Let's Talk About Commenting
We twittered about this a few days ago, but we’d like to open it up for discussion: What can we do to improve the overall the quality of comments on the blog, to encourage lurkers to get involved without alienating some of the more active and, um, spirited commenters? We hear quite often from regular…
We twittered about this a few days ago, but we’d like to open it up for discussion: What can we do to improve the overall the quality of comments on the blog, to encourage lurkers to get involved without alienating some of the more active and, um, spirited commenters? We hear quite often from regular readers who feel uncomfortable, even intimidated, with the prospect of commenting. This isn’t surprising given the verbal beat-down one new commenter received from a gang of regulars a couple of weeks ago. Nor is the level of discussion going on in today’s Open Thread really where we’d like it to be. Short of active comment moderation, which really isn’t a practical option, what do you think we can/should do to elevate the quality of discussion and make newcomers feel more welcome? We’d be particularly interested to hear from some folks who usually hang back on the sidelines. It’s in the best interests of the blog and everyone who reads it to have as many people contributing their knowledge and opinions as possible.
Thanks,
Mr. B
Oh, yes, let’s please put the ACLU on notice, DIBS. This is about a poor a comparison as you can possibly make. And I don’t hear anyone saying they have a problem with poeples’ comments–more along the lines that they are tired of the same 8 people making 50 comments (inane or not) on one post.
Posted by: tiptoe at March 27, 2009 12:12 PM
Its also very sad when posters don’t recognize sarcasm. When you feel comfortable enough to stick that toe in the water then maybe we can bump it up to 9 people making inane comments.
🙂
if you go back to a certain date and read posts you will see the circus start and grow (or should i say carnival). circus now has ringleader, lion tamer, trapeze artist, clown car, strong man, fat lady, etc. some people who post here are addicted and it’s easy to figure out who. the circus also slyly moderates often. the site was far more informative early on before they came, and i used to come to the site for information, i also used to participate far more. now i only really come to skim and check the forums.
i really think that if you could build a proper forum or message board into the site, that might solve some of the problems. otherwise you should restrict a number of posters to one post per day, it might help ween them off of their addiction.
DIBS had it right – how can you call for less snarky, insulting or otherwise obnoxious comments when you start off one of your entries with the title – “Horror Show of the Day”
While there are some exceptions (The What – IMHO) the tone of Brownstoner comments generally reflects the creator….and frankly its working (with that one exception)
For crying out loud, if someone is tired of reading comments by the same eight posters, then post something. Take some responsibility, don’t go crying to teacher.
I doubt this post was a conspiracy to drive up clicks.
If I started a blog to discuss brownstones, and blog ended up generating 400 daily comments on edible spreads, and the on-topic comments seem increasingly like retread worn-out arguments, I’d probably also take the opportunity to reflect for a moment on where it’s headed…
Need my name say more.
And as for non-anonymous commenting…there’s no more disinformation, misinformation, or uninformation (not a word, i know, so don’t be TOOL and comment that it isn’t) passed when people are required to sign up than if there’s anonymous commenting. The only difference is that the stupidity is now attached to a name – and mostly ‘tarded names at that (exception: usualsuspectsaretools).
The usual suspects are your typical narrow-minded, brooklyn-native wannabe, dimwits who may think they know everything about every subject broached on Bstoner, but in reality have no idea.
If there’s any one forum on this site that puts the usual suspects’ TOOLNESS on FULL display, it’s the open thread. get rid of it. It’s lame.
Sam, we notice! Everyone — especially Snarkslope — just because someone doesn’t comment on your comments doesn’t mean we don’t hugely appreciate them.
THE REST OF brownstoner.com IS SUFFERING TODAY BECAUSE OF THIS THREAD, EVEN THE OT.
All of you people that just came out from lurking please add something to the other threads. Then we can discuss who’s useful and who is not.
“some of you seriously have to let go of your horrible grade school memories.”
LOL.