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Honesty in your blog comments

Once you start blogging you will start getting comments. Unfortunately, a large proportion of them will probably be spam, but the real comments are great.

What about the real but not-so-great comments you may get?

As I wrote a few years ago (back in December 2007 to be precise – old content that still rings true!), I think you have five choices about how to act on negative comments.

Spam and outright abuse I think should be deleted and forgotten.

Comments that just disagree with you or  realistic or even constructive  criticisms are a different story.

Keeping negative comments in your blog seems honest to me – you’re not censoring and are being transparent.

It may be confronting to leave negative comments live, but it gives you a chance to be human and show that you are open to feedback – especially if you show that you have learnt from it.

Have you ever left negative comments in your blog? What response have you got from doing so?

Would you use negative comments to stir a controversy or a discussion?

Copping some flak?

Next time you are complaining about the stirring of your mates or the complaints of your Boss, you can say you are copping some flak and feel like you are being shot at! But be careful you don’t write you are copping some flack as that may be wildly misinterpreted!

Flack: (noun) press agent or publicist
The movie star relied on her flack to manage the press conference.
Flack: (verb) to act as a PR or press agent

Flak: (noun) anti-aircraft artillery or bursting of shells fired from anti-aircraft artillery;over the top and/or aggressive criticism; opposition, disagreement. {Flak is derived from the German name of aircraft defence gun –  Flieger Abwehr Kanone}
The politician was copping some flak over voting against his party on the carbon tax issue. 

Simply remember that a PR agent always adds a little extra – like the letter c in flack!

Positive or negative?

As much as I’d prefer to ignore the election campaign, it is here and I have noticed numerous ads around. And I am surprised (as I am at every election, lol!) as how negative much of the campaigning is.

In business and as a writer, I would never criticise a competitor (mine or for a client) to try to win sales. I believe it is much better to show my strengths and abilities instead of showing how good I am at complaining about others – this builds trust in my skills obviously, and lets clients know if I offer a service they need.

Spouting negatives about competitors surely makes me look insecure or bitter or incompetent (because I don’t have enough positives to talk about), or all of them!

Politicians never seem to learn this simple business principle – and it makes me think of politicians as children!

So, don’t copy the politicians, and use positives in your writing!

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