Google+ Comments Are Open To Everybody

One source of occasional confusion, seen in Blogger Help Forum: Get Help with an Issue, is about Google+ and the lack of control.

We have discussed the lack of commenting moderation options - but that's just a small part of what you don't get.

Under Settings, then Posts and comments, I don't have the same choices as shown.

This blog owner is used to the array of comment settings, that seem natural, to somebody using Blogger comments.

With Google+ comments, you get one setting, under "Posts and comments" - Comments.

Comment Location

Everything else is part of Google+, and stream behaviour.

Anybody who can see the blog can publish a comment.

Besides the lack of moderation options, the lack of control over who can comment can be disconcerting. With Google+ Comments, anybody, who has an Exciting Google+ account, can comment - just as in the Google+ stream, anybody can post anything they wish.

Unless you, the blog owner, are in a Circle that's addressed by a commenter, you won't even see a non Public comment - even if your blog is mentioned. This leads to more confusion.

Why does the comment count go up for this post - even with no comments visible?

Google+ will count comments that you may not get to see. This too can be disconcerting. Anybody can comment, on your blog - and you can't see the comments. Comment moderation is left to the people who can see the comments.

Google+ Comments only work for public blogs.

But there's a more intriguing oddity. We are told to use Google+ for distribution of private blog posts - but you cannot use Google+ Comments on a private blog.

Google+ hosted comments only work, with public blogs. With a private blog, you use Google+ to distribute the posts - but you can only use Blogger hosted comments.

Since automatic post sharing only works for Public shares, you have to manually share each post - so you can select the appropriate Circles to view each individual post.

If you have a private blog, your readers can discuss your blog posts, in their streams - but nothing will show up on the blog. And, they can view the blog - and possibly comment there - but nothing will show up in their streams.