Reader comments on the website

So if a printed newspaper and it's Web site are closely connected and the Web site is an extension of the newspaper (or vice versa), then why such different standards?

I look at the comments posted on our Web site and I know we would never allow any of it to run in the printed product (thank goodness).
So it's a real disconnect for me when we lower our standards of decency for the Web site, and then claim the Web site will somehow save us or make us a better product.

 

The big difference here is that I don't post racist, sexist or otherwise hateful thoughts on this message board. There's a line in the sand, and I don't ever cross it. But there's also plenty of things I've said on this board that I say in public on a daily basis.

Sadly, many of the readers at my shop don't show similar respect for others. They'll call some 11-year-old ugly when her picture is online or post nothing but hurtful and hateful things on particular stories.

While I don't agree with the idea of anonymous comments on stories, I do believe that such interaction is important. I just think there need to be some new rules drawn up to keep people from abusing the process.

 

Because copy editors don't have any real work to do, right?

Awful lot of us on this board, and I'm guessing most of us don't appreciate the dismissiveness of that particular phrase.