Story Comments

but he is a viking.

 

My paper tried to encourage us to interact with readers in the comments section.
I politely declined.

 

I don't think freedom of speech is valid on a newspaper Web site. It's a private business, so it can keep whatever it wants off. If we want to keep some pedophile from commenting on a high school sophomore's cup size, then we can ban the son of a bitch. That or rip off Chris Hanson.

 

I'd probably decline also. Though I can't say how polite I'd be about it.

 

I would put "interacting with readers in the comment section" under the same Reckless as Hell heading as "communicating with readers back and forth on your blog," and "posting explanations of your articles, and posting scoops, on Internet message boards."

Way too easy to get your words twisted in those situations. And way too easy to get drawn into a foolish conversation.

And: The Internet is the Wild West of communication. It's a medium that lends itself to lawlessness. Moderating comments should be easy in theory. Not so much in practice. A "clever" commenter can slip by a lazy or ignorant moderator pretty easily.

 

Comments are a good thing for this business, but they absolutely have to be moderated.

 

Yes! [SportsJournalists.com]

I mean no! [SportsJournalists.com]

 

I should have seen that coming. Lots of folks around here are trashed on a regular basis. What bothered me most about this instance is that the guy approached the paper looking for publicity. Then, when he received it, he had to nit-pick about the coverage.

UPDATE: After a cooling off period, I e-mailed him just to clear the air and let him know I was aware of his concerns. He apologized for being rude, saying that it's because he's German. He played that freedom of speech card, and he reiterated that his beef was that I wrote a story from the same angle he's seen 100 times. Essentially, I'm guilty of not doing something more creative than what other reporters have done. I wrote 10 different replies. I erased each one and finally went with a short note informing him that I'm sorry he didn't like the story and that I will not attend next year's event.

 

here's my take on it: fuck 'em.