In today’s Telegram, Russell Wangersky weighs in on the online comments section and how they have become nothing more than places to anonymously sling mud. He has a point. He also gives a few examples of some of the “insightful” comments posted during the last week.
I suggested that the Telegram stop posting anonymous comments. Now some will argue that this is censorship, but I would have to disagree. Omitting an anonymous comment – inflammatory or not – is not censorship. Deciding which to include or exclude is. For online publications, I think the easiest solution is to simply exclude posts without real names.
Geoff Meeker touched on anonymous comments a few weeks ago. He argues that people should take responsibly for what they write. I agree.
But I think the rules differ between blogs and other mainstream media that publish on line such as newspapers, magazines, etc; I’m certainly no Telegram or New York Times.
I thought about this for the comment section for this blog. All comments – including anonymous ones - will be considered as long as they are not libellous or involve personal attacks. Some may call this censorship since I get to decide, but hey, my blog, my rules.
No comments:
Post a Comment