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?
I do what gardensgal does- I refresh the page and that does it. Sometimes it your internet settings. If you don’t ask the browser to automatically update the page your on, you have to do it manually.
As one of the victims of the troll I have to say I have truly enjoyed these last few weeks. I think we can still have open and lively discussions, despite the log in. But the troll was so out of control that I hated coming to the forum any longer, and I know several others felt the same. And even all of that garbage could be dealt with but posting the links to those awful pictures with my screen name was the end. A more despicable, disgusting and blog -destructive act is hard to imagine. And the pictures were horribly racist as well. CHP was also victimized- the Troll picked a name identical to hers but for one letter.What other reason would you have for picking a name so close to someone elses? It’s hardly coincidental.
If the log in puts a damper on discussion then maybe too many of us hid behind anonymous when we should have had the courage of our convictions.
CHP,
I think you can fix that posting problem if you hit your refresh button when it happens. Seems to work for me.
The trolls who were just trying to stir up trouble by saying a neighborhood is shady or people are jealous because they have no money were in fact, amusing. It started to get annoying when \//this\/\ schmuck took over the whole board.
Regarding logging in, I’ve found that once I click to log in, I’m sent to the sign in box. When I click to sign in, I’m told I’m on, but still can’t comment. I have to go to the forum, click on any of the topics, as if I was going to read and comment, and I’m always signed in there. I close that box, go back to the home page, and then I’m registered to comment here. It’s a pain, but it always works so I do it out of habit now. Hopefully that will get fixed, but it’s only a minor inconvience for a couple of seconds.
I think we’ve had some really interesting, and dare I say it, important, discussions here in the past, over all kinds of topics. I think this is a valuable forum for getting the real pulse on how we as Brooklynites/New Yorkers/Americans/human beings/fill in the blank, feel about any of the issues that shape our lives. I also enjoy discussing the various houses, neighborhoods, etc, and have learned a lot about the real estate market, people’s expectations, where to get things done and where to go to eat. I’m looking forward to lots more.
Definitely keep the sign in system. The number of people who have registered since you first required it has grown and that number will likely keep going higher as time goes on. Even though all can still choose to remains anonymous under the sign in system, the use of consistent handles also helps build community. One that has a better chance of promoting diverse viewpoints in vigorous and mature debate without fear of being overidden by trolls and spammers. Going back to ItsaWrap’s analogy, I’m in favor of Brownstoner as Cheers.
Case in point… my e-mail address was displayed above despite the fact that I had unchecked all boxes to that effect in my registration. Am I the only one who continues to have problems with TypeKey?! I’m not a luddite, really…
Keep the log in– seems more productive all around.
As for the diminished commenting, I’m guessing that others have had the same difficulties that I’d had with signing-in in the past (I’ve been reading this blog from the get-go and could *never* get it to work), and have decided not to bother. I finally decided to give it another chance today, and 15 minutes later, it seems to be working.
Maybe an encouraging post along these lines will bring out some others from the woodwork??
Keep the log in.
If your really determined to troll, you just keep setting up new accounts.
But at least the regulars can post under their own screen name w/o the trolls claiming to be them.
(but watch the spelling of the those names when you are reading a post, as some people have picked variants)
But I think you can still post anonymously in the forum, and after some of the lame comments there, I think the forum needs sign in to respond to posts.