The internet is full of spammers, liars, and cheats. It’s a fact.
Owning a blog can put your site out there to be “bombed and pillaged” if you’re not on top of things, and one of the ways to keep that from happening is to provide a clear, concise comment policy.
I’ve personally been in situations where I’ve seen people getting ripped apart in arguments under a blog post, and it kills me that the site owner would sit back and let it happen. However, that’s part of their comment policy - they don’t delete anything unless it’s clearly classified as “spam”. Usually that’s when a simple bot comes along and blasts your last 100 posts with a URL or some kind of mile-long list of links to sex sites or the like.
Other people refuse to tolerate the negative bashing and simply delete the posts like that with no exception. Some will only do this if it’s bashing another commenter, while others will do it if it’s bashing them.
What about “signatures”? When someone leaves a comment and then puts their name and a link to their site in it at the bottom, that’s a signature. I’ve seen people comment with a 3-line answer and then put a 5-line signature at the bottom, phone numbers and all!
Personally, when it comes to spam, it’s handled by my sites’ spam filters. Some slips through, and I have to moderate it, but for the most part, it’s already caught and I don’t have to deal with it.
When it comes to blatant attacks and bashing, of my readers or other commenters, it’s gone. Deleted. Outta there. You want to argue with me and something I said? Present a valid, calm argument and it could benefit everyone involved. Start name calling and such, and depending on the blog (as I have several), you could find yourself outed (nothing’s ever truly anonymous) and/or given a good lashing right back. On this site, I’d likely simply delete it, but on some of the others I have, I’ll make a mockery of the “criminal”. 
As far as signatures go, I don’t have a huge problem with them if you’ve left a reasonably valid comment (rather than “Thanks for the info”) that adds something to the discussion, and if they’re not like the 5-liner signatures I mentioned above. The reason being that when you leave a comment on a blog, you almost always have the opportunity to put your site’s URL in so that the name you use links to the site. There’s no need for a second link in the comment, you know? In the event that happens, I’ll simply delete the signature and approve the comment. If it’s one of those “thanks” kinds of comments, I’ll let it go through if there’s no signature, otherwise it gets deleted. You can’t add something of value to the thread, you don’t deserve even the default link.
What’s your blog’s comment policy? Do you have it posted somewhere, or do you just play by ear?
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