The art of comment deletion

Recently I informed a Facebook friend I had deleted his comment. It wasn’t “that bad” but it just needed to be done for my personal reason. In an email to him I told him I deleted it and explained why and he was okay with the deletion. On the other hand had I simply deleted his comment without notifying him that could have been a different story.

Let’s examine when it it okay or even a good practice to delete Facebook comments and whether or not you should inform and explain to the commenter. Keep in mind these are my opinions and not scientific results:

1. Spam – always okay to delete and never requires an explanation.
2. Off topic – okay to delete and may require an explanation depending on your relationship.
3. Off color – always okay to delete and does not necessarily require an explanation.
4. Personal attack – I would say to leave these. If someone disagrees with me or criticizes me I leave it. My friends usually come to my defense and if they do not then perhaps I should ask some rather pointed questions.
5. Political – I do reserve the right to delete wall posts about opposing views but comments I leave.
6. Religion – see politics.
7. Attacks on other friends –  I lean towards deleting these. I recently had two connections who did not know each other and one attacked the previous. I left the comment but defended the first person. It turned into a banter match and several other friends became involved.
8. Profanity – totally your call.
9. Nudity – depends on what it looks like. Just kidding. I delete, you can do whatever you wish.
10. Coarse humor (innuendo etc.) – I stick with the “if it isn’t for everyone’s ears including my 15 year old daughter or 13 year old great-nephew it’s coming off”.

Your comments are welcome and invited. What would you delete from your Facebook wall?

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