Cstar1

Here is my full post before it got chopped off at the knees:

Newspaper comment threads are some of the nastiest places there are. But it's more than just the anonymity that makes people believe they can say whatever they want.

A large part of that is the fault of the newspapers themselves. They adopted blogs and commenting without having any idea what they were getting themselves into. Journalism is used to telling, not interacting, and they didn't put the safeguards in place that any self-respecting online community knows must be there. Even if those safeguards are loosely applied.

1. You need a sense of community. Without that, it's a free-for-all, and there is no peer pressure to keep the wilder words and thoughts in check. Unless a particular reporter has a dedicated following, that's not something that's built in, nor is just going to happen by itself. Whether it's a cult of personality, or people working towards a common cause, or a big brand name, there needs to be a reason for people to be posting on that particular site, and a desire to be included in the group. People don't post to be outsiders, they post because they want to be included - even if it's as the lone dissident voice.

2. You need a clear set of standards and enforcement of those standards. Too often newspapers are afraid to moderate their comments for fear of being accused of censorship. That's nonsense of course if you have good moderators, but until and unless it's communicated (as many times as necessary) that the conversation can be civil and still be spirited, cries of "censorship" will always be with any moderated board or comment thread. Learn to deal with it graciously.

3. Journalists and editors really don't know where they're going with all this. (Why are they still so confused? It's not like the internet is a new concept!) Make a decision - are you going to stay neutral and simply report, or are you going to interact? If you're going to interact with your posters, then devote the time and resources to it, don't just show up every 7th Sunday and drop a single pearl or swing an axe. If you're not going to get involved in the comments for fear of jeopardizing your journalistic integrity, make sure that there's someone whose job it is *to* get involved. When posters know someone connected with the publication is listening and reading what they have to say, it makes a difference in how they present themselves.

If you don't intend to be active with your viewers, why bother being interactive on your website?

4. If you post controversial stories, you're going to get controversial feedback. If you let people get away with saying jerky things to each other, before you know it everyone's screaming obscenities and throwing sand. Then Brutus over there goes for the rocks, and the only thing you can think of is to charge admission to the playground to keep the bloodshed to a minimum. It's not the solution, but in a commercial world it makes sense to businesses (like newspapers or tv stations) that "if you want to play, you've got to pay."

5. Your readers and posters have a right to their privacy and their safety, and if you can't respect them enough to give them that, then they'll have little enough respect for you or your publication in turn.