Ventura editor tired of "comment" cesspool

Good article ... but sounds like the writer was forced into the half-assed "solution" by some corporate suit, or someone who mistakenly believes that online comments help sell online ads.

If anyone reading this post has proof that a higher number of comments spurred ONE additional online ad, I'd love to see it.

 

Comments help drive site traffic, which affects the price of online ads.
I know I check our paper's webstie several time a day to view the added comments.

I'm sure our site is no different than most.
Our story comments quickly degenerate into the same one-trick pony arguments (Obama, the city, the mayor, taxes, insert bitch here) by the same dozen or so posters, but people keeping coming back to read them.

 

You're missing the point. The point is reader engagement and time spent on site. Average time spent by reader/viewer *is* a big deal and affects advertising rates.

 

All the comment threads I've read that are half-way intelligent and respectful are heavily moderated.

Newspapers don't want to moderate reader comments, however (yes, I understand the legal argument, but it's also about application of resources - or not).

So they are what they are.

 

The best solution appears to be the one where you comment with your facebook log-in.

It seems to cut the crap down because (most) people don't want their names and faces attached to crazy keyboard ramblings.

 

Agreed. In all the cases I've seen it used it seems to have really helped, and I am a pretty hardcore comment hater. I have no idea what a system like that does to traffic. On the one hand, the feces-throwing monkeys who constantly refreshed to fight with each other on the comment threads all day can no longer feces-throw in anonymity, which seems to quiet them. On the other, everybody and their mother has a Facebook account, so there's no registration bother to go through or specific Podunk.com password stuff to remember. In a lot of cases it might be considered more user-friendly.

 

Online comments would be great if they always stayed on topic with the story at hand. But I've seen too many comment sections on local stories that turn into back-and-forth flame wars on national politics, Republicans and Democrats, all the same tired, endless debates with nothing but sweeping generalizations and name calling. Hardly a word to do with the actual story topic.

 

What Jay said.

 

Exactly. Someone got pissed at me in the comment section over the coverage of a recent shootout between someone who was mentally unstable and law enforcement officers. The gunman and a deputy were killed. The person starting ranting over how the big paper was covering the story and said that they should stop talking about it. I retorted back and said it is the job of the reporter and the paper to cover the story.

A few days letter, I get a message from the guy. He accused me of being inappropriate with my comments and told me I don't have a clue about mental illness. I called his bluff and challenged him to point out any "inappropriate" comments I made and told him that his problem wasn't about me or the coverage. He just wanted to bitch about the newspaper. I concluded by telling him that if he had already cancelled his subscription, then he would be wise to stop reading said daily online, if he's so upset by it.

Jay, one of the Des Moines Register's columnists did exactly what you wrote by making commenters post their comments on Facebook, with their real names. It's been effective in her case.

Personally, people do have a right to post comments, but I would add that newspapers can't use the excuse of "we don't have time" to moderate them. You have staffers who manages the online site, produces materials online, and the like. If they can put a poll on the website for readers to weigh in, they can have someone or a staff to moderate the comments section.

If someone can't stay on the topic and starts veering off to something stupid, or start attacking the writer or another commenter, their asses should be banned.

 

I would limit comments to print or online subscibers.

 

The ability to vote comments up or down like you see on YouTube should be standard across the industry. The linking of comments with Facebook is also a positive development.

 

Even with Facebook comments, though, you'll never know what you get. Over the weekend, someone posted their car had been broken into that night at Podunk High and we need to get someone out there right now. Uh, that late at night, it's usually just us sports critters, the janitor and, on Fridays, someone in production to send out pages.