I mainly ditinguish between deep-links and links to the main URL of a blog or website.

I do not allow any deep-links attached to the commentator’s name.

The reason is that I do not want to put in the time and effort to check the content people link to. However links to the main URL are welcome; I have nofollow off.

Links in comments are allowed by trusted commentators or if there is some context given.

Links to Wikipedia are almost always allowed.

New commentators, who simply drop deep-links will get their link unlinked – I simply remove the http:// from the URL so that it isn´t clickable anymore.

Regards and good night from Germany,

René

Of course, it is an entirely different matter when relevant and illustrative links are placed in the comment.

@dandellion – Yes links are essential to the web, where appropriate

@Martin – Yeah while good links are valued a lot of clumsy link drops are counter productive

@Michael – I think that is a fair compromise

@Novice – Not a bad idea

@Chris – Agreed, I am mainly interested in knowing who is commenting

@Michael – I find myself clicking peoples names a lot to follow them back to their blogs, I am sure it is a popular thing

@sam – Yeah I think truly on-topic links are to be encouraged

@Jen – It’s nice to have polite readers

@Gavin – Indeed, I have my settings quite strict also

@Adam – Unfortunately a lot of people don’t read the policies but it is good to have one to point to when people complain

@Mohsin – Good point

@Jan – Interesting stuff, and also strange that we tend to write about the same things

@Brad – That caution shows you have the right attitude

@Lucia – I think you did very well

@John – Yes I always hope to get and leave comments that really add something, links or no

@David – Tagging something on the end of your name, or in quotes such as Chris “Love Guru of the Universe” Garrett is a reasonable compromise between having your name and branding/anchor text

Dawud Miracle prompted me to add a little extra after my name, in an excellent post about branding yourself in blog comments.

As it is at present, my signature gives people a very quick insight into who I am, and the background I’m commenting from.

I fully agree that links within the comment box should only be used where completely necessary, and to add to the conversation.

It’s clear bloggers have a range of feelings about links in comments and “SEO in ‘name’. I don’t mind them if the links are relevant and the name box at least contains a name that can be used in conversation.

But I do mind irrelevant links and equally bad: a second signature link. Newsflash: the “name/ website” boxes are your signature. Readers don’t need it twice.

Still because different bloggers have different points of view both about the links themselves and whether or not they wish to “dofollow” them, my plugin gives an option to dofollow links in comments, and or dofollow long names left in SEO.

(Have I succeeded in posting the longest possible relevant self promotional comment ever?)

I sometimes leave a link in a comment I write – but only if I’m linking to a blog post I’ve written that deals directly with the topic at hand. Even then, I link with caution.

I link directly to it with my name so you can read the article in full if you should be so inclined:

“When you refer to someone else’s work you should link to it. When you refer to your own relevant work can you link to it. In all other cases should you not be linking. Links are like words meant to add something besides itself. Don’t pull people out the conversation for no good reason.”

If spammers leave links with intention to improve their link popularity, the bad news is that most blogs attach no-follow attribute to all the links in comments, which means no authority is given to such links. So, it’s just a waste of time.

But then, if spammers knew this, they wouldn’t be spamming in the first place

However, as long as the person has left a meaningful comment, that has helped the discussion, I’ll usually let them get away with leaving a signature link.

Having said that, I’m planning to write an official comments policy for all of my blogs, and I’m considering putting a “no signature links” line in the policy.

Beyond that, I essentially agree with Eve’s comment that you quoted in the article.

I invite links because many of my commenters have sites/blogs that would be of interest to my readers, and I think a link to a specific related post would actually add real value – so sometimes I will, myself, link to a commenter’s post when I post a reply…

A very well-mannered group, aren’t they?!

It’s usually obvious when someone is spamming or doing something for blatant self-promotion, and those should be trashed immediately. Most other times, though, people are genuinely trying to add value to the conversation.

In an effort to be truly helpful, I’ve left several links to resources in comments on others’ blogs, because they were relevant and supported the blogger’s post. When you write helpful comments, people wonder who you are and they’ll click your name to check you out.