We’re traveling again this week.
In the meantime, there’s so much to write about, but I’ve been stymied trying to figure out how to respond to the hostile comments on my recent posts.
It’s gotten me thinking again about either (a) requiring all comments to be reviewed and approved before posting, (b) shutting down all comments on posts that invite hostile diatribes, or (c) eliminating anonymous comments by requiring commenters to register with their names and emails in order to leave comments.
I should say that the most hostile comments come from people who hide behind fake names or pseudonyms, and often post under a variety of names (which I can identify as being written by the same person). And I do not want allow comments to be used to amplify false or misleading information, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
I went through a similar period quote a few years ago. At that time, there were other attacks on iLind.net that attempted to crash the site, forcing me to use a private service to protect against such attacks.
The worst kind of comments responding to a substantive post containing specific information but ignoring responding substantively, the commenter simply repeats a string of discredited “factual” claims without specifically responding to the data they don’t like. Smears are easier than arguments, it seems.
And it’s not worth my time to take apart a long paragraph that strings together false or misleading statements as “fact”. There are plenty of people around the country attempting to hold back the tsunami of pseudo-facts with their fact checking.
And crafting a comments policy that tries to define the line between rational arguments (which I generally welcome) from diatribes or personal attacks (which I usually just disallow and send to the trash bin).
So I’m kind of at a crossroads.
I’m reluctant to get into the general moderation of all comments, but also want to avoid being swamped by right-wing trolls mixed with a few regular readers who have diametrically opposing views of “reality.”
So I would welcome your comments on, well, how comments should be handled.
By the way, the cats were left in the care of one of our reliable cat sitters. They’ll be here tomorrow as scheduled for Feline Friday.
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I enjoy commenting in a forum with a human moderator. It causes me to rethink my rhetoric and consider there are multiple levels of audiences for the message. First, the message has to be sensible enough to get past the moderator. Then second it needs to be interesting enough to convey a point to a broad audience of people with different sensibilities. If my post doesn’t get past the moderator, it causes me to rethink my approach. I appreciate this forum. That being said, I don’t think you should have an obligation to spend hours moderating it. You take your craft seriously so I don’t believe you can just be casual in your approach to anything that involves your work. I suggest you just turn commenting off from time to time. If we see that comments are off, we will just assume you are taking a break.
Mahalo Ian for your great reporting and insight.
I have been reading your articles and blog for years now.
It is unfortunate that the topic of “comments” causes such disruption, but please know that regardless of how you decide to handle this, many readers (such as myself) greatly appreciate the time and effort you put into sharing your perspective with us.
I think one sensible way to deal with the issue of comments is a disclaimer of your option to disregard, block and or delete any comments that you determine are overtly hostile , disingenuous ( pick you favorite adjective). That should save you the headache and discourage the trolls.