The New Setting Every Group Moderator Must Know and Tips to Use It Effectively

If you’ve ever been in an online community you are familiar with the posts that get a lot of attention. This usually also equals a lot of comments. When the comments start to pile in, it is hard to keep track of what’s what. What’s worse, sometimes the information shared is incorrect. Others times the comments go off track.

One of the most annoying thing is when commenters chime in without reading previous comments and repeat information or just share something that is no longer relevant given the context.

In many cases, once many comments come in, there can be a final answer summing everything up and providing a helpful response to the OP (original poster) and other interested parties.  

In the past, this was difficult for a moderator to do, because members could sometimes just be chomping at the bit to share their insights and there was no way to end the conversation.

Thank goodness that is no longer the case. Facebook has added a new control that enables moderators to turn off commenting for a post in a Facebook community.  

Directions for turning of commenting on a post

The image below shows you how to turn off commenting.

Tips to Turn Off Commenting Effectively

Before turning the commenting off, the moderator should have a summary statement to inform group members what they will find in the thread and the final result. 

There may be someone who really feels they have something valuable to add.  To address this, the summary statement should include directions to participants on how to contact the moderator should s/he feel there is something valuable to add. If the moderator agrees, they can temporarily turn commenting back on, and allow the person to respond. 

Your Turn

What do you think? Have you been in groups where comments went on and on providing no more valuable information? Some group moderators may not even know this option is a possibility. If you find yourself in a group with this issue, now you know. You can send the moderator this article with directions on how to turn off commenting effectively.