I’m focusing a lot on comments these days (maybe too much? tell me if so) because they’re one of the relatively few ways readers have to interact with reporters and each other on our site. We’re working on more ways, but I don’t want to neglect something our readers are already used to.
Yesterday, I asked what you think about comments, and I got some good responses, including the fact that making people jump through hoops discourages good, moderate commenters.
Today, on this story, more people are talking about comment threads. Some are for them, some think we need to stop them now. I think most people fall somewhere in the middle.
So I put it out to you. Keep comments or axe them? Leave them as they are or re-vamp them?
October 14, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Jamie- I think you need comments, without them it takes the social out of “social media”. I do get a kick out of them, and honestly they are one of the things that keeps me coming back to Gazetteonline.com. There are some really great comments out there.
The bummer side of the coin is the negative comments that seem to be there for the sake of being negative. On my blog, before a comment can be posted, I must approve it. It allows me to filter out some of the negativity. However, I have to remind myself that if the position the commenter has, while it may differ from my opinion may be still may be worth reading. In fact it keeps it interesting.
My point, while it may be more work, if you can moderate the comments before they are posted, it may help reduce your blood pressure.
Chad Canfield
http://www.thecanmanshow.com
October 14, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I think that the comments ought to be discontinued. People simply don’t understand that with the right to freedom of speech and the press comes a responsibility to act judiciously.
Most comments on these boards are absolutely ill-informed, in the least, and hateful at most. It seems that with so many people having trouble separating journalism from opinion these days, allowing commenting only makes things worse.
Besides…nothing substantive really comes from comment boards anyway.
October 14, 2008 at 7:49 pm
I’ve been thinking about this for a bit (as there has been many things blogged/tweeted about this) and I was wondering if part of the problem is the forum that is presented for comments.
The current format only allows for a single, linear stream of comments. This means that if I wish to pose a question to either the writer or the readers, I simply put it on the big board. If I want to get a response, I am forced to check the board routinely or read the whole board.
Essentially I look at it like the comment board is like a giant room, and all the users are standing around shouting their thoughts. If a few people decide to start shouting offensive garbage, you’d find the same thing you do on the board, the people who might have something interesting to say would get annoyed and either start a shouting match or just leave.
I would be interested in seeing what would happen if you introduced nesting comments and an optional e-mail alert for responses to a post.
October 16, 2008 at 4:13 pm
[...] Front page stories for 10/17 Filed under: Uncategorized — jamiekelly @ 4:13 pm Tags: front page, gazette First, I apologize for the lack of posting over the past few days. I’ll be back tomorrow with a couple of new posts. In the meantime, I’m still looking for your thoughts on comments. [...]
October 17, 2008 at 9:26 am
It’s like letters to the editor in the Gazette, right? An editor makes a decision about which ones get in, and you get far more than you print, probably. The editor weeds out those that are not rational, unnecessarily offensive, racist, etc. I think if you’re going to have comments that same process needs to be followed, or you’ll eventually lose the people who would like to use comments as a spot for intelligent comment on the points you’ve raised. I can well imagine that you don’t have time to do that every day, but that’s what’s needed, I think.
October 17, 2008 at 9:30 am
Anne
It is similar to that, but the hope is it’s a bit more free. But the offensive comments do drive some people away, I think, and we need to figure out what to do. What about a system that would let readers flag comments as offensive? Would that do something similar?
October 17, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I disagree entirely with the idea of eliminating comments, or censoring them, with the exception of those which are clearly profane, or malicious.
I also do not believe that most of the commentary is hateful or ill-informed.
It is a way for information you might otherwise never see or hear to make it’s way into the paper.
The registration process has been proven time and again to drive away commentors, who are fearful of being spammed.
It’s the age of social media, and interactivity is a key proponent. If you offer it, you likely will draw in younger readers. If you do not offer it, people will look elsewhere for it.
Commentary should be allowed, and it should be as painless and as open as possible.
Deb