Not content to let people comment just on weblogs, the Washington Post will soon be accepting comments on WaPo Articles. Of course, the Post has a real issue, though, as trolls tend to flock to open forums like ants tend to flock on tasty picnic baskets. To this the Post says:
As most of you know, our charge into this interactive world has not been trouble free, and we’ve had to deal with blog commenters who are more interested in personal attacks and/or taunting than in making persuasive arguments and conducting civil conversations. So, we’d like to ask those of you who also find that level of discourse to be an annoyance for help in moderating the new comment threads. If you find a comment to be out of bounds, please report it by clicking the “Request Removal” link that will appear next to every comment.
To be clear, the Request Removal option is not there to allow readers to flag comments that espouse opinions they don’t agree with. Only posts that violate our interactivity policy will be removed. We’ll remove comments that contain profanity, personal attacks or spam, and reserve the right to also remove comments that have nothing to do with the associated article.
Good luck, WaPo, I have a feeling you’re going to have to be sifting out bad comments for some time to come. That should be…a thrilling experience only rivaled by reading the telephone book and tracking obscure bits of legislative agenda. Should be perfect for an intern!
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
