Implications for names when commenting

There are many reasons that influence a reader on what name that he or she would leave when giving a comment on a post. You have probably seen many types of comments around and to some extent even comments are monetized if I may call it. This post is in view of Darren’s question “What name do you leave comments by and why?”

Here are a list of the type of names readers leave that Darren pointed out in his post and how I view them in my opinion.

• Real names – some readers prefer to leave a real name for their comments. This is a signature that states truthfulness and gives it a personal touch. It encourages authority in the sense that the comment is really coming from a genuine person and not representing someone else or an organizational body.
• Nickname – this is a very common approach that readers like to leave when commenting. It promotes privacy and nicknames can be artistic to reflect the mindset of the reader. Sometimes nicknames are created randomly on the spot and misused as a mean to being irresponsible for the comment left. This is often done when a negative comment is left while running away in disguise to avoid feedback from other readers.
• Niche keyword – this can also be another way that are frequently used by readers. Sometimes it can be annoying because most of the times niche keyword is left as a method for spamming. But it all depend, sometimes the comments are genuine and related to the post therefore cannot be regarded as a spam. Comments with spam sometimes include more than one links to other sites which is intended to drive traffic away.
• Company, brand or website name – alternatively, you may find company or brand name. This represents an organizational party rather than a single reader. It can mean an opinion coming from a single reader and the entire organization under the designated company or brand name.
• Meaningless or scrambled – what else if this name is not used for spamming? For some non-moderated posts, this can be a sore to the eye.

Personally, I like to leave a nickname because that’s the name that I would use for my blogging purpose. I have been using it for quite some times and it feels convenient for me to use as I am quite used to it. Leaving a real name can be too lengthy and might not fit many purposes.

With the types of names that I could think of as mentioned in the point forms above, there is also a mixture among them. For example, you might see a real name with a company name or a nickname with a website name.

I think it’s really fine to use any meaningful names so long as they don’t behave like a spam. It is the discussion that is more important to promote readership and value of the post.