Poynter. » User commenting

Former publisher’s bill would have compelled newspapers to ID commenters

Andrew Beaujon — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 17:13:38 +0000

The Spokesman-Review
A panel in Idaho’s legislature rejected a bill that would have forced newspapers to disclose the identities of commenters in the event of a lawsuit, Betsy Z. Russell reports in The Spokesman-Review. Last summer, Idaho Judge John … Read more

Early comments on stories affect what later readers believe, and what they say

Jeff Sonderman — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:52:16 +0000

A recent scientific experiment demonstrated the importance of intervening in comment sections to cultivate constructive discussion, particularly just after publication.

Scientific American Blog Editor Bora Zivkovic writes about the results, which showed that the tone of pre-existing comments on … Read more

Seattle Times columnist can’t stand commenters, retires

Andrew Beaujon — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 23:40:28 +0000

Seattle Weekly
Seattle Times sports columnist Steve Kelley has standard reasons for retiring at 63: “I find myself at a lot more games thinking ‘I’ve written this story 411 times now. Isn’t that enough?’” he tells Seattle Weekly contributor … Read more

Researchers: Online commenters impair readers’ scientific literacy

Andrew Beaujon — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 16:47:57 +0000

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
People who read newspaper and magazine reports on science “may be influenced as much by the comments at the end of the story as they are by the report itself,” a study by University of … Read more

How the Huffington Post handles 70+ million comments a year

Jeff Sonderman — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:13:42 +0000

The Huffington Post has accumulated more than 70 million comments so far this year, far surpassing the 2011 total of 54 million.

To take a single example, its post (the first published) with the now-famous video of Mitt Romney’s “47 … Read more

How journalists can turn their stories into conversations

Tyler Borchers — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:41:24 +0000

Social media have made it easier than ever for journalists to engage their readers in conversation. They’ve also changed the way we think about other, “nonsocial” media.

Maybe that’s why many journalists have given up on monitoring our comment sections. … Read more

NPR, other news orgs tighten comment moderation to improve conversation

Jeff Sonderman — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:32:41 +0000

NPR.org | MinnPost | Charleston Gazette | Vancouver Sun | MarketWatch
NPR switched its user commenting to the Disqus platform this week, and is increasing its moderation efforts in response to user demand.

It took the unusual step of … Read more

Judge orders Spokesman-Review to ID anonymous commenter

Andrew Beaujon — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:16:04 +0000

Seattle Weekly | The Spokesman-Review | NPR | Los Angeles Times
An Idaho judge ruled on July 10 that The Spokesman-Review had 14 days to reveal the identity of an online commenter after a Kootenai County politician sued the paper, … Read more

New study: Real names improve quality of website comments

Steve Myers — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:33:40 +0000

TechCrunch

A study of South Korean website commenters adds to the debate over whether requiring real names improves online discourse. Gregory Ferenstein writes:

For 4 years, Koreans enacted increasingly stiff real-name commenting laws, first for political websites in 2003,
… Read more

Anonymous comments can be ‘a frothing, bubbling cauldron of insanity’

Andrew Beaujon — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 20:54:58 +0000

Adweek | Mental Floss
Ryan Broderick has a job I suspect would make me flee the grid after about two days: He’s BuzzFeed’s community manager, responsible for combing through about 22,000 comments a month, reports Adweek’s Charlie Warzel. Broderick says … Read more