Comments on: We Love Comments, but…

By: Dwayne Charrington

Dwayne Charrington — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:15:52 +0000

I fortunately have yet to experience nasty comments on my blog. But for some reason I am excited for when I do. Instead of deleting them, I’ll just bite back and be a douche instead which will work fine for my blogs purpose

Nice blog btw.

By: Snacky

Snacky — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:25:42 +0000

The policy makes a lot of sense. But IMO, the first two paragraphs could be tightened up with respect to the final paragraph:

It sounds like you’re saying you don’t want to delete comments, and you won’t — except under extreme circumstances. But then the last paragraph gives a different impression.

I think it’s excellent that you’ve decided to delete certain comments. I can understand your not wanting to be the ‘comment Police’, but uh… that’s the job you have. Unless you want to implement a Slashdot-like system where we all do it.

I’m very happy you’ve chosen to actively moderate the discussions. Totally free and open conversation has little value. Too many Internet kooks and dorks. We can all go anywhere and get that already. Your editing is really the the added value that you provide. We all have limited time during the day. When I choose to read a thread, it’s because I want to read about that topic, not the loudest person’s opinion of what the topic should be.

By: mediaChick

mediaChick — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:54:04 +0000

Was it something I said? Ha! Seriously, very straightforward. I hope someday I’ll have need for a comments policy myself. When I do make one, you can be sure I’ll refer back to this post and the Lorelle VanFossen’s post your referenced for guidance. Thanks!

By: jtingey

jtingey — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:36:42 +0000

Another reason to have a policy is to have stated, enforceable consequences to its violation. This one does. One hopes they will never be invoked, but it is necessary to have them.

By: Betsy Richter

Betsy Richter — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:32:49 +0000

Talea’s got it. We want to have firm ground to stand on should we need to delete a comment, and make sure we’ve set clear expectations for all from now on.

By: Talea

Talea — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:52:39 +0000

Is a policy needed? Well, it helps when you delete a comment if you can point to a policy. Otherwise, you get to listen to lots of “you’re just biased against….” protests.

Based on my experience with a few other websites….

By: Jmartens

Jmartens — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:40:54 +0000

Is a policy really needed? I mean if someone is going to leave a nasty comment, a policy probably wont stop them.

By: Betsy Richter

Betsy Richter — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:22:54 +0000

Ugh – I meant to remove ‘edit’ from all of the language and accidentally left it in the final paragraph. I agree with all that editing a comment creates a slippery slope/murky atmosphere.

The only time I’d edit a comment, frankly, is to remove something that was clearly libelous or a copyright violation – and I’d simply remove the offending passage and clearly note that I’d done just that in the comments itself. But it’s probably just cleaner/clearer to remove the entire comment itself than to pick through the content.

I’ll do an edit of this post later on (clearly marked) to incorporate feedback to date…!

By: Daniel Day Douchebag

Daniel Day Douchebag — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:21:17 +0000

YHBT. YHL. HAND.

By: Talea

Talea — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:58:11 +0000

I agree with Aaron on editing. But I think the proposed policy is reasonable and allows those who wish to act like adults to do so.

And protects us from those who aren’t interested in acting like adults.