“I think the problem with commenters isn’t so much a
technology issue as a social one. Somehow we’ve rewarded, or at least learned
to tolerate, a world where the drive-by insult is the norm. As we crank up the
ease and pace of our “social” interaction while cranking down our standards for
what actual discussion should look like, we seem to be increasingly comfortable
with people simply behaving badly.”
I can certainly relate. About three years comments started
getting a little out of hand here at To2C. Increasingly I found myself using the
delete button. I didn't take these actions lightly. I actually appreciate it when someone
takes the time to comment, even if they vehemently disagree with what I’ve
written. In my view there is a very thin line between deletion and censorship.
In an attempt to address that I will usually allow a nasty comment or two from
a reader before I hit the delete button. My reasoning is that this type of
comment says as much about the intellect of the person making the comment as the issue being
discussed. Once that profile has been established however, its time to ask them
to leave the playground.
Adding the Diqus commenting widget has helped somewhat.
Initially it came at the expense of a drop off in comments but that seems to have leveled out now. The one thing I like about Disqus is that it allows the moderator
to see if a stream of comments with different anonymous labels are actually the same person.
That’s really just a band aid. As Joshua points out
technology can’t really solve this problem.
“Maybe the way to encourage intelligent, engaging and
important conversation is as simple as creating a world where we actually value
the things that make intelligent, engaging and important conversation. You
know, such as education, manners and an appreciation for empathy. Things we
used to value that seem to be in increasingly short supply.”
And then there’s that…
