Keep the comments coming, but be civil and courteous

Since this is my introductory “blog,” let’s start with a few words about what we’re trying to accomplish.

Readers will find several new blogs authored by the newspaper’s staff writers. There are at least two factors in play. First, we have talented people with something to say, and we’re giving them that opportunity. Second, we hope our readers enjoy these new additions and build an audience around the topics covered by our bloggers.

The format for our online operation allows more opportunities for two-way conversations between the paper and the readers. Audience members are able to weigh in with their own thoughts and experiences, establishing what might be called a “virtual community.” Our bloggers will be writing about many things, including the trials and joys of motherhood; the positive activities and events around the Beloit area; sports topics; and more.

We encourage you to join in as often as you can.

That does, however, bring me to another side of online commentary.

As the Editor of the Beloit Daily News, I will be writing now and then about a variety of subjects, including how and why the newspaper does what it does. That might involve the reasoning behind a controversial story, content changes in the paper, or some other topic. Or, if the spirit moves me, I may write about local politics or economic issues or, well, just about anything else.

But, today, the topic is about blogging and two-way conversations with readers.

Here’s the good and bad of it. On the good side, it’s a terrific new opportunity to add many new voices to community conversations about both important and not-so–important topics. On the bad side, some people can’t seem to restrain the urge to be nasty.

Here’s a paradox. In the print edition, the “comment” equivalent is the Public Forum, or letters-to-the-editor feature, which has existed about as long as there has been a newspaper — more than 150 years. The standards have been set pretty high. Letter writers must submit their names, addresses and telephone numbers for verification purposes. The names are published (not the addresses or phone numbers). The content of the letter must be civil and factual.

The online environment, however, has developed very differently since the dawn of the Internet. All across the ‘net, people posting comments expect to be able to do so without revealing their identities. For the most part, newspaper Web sites have allowed it. Some, like the Daily News, require posters to register. Even then, though, we realize it’s kind of an “honor” system. The names could be phony.

The majority of those posting comments do so with civility and stick to the issues, rather than sliding toward the sewer with personal attacks and nasty remarks.

But some prefer to attack from ambush, using anonymity to hide behind while slashing and burning without concern for fairness or their target’s humanity. We try to police the worst of these and remove them from the Web site, but it’s a never-ending battle.

Here’s the dilemma, from our industry’s standpoint. Newspaper sites worry about these ambush artists. Some papers have tried to deal with it by requiring posters to follow the same rules as letters-to-the-editor authors in the print edition — give us your name, address and phone number, and the names are published. But those papers usually discover their online posters disappear overnight if their names are published. In some ways, it’s a damned if you do and damned if you don’t scenario.

So we came down somewhere in the middle. We require registration (and get fewer comments than we did before the requirement), but we will post comments without revealing the writer’s name.

All we ask is that writers follow the high road. Keep it clean and civil. Be polite. Stick to the issues and do not be mean and nasty toward individuals. Don’t put anything in a comment that would offend your mom. Most comments fall acceptably within that standard. Some do not, and we try to take them down as soon as possible.

I’d like to hear our readers’ thoughts. Do you think we’re handling online comments the right way? To get rid of the ambushers, should we require that writers’ names be published? Would you change anything in the way we police the comments? Should standards be applied at all, or should the commentary be as free-flowing as writers want it to be?

Your turn.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8th, 2009 at 4:08 pm and is filed under From the Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.