recently. So, far from being anonymous, we are actually tagged, tracked and accountable. Any illegal, slanderous or unethical dealings will be exposed.

Further to this, Gavin Heaton has also written quite a pertinent post on the matter at his blog Servant of Chaos “Community, Trust & Social Judgement“.

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