Times trusts some commenters, but not that much

Guardian
Jason Farago questions the approach that The New York Times took with its new system that enables “trusted” commenters to post without being moderated. Other sites bestow special status on frequent commenters, Farago writes, “but they don’t combine it with rigid editorial control for everyone else. … On the contrary, creating ranks among commenters – officers and grunts – normally goes hand in hand with decentralisation and greater responsibility for readers.” GigaOM’s Mathew Ingram agrees that if some people deserve special status, the Times should trust them to moderate others’ comments, too.