Wednesday, May 4, 2011

JSOnline Has A New Comment Policy

JSOnline is trying out a new comment policy in which commenters on particular stories have to sign in via their Facebook page:
Editor's Note: You may comment on this story using your Facebook log-in. We are testing this new commenting system on selected articles in an effort to hold people more accountable for their comments. You may still comment on most other stories using your JSOnline user account.
A few initial thoughts regarding this new policy:

  • What if you don't have a Facebook account? Aren't they denying those people a chance?
  • Anonymity is a long cherished tradition that was used by some of the earliest leaders of this country.
  • It doesn't seem to be doing much in keeping the vitriol down.
  • I bet Darlene Wink et alia wishes they had this a long time ago. They might have avoided a lot of trouble.
The paper already knows what they need to do if they want to improve the atmosphere of their comment sections, but they are simply too cheap and miserly to have a person monitoring the comments coming in.

6 comments:

  1. In addition JSOnline will be helping Facebook with their massive global data mining,now for those who choose to comment on the JS, Facebook will be able to "file" each comment with the aggregate knowledge of all their "likes" and faves, playlists, and relationships.
    Who wants to hand all that in a nice package to creepy little Zuckerburg?

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  2. @capper I don't see anything wrong with the Journal using the Facebook comments, I often wonder why people can't put their name on their words.

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  3. Comment quality has improved about 1,000% on MJS where they use the facebook log-in. But I'm worried- Scummy right wingers usually flock to MJS. Now where will they go?

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  4. I've been arguing in favor of verified identities over there forever. They confirm letters to the editor via phone, so why not online?

    However, the solution they are testing is not the right one. I created a fake Facebook account and had a comment live within 5 minutes. There are better ways to go.

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  5. Are they still using this?

    I wonder because some stories don't have comments at all and I don't know what their policy is.

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  6. I don't think they know what they're doing any more.

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