Practical tips: The New York Times' comment moderation
Posted by Jean Yves Chainon on November 14, 2007 at 3:47 PM
The New York Times began last week allowing user comments on select articles and editorials. Here are some details concerning its moderation process, and how the prestigious paper has come to embrace user contributions.
Staff will monitor all comments. New York Times public editor Clark Hoyt says, “The paper is creating a comment desk, starting with the hiring of four part-time staffers, to screen all reader submissions before posting them, an investment unheard of in today’s depressed newspaper business environment.”
According to Jonathan Landman, the deputy managing editor, the New York Times' assets are both the material it produces and the quality of its readers. Bringing the two together could create “news and information of greater power, reach and quality than even a great newsroom can produce on its own.”
When speaking about the staff’s ability to screen comments Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president for digital operations of The New York Times Company, said: “A pure free-for-all doesn’t, in my opinion, equal good. It can equal bad.” In other words, The New York Times must uphold its reputation of
civility.
Todd Zeigler of the Bivings Report put forth his views on how to allow comments on articles. Here were his suggestions:
1. Only allow users who have registered with a site to post comments.
2. Screen the first comment a user makes. If the first comment is acceptable then let the user post without screening. If it is objectionable or off topic, then don’t allow the user to comment. This
will help prevent the trolls seeking to sidetrack conversations from getting through.
3. Automatically delete all comments that contain profanity.
4. Create a mechanism that allows users to report comments that are objectionable. If comment is flagged by enough users, it would then be sent into a moderation queue for review by an editor.
5. Give users the ability to hide the comments of users they find objectionable.
6. Provide active oversight of the community. Have editors leave comments themselves. Ban users who are out of line. Delete objectionable comments. You’ll find communities tend to be more civil when administrators maintain an active presence on their site instead of being distant figures.
Source: The Bivings Report through Ifra Executive News Service
According to Jonathan Landman, the deputy managing editor, the New York Times' assets are both the material it produces and the quality of its readers. Bringing the two together could create “news and information of greater power, reach and quality than even a great newsroom can produce on its own.”
When speaking about the staff’s ability to screen comments Martin Nisenholtz, senior vice president for digital operations of The New York Times Company, said: “A pure free-for-all doesn’t, in my opinion, equal good. It can equal bad.” In other words, The New York Times must uphold its reputation of
civility.
Todd Zeigler of the Bivings Report put forth his views on how to allow comments on articles. Here were his suggestions:
1. Only allow users who have registered with a site to post comments.
2. Screen the first comment a user makes. If the first comment is acceptable then let the user post without screening. If it is objectionable or off topic, then don’t allow the user to comment. This
will help prevent the trolls seeking to sidetrack conversations from getting through.
3. Automatically delete all comments that contain profanity.
4. Create a mechanism that allows users to report comments that are objectionable. If comment is flagged by enough users, it would then be sent into a moderation queue for review by an editor.
5. Give users the ability to hide the comments of users they find objectionable.
6. Provide active oversight of the community. Have editors leave comments themselves. Ban users who are out of line. Delete objectionable comments. You’ll find communities tend to be more civil when administrators maintain an active presence on their site instead of being distant figures.
Source: The Bivings Report through Ifra Executive News Service
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