Comment Management II

When deciding how to run the Comments section of Seeing Greene, says a commentator, I should ponder the “intent” that actuates the blog. And if the intent is “to report on the events and activities in Greene County, and encourage discourse on and around those events,” she adds, then the blog “is sorely failing, with the Catskill Fire Department practically taking over the comment arena, no matter what subject you touch on….” Seeing Greene was launched back in December 2005 without clearly defined goals. Negatively, I did resolve to avoid the diaristic, narcissistic (“my day,” “my thoughts”) kind of blog. Positively, and vaguely, I aimed to focus on local events, to be entertaining, and to be critical and constructive without being relentlessly Serious. While hoping to elicit feedback, I had no initial thoughts about regulating posted comments. When called upon technically to choose between policies, I chose permissiveness--letting any and all comments get posted--because it was intuitively appealing, it was easy to implement, and I did not understand how to operate the filtering devices.

…you should run a tighter ship....The right to free speech…does not give one the right to verbally batter and abuse, not to mention numb up the entire audience by repeating and repeating the same accusations and denials, accusations, denials, etc., etc., etc.

Experience has shown that the permissiveness policy can be costly. Yes, it has contributed to catharsis for some GreeneLanders, and it has helped to expose some issues that might otherwise be disregarded.

The blog comments are basically a poor man's newspaper editorial…. Requiring names would stop the whistle blowers from disclosing information for fear of repercussions. Some of the comments have been a bit off base[:] Charecterizing an arrest as a conviction, personal attacks not related to the issues but more related to personality conflict. # I can tell you first hand that by making people post names, people will loose freedom of speech. I have from day one, spoke publicly about issues that concerned me and have always put my name to everything I say. All I have received for this is a great deal of harassment, threats, nasty comments, and a egged truck. When people have something to hide they will go to any extent to cover it up. People will be afraid and should be afraid of being blacklisted if they go against the grain. Around here it's not how smart or right you are it's who you are related to. # While some of the postings are malicious, it is possibly the only outlet for free speech in Catskill... I think it's worth a few grumblers.

The permissiveness policy also has enabled a few one-eyed individuals to virtually hijack the Comments section. Those individuals, while ranting about just one subject--the Catskill fire department--indulge freely in anonymous mud-slinging. Their snarling oafish slanders deter prospective commentators who are civilized, and they tend to bring the whole Seeing Greene enterprise into disrepute. Hence the calls for restrictions.

…you should screen all the comments into your email. The character attacks and personal attacks should not be made here. ... Most of the Officers and some of the Firefighters of the Catskill Fire Company have taken a direct hit with the slander and the fire service of Catskill and Greene County for that matter does not need this…. # … anonymous comments can be appropriate. However, I would suggest that you require some form of 'basic registration' so that if you see a continuing pattern of abusive language or character assassination, you can inform the 'sender' that further comments in that spirit will not be published, while also respecting their prior submissions as anonymous. # …you have an ethical obligation to block libel and slander (to the extent that you can detect them, anyway). So I am afraid that, wearisome though it may be, you should run comments through your own filter, delete the more tiresome anonymous postings, and censor the rest. [It] should be transparent; if you delete a sentence or a graf, say so, and say why. And the intent should be to promote free and open debate, with above all no interference with adverse comments on the blog or its author (the price you pay for setting up shop). But I think you can insist on civil and civilized conversation… Gratuitous vulgarity is tedious. # … If you have the ability to stop people from posting anonymous comments, then why have you not done that? The comments on your website are hurtful, harassing, and slanderous. The people who post do not make any attempt to publish the truth… So far, comments on your website have claimed our family has been involved in stealing money, committing arson, involved in wife swapping, and been convicted of crimes. None of these things are true … If this were your family, would you be as willing to let it continue? …please stop providing these individuals with a forum to publish their ignorant ramblings. These cowards should no longer be allowed to harass people and spread lies. They need to stand behind the falsehoods they print or stop printing them…. They know what they are doing is wrong. And so, Mr. May do you! … I ask that you do what is right.

Ah, but what policy would yield just the desirable results, with no negative side effects? To that question I have not been able to reach a confident answer. In the meantime, I have adopted an interim measure, consisting of

Guidelines for Prospective Commentators ***If you want to post a comment to the blog under your own name, click Comments at the end of a blog and, when invited to "Choose an identity," select "Other" and enter your name (and, optionally, your personal web page address or your street address) followed by your message. (Some of our anonymous commentators, I have learned, did not wish to be anonymous but did not know how to operate otherwise). . ***If you want to post anonymously, then, after clicking Comments and being invited to "Choose an identity," select "Anonymous" and write your message. ***If you have your own blog hosted at blogger.com or blogspot.com (sign up here: http://www.blogger.com/signup), then, under "Choose an identity" select "Blogger"and enter your blogger.com username and password, and write your message. ***If you want to send a message to the blogger rather than posting a comment, then, at the bottom of any blog entry or comments page, click on the green "Dick May." ***If you read a Seeing Greene entry and want to tell a particular friend about it, then click the envelope icon at the end of that entry. On the next page, enter your name & email address, type in the friend’s email address under "Friend's Email Address" and write your own comments in the Message box. ***If you want the Comments section of Seeing Greene to remain an open forum, then think hard before choosing to be a cowardly, slanderous, one track-minded, malicious and/or moronic contributor. In other words, abstain from writing messages that would shame the blogmeister into shutting the thing down.