What Do You Think of Restricted Commenting?
We’re kinda curious to hear what people think of the restricted commenting. We’re certainly glad that we don’t have to spend the time deleting gazillions of spam and babysitting trolls, but we certainly miss some of the energy that the greater volume of comments generated. (Interestingly, the traffic on the site has not decreased with…
We’re kinda curious to hear what people think of the restricted commenting. We’re certainly glad that we don’t have to spend the time deleting gazillions of spam and babysitting trolls, but we certainly miss some of the energy that the greater volume of comments generated. (Interestingly, the traffic on the site has not decreased with the comments.) Anyway, for those of you who have taken the time to create a login, what do you think? Should we continue to require registration? Or is it worth it to put up with the trolls to have more debate?
As long as the registration program is functional, there is no question in my mind that requiring its use improves this blog immensely. People have to be more responsible with what they say, and eliminating that rediculous troll is extremely helpful.
If things are more tame lately, I blame that on Typekey issues, the summer weather, the lack of the troll (which is ultimately a good thing) and burnout from all the craziness that this site has seen in the last few months.
i dig it.
Hi Jay, it’s always nice to meet neighbors- even in cyberspace. Thanks for clarifying your post- I honestly don’t care how we accomplish keeping out the trolls- whatever works.What it does sound like to me is Akismet could mean a lot more work for Mr. B. And how would that work? Would there be a time delay before posts appear?
As a veteran of the troll fest wars I am probably more touchy about this than most others. CHProud was really raked over the coals too- and who knows how many others. We wound up fighting the troll instead of having good, lively threads. But if you think about it and look back, the trolls got bad in the last couple of months. Despite the PLG bashing, many of the regular posters had very very lively discussions (I think Brownbomber & dreadnaught can vouch for that), and used our names.
So I don’t know what the answer is- I imagine you could register as “anon” and at least we could keep them all straight (anon 1, anon 2, etc.) My biggest concern was that Brownstoner was becoming all about entertaining the troll. Not good.
Let’s see what happens. I still think the troll is still very much around-isn’t that so, crownheightsPROWD?
To Bx2Bklyn–
Hello, neighbor.
What I’m complaining about is using TypeKey as the centralized architecture, since it’s often down and tied to a company (see:
http://mamamusings.net/archives/2006/07/12/sixaparts_lousy_timing.php
http://www.plaidworks.com/chuqui/blog/001382.html.)
I previously recommended Akismet, which has a plugin for Movable Type. This removes the login requirement, but can allow the site owner to moderate comments before they appear and does a great job killing spam.
The Crown Heights reference was simply meant to convey that there’s a tension on the Brownstoner site between a backyard BBQ and a block party. My taste for the site runs more towards block party than BBQ, that’s all. You often learn more from your enemies than those you agree with.
And I didn’t run across any of the visual horrors you mention, though I did gawk at some of the troll-fests. If my login name was used by someone else, perhaps I’d feel differently, too.
As Brownstoner’s renovation has completed, my interest in the site has run towards the forums. There’s some truly good information in there–a source unduplicated elsewhere.
Jay- I live in Crown Heights too- what does that have to do with logging in? And while you may think what we had before was “Brooklyn in all its wild crazy diversity”, what you really had was a large group of people who care about Brooklyn (and believe me who are a wild and crazy bunch) and one- or possibly 2- really malevolent trolls who started fights, argued with themselves, posted under at least 10 + different names as well as anonymous, and posted links to truly terrible photos using my screen name, for one. I know someone else’s name was also used. People who followed those links were treated to pictures of a horribly burned black man, a beheaded Black man and a third picture I knew enough at that point not to click on. If that’s your idea of a lively discussion you can have it. There’s already been some pretty lively posts (just ask dreadnaught!)- but what I am not seeing, are all the racially offensive posts, and really obnoxious posts. So really, what you’re complaining about is the loss of the ability to make offensive comments and false accusations behind the shield of “anonymous”, or multiple names. No thank you.
The sign in appears to have gotten rid of the nasty comments. Keep it.
Unfortunately, the TypeKey registration requirement is a necessary evil. With the exception of troll mayhem, I too miss the energy and vibrancy of earlier threads. But I agree with CHP; it’s summer and many folks are simply away on vacation. Things should pick quite nicely again in the fall. I say keep it. Those who care enough about this blog and Brownstone Brooklyn will take the time to sign in. As for the forum, I favor the status quo.
I was a former “anon.” I took the time to register today. It was not bad at all.
Under the old rules it was easy to comment on the fly. This change will discourage newbies. In today’s world people are afraid of committment. The key is continuing to have good content and interesting post.
Balancing annoyance factor versus candor, I come out at 60% in favor of logging in and 40% against, on the main board. On the forum, I’d reverse those percentages, given that, by their nature, fact specific questions don’t incite annoying, meandering threads among “anons”.