Member registration is coming

I have been reviewing the comments of various web sites to get a feel for the type of comments submitted. The comments to the New York Times seemed to be the most learned and civil which you would expect from the self proclaimed bastion of literary standards. The Chicago Tribune is somewhat less civil than the Times. And then you have the Pantagraph.

The comments section of the Pantagraph usually runs longer than the articles being commented on. In addition, you notice that quite a few of the commentators are repeat commentators from other articles. In fact, some of the commentators have come to know each by their "handle" or anonymous name and they tend to exchange barbs. While the articles strive to be informative, the comments tend to be entertaining. In fact, it seems like the commentators to these articles seem to delight in their word play as they strive to sound clever or unique. I would have to say that the anonymous commentators to the Pantagraph articles are another rung down on the literary scale from the NY Times and the Chicago Tribune.

I am sure the quality of the comments to the Pantagraph has caused them much consternation. The Pantagraph as well as the cities of Bloomington-Normal tend to consider their community higher up the social scale from blue collar cities like Peoria and Decatur. Therefore, one has to ask - is the quality of the anonymous comments that bombard our web sites a function of the community which the web site represents or is it due to the very nature of being allowed to comment anonymously? I think it is the latter.

Some have commented that Minonk looks bad in the eyes of others because of the many angry comments posted anonymously on this web site. I can assure you that if Flanagan or Benson had a web site with anonymous comments the quality of the comments would be the same as Minonk's.

Well folks, the horse is out of the barn and I believe that anonymous comments are here to stay. Whether the comments are civil or otherwise, they do tend to represent how the community feels about an issue. While other communities may badmouth us for our anonymous comments, we also have a web site and they don't and I think that gives us an advantage in dealing with community issues.

Next week we also will require that viewers register themselves with this web site before being allowed to post comments to an article. I do think it will make our viewers a little more conscientious in posting their comments. Most internet forums require registration in order to control the quality. The other reason for the registration is to get a feel for how many viewers this web site has and where they reside.

I will continue to monitor the comments for appropriate content. While comments on our public officials, especially those who are elected, are fair targets for comments, I will not accept negative anonymous comments on private individuals. I regret that I let a negative comment on one of our teachers slip through . That won't happen again.

In the meantime, I urge viewers to keep your comments civil and please try to use correct spelling and grammar. The rest of the world is watching and as the Pantagraph well knows, people will come to judge a community by the quality of the anonymous comments to their web site.

I will be giving more details on member registration next week.

I have blogged on many newspapers most of which are anonymous and others where I have had to register. I thought the Pantagraph viewed the blogs before printing them anyway. I agree with the concept as many bloggers get downright nasty and alot of the blogging starts with comments on the article but quickly goes south and the bloggers are verbally attacking one another on other issues not even discussed in the original article. I am sure I use incorrect grammar at times and if I am typing quickly my spelling may be incorrect but some people really do need to read what they are typing before sending it on as it does make them sound idiotic.

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