Racist remarks in comments

This post at Lost Remote links to an appalling story about racist comments at the Sun-Sentinel newspaper's site. Some of the comments that follow it are well worth your attention, as well.

Managing this kind of abuse is clearly a moving target for news companies, as many of you have discovered. Yet manage it we do, and must. In the main, I'm a proponent of the approach Steve Yelvington suggests in his reponse, and in his further musing at his own blog, here.

And I like this approach to thinking about the issue, which came from Taylor Walsh's comment at Yelvington's site:

Gradually I though of the spaces we were providing for these conversations similar to a saloon, with a collection of tables where people gathered to talk about whatever. We were the proprietor of the space -- a private proprietor of commercial space -- and welcomed the public, and pointed to the sign on the wall that read: "No spitting, fighting, or flamewars." We reserved the right to toss out anyone who was ruining the experience for everyone else ...

–Howard Weaver