I see where you're coming from, I really do.

However, if there was the chance that comments could be deleted, then there's always a chance that something could be posted maliciously, and then deleted before anything was to come of it in terms of staff seeing it, that kind of thing.

It's in the same vein as being able to edit comments on pages/screenshots/etc.

For example. Say someone posted a comment on a blog of yours that was really, really offensive and was not at all provoked. You report it, but before anyone has a chance to look at it the poster deletes it, there'd be nothing feasible that could be done, as it would be your word against theirs - Which rarely pans out well in terms of getting the whole thing resolved.

So, while I see exactly what you mean, and I do understand the benefits of such a system, it is also incredibly open to abuse, so much so that it wouldn't be sensible to offer the option.

I suppose, but it also opens the system to the same abuse myspace etc. suffer. Say something nasty, delete the comment, and you still look good. I'm all for eternal shame, and I'm sure if you were having an issue with a user, an admin would sort it out. I suppose long comments are an issue, they still haven't figured out a good solution to insane levels of replys breaking the layout.

i think a delete would be great

I would suggest something more along the lines of hiding offensive comments from the public/yourself, that way the staff could still see the comments and be able to take action as needed.

Well instead of the deleting comments system, or a hide comments system, I'd be most fond of an "amend comments" system, that would allow you to just add an extra line or two to the end of a comment that you made, that way you could point out that you made a spelling mistake, without having to make another comment which can then get very confusing.

In addition, I think that the hiding of comments should probably be left to staff-only, since comment-hiding systems are also ripe for abuse. However a "report comment" button would be great on all of them, for everyone to use.

I have been giving this a lot of thought and have some ideas for improving the system and giving you at least some control over what is displayed or not on your page, etc.

Nothing that will be happening immediately, but we are working on it.

Stay tuned!