News site battles racist comments
Cory Bergman January 3rd, 2007
Although it’s blown out of proportion in this article, Sun-Sentinel.com is catching some heat for some racist comments that followed a news story on the site. Like an increasing number of news sites, Sun-Sentinel.com allows readers to post unmoderated but filtered comments beneath stories, and users can flag offensive comments for review. But in this one case, some nasty comments lingered too long. While this approach to comments is standard for blogs, it’s deemed by many as too haphazard for branded news sites that have their credibility to protect, especially when attached to news stories. In fact, traditionalists hold up examples like this one as a reason why no comments should appear online before they’re screened. Personally, I believe in unmoderated comments with safeguards: posting comment rules that you follow; keeping an eye on posted comments; user flagging that you respond to quickly; IP blocking; using the best spam and dirty word filters; disabling comments on inflammatory topics; and separating and appropriately labeling comments. If you approach comments intelligently and believe in the power of user contributions, the upside tremendously outweighs the risk — but it takes hard work.
14 Comments Add your own
1. Safran | January 3rd, 2007 at 3:31 pm
And here is where Cory and I part ways. I think that, once your audience has shown they abuse the service, that your only choice is to have moderated comments.
I see no harm in moderated comments. As long as you are filtering for language and not content, you are still doing a tremendous service.
A couple of days ago, I posted on a BBC Radio forum. Someone screened it, and then put it up. There are hundreds of comments in that forum. They are excellent. So what, really, is the harm?
We tend to get pretty idealistic around here. But pragmatism has to jump in at some point. By acting as a moderator, news organizations can help with the conversation of news while preventing it from becoming another Usenet disaster. In fact, I dare say that without moderated comment, all forums will follow Godwin\’s Law and decay.
2. Steve Yelvington | January 3rd, 2007 at 4:53 pm
You don’t need prescreening or moderation to have decent conversations (as generally is the case here). You do need clear ground rules, leadership, presence and controls (such as registration and reputation management tools) that are appropriate to the situation. Topix is allowing people to post without registering. On a high-volume news site that’s not a smart move.
I continue to be distressed by the number of news organizations that outsource or just abandon their discussion spaces. I blogged about that a few days ago; I’d link to it but your spam filter woud bite me.
3. Safran | January 3rd, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Yelvington: Expand upon “registration and reputation management tools” a bit if you would be so kind. Jarvis argues against registration, saying it has the opposite effect of its intention. What do reputation management tools offer? What has your experience with them been?
You can always put the link in the field for your URL instead of in the Comment body - like I’m doing now to link to Lost Remote.
4. Elllington | January 3rd, 2007 at 6:43 pm
You incorrectly characterize this as an isolated case of racist comments on one story. As Bob Norman pointed out, comments on stories throughout the site were laced with racism. The site’s GM made no real efforts itself to moderate comments, instead saying that it was the concern of Topix.net. Scores of other sites provide this feature but with the approaches mentioned above, they effectively weed hate out of community discourse. Sun-Sentinel.com neglected to do any of that.
5. thegrossepointechannel | January 3rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
ok, this is WAY off topic, but…
i’m impressed with CRAIGSLIST!
i posted an ad for my 1998 plymouth minivan at 9:30 this evening. it’s now 11pm and i have had 7 calls on it!
no wonder papers are done.
my first experience with craigslist and i am stoked.
thanks, craig!
6. thegrossepointechannel | January 3rd, 2007 at 9:13 pm
make that 8 calls.
and i forgot to mention that a few of the folks who called really wanted to come out in the dark to see the car.
om!
7. Dave | January 3rd, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Why not create a “HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW LANGUAGE FILTER” option? You know, like Google Images (to ignore the porn).
- Low is essentially off and you can see everything.
- Medium puts “****” in place of f bombs, racial, or other offensive words.
- High doesn’t display any post that has “offensive speech” in it.
8. thedetroitchannel | January 4th, 2007 at 6:58 am
craigslist update:
after calls thru the night (i ain’t kidding there were calls at 4:30 this morning) and a guy under the van this morning at 5:30 with a flashlight) the minivan sold at the asking price with 2 people nearly fighting each other over it.
i had to look around and see if i was on candid camera!
un-f’in-believable.
car: gone.
cash: to wife
thanks again, craig!!!
9. thedetroitchannel | January 4th, 2007 at 6:59 am
all in less than 12 hours too.
10. Maxx | April 21st, 2007 at 7:19 pm
hi
11. John | September 28th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
myfreepaysite password
12. Ron | November 21st, 2007 at 1:11 pm
rtramadol
13. Bob | November 22nd, 2007 at 9:25 am
cualis
14. Guruchel | November 22nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
som
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