Reader comments on the website

According to our pub, you don't even edit out the profanity. You remove the entire post or leave it up untouched.

 

very nice

 

Free speech is protected on our message boards as long as they aren't personal attacks or excessively vulgar.

 

I find it interesting that newspapers allow these unsigned anonymous vicious comments to appear on stories on the Web edition ... but do not allow unsigned editorials in the print edition. Comments that follow stories do not generate worthy discussion. They cheapen the newspaper product because the readers invariably belittle the reporter who wrote the story or do some of the other things mentoned in this thread. Anonymous commentary is ridiculous. Some of the ones I've seen even bring out racism, obscenity. Parents should not allow their children to read sports stories on the Internet if there is a comments section. It is obscenity of the first degree in many cases.

 

I absolutely agree. I know what they say about opinions and "readers" may like to express theirs, but the anonymity given to them in most Web site comment sections allows so many people to express things they wouldn't say in person (with good reason). I think these things absolutely cheapen the newspaper and I don't know how many of these posters are actually subscribers, but I bet it's not many. It's hard to pass yourself off as a credible, upstanding news organization while allowing any nitwit with a computer to litter your online content with racist, sexist of other offensive comments that no one has to take any responsibility for. I know most newspaper's online people like to talk about how many hits the stories get and seem to embrace these types of things, but I'd rather be a respectable organization that just tells the news and not a forum for any idiot off the street to express their opinion.

 

I still have yet to get an adequate explanation of why advertisers would want to be associated with the sort of shit that appears in comment sections. We keep trying to figure out how to migrate our advertisers to the Web, and yet we can't see that having 100 comments about n*****s and Mexicans and how we should shoot them all on sight might not reflect well on us.

 

Ace, we edit it out, usually.

 

This is another reason newspaper are hypocrits. I challenge you to read the comments on stories. They really do have racist crap in them. No newspaper has the balls to edit the comments or don't have the people. I have asked Internet 10 a.m. meeting people to remove such posts. I get laughed at!!!! Because they generate hits we are told.
Fucking bullshit.
I so badly want this industry to get what it deserves. The death sentence.
If there was any way to reverse this trend I'd feel otherwise. But it's too late. Everybody has been brainwashed who has any power (money).

 

Some of the best bitching on the forums at my former paper is about prep and junior sports. Which coach stinks worse? Who should have done what to whom?

It's actually kind of funny. These people need to find something else to do. Oh, yeah, I forgot there IS nothing else to do in this shit-hole of a town!!

 

Dudes, fuck the comments. People are dumb.

 

Numbers.

Pure numbers. They think the people are looking at the ads.

 

I really wonder about this:

What do newspaper message boards have to do with "free speech?"

Seriously. You are a rpivate publication. If you tell people before they comment they are open to editing, what's the issue.

Also, local paper up here really tightened up its boards, because things got really ugly on several levels.