Dan Gillmor has a thoughtful post today – In Blogosphere, Honor Should Rule – that offers some very practical guidelines and links for helping establish and enforce standards for online commentary. As we ramp up for more and more conversation and interactivity at our sites, these issues will become even more important.
I was especially interested in the set of "community guidelines" available online at blogher, an association of female bloggers.
And I've always liked the metaphor that suggests moderators of online forums should think of themselves as saloon keepers: you want people to come in, make noise, argue and even get rowdy – but when they start spitting on the floor or hurting people, throw 'em out.
P.S. Apologies for lack of posting in recent days. It got busy around here. (Still is).
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Part of my Easter Morning yesterday was approving public comments for posting on our Web site. One that I spiked was written by someone claiming to be "THE GOD OF ABRAHAM." (Always be suspicious of people using all caps, I say).
ReplyDeleteThe comment was offered on a story about a woman who clung to her faith amid the recent deaths of her husband and several other friends and relatives. The message purportedly from God? There's just something about you, lady, that really ticks me off.
The language wasn't that polite. And I deleted the darn thing -- tossing the commenter out the bar, as it were.
Surprising stats about browser share from your Sitemeter:
ReplyDeleteFirefox and Safari users: 54%
Explorer users: 42% (many on Explorer 6, perhaps those reading the site from work).
Others: 4%