Thursday, 12 April 2007
A Comment on Moderation
You may have noticed by now that in order to comment on this blog, you need to be registered with Blogger/Google. You may also have noticed that comments are moderated. Both these points may lead you to think "sod this, I'm off somewhere less strict", and that is your prerogative. You see, this is a blog that intends to debate/discuss the UK's leading political blogger and hold him to account. As a consequence we need to protect both Iain and ourselves from potentially libellous comments. Furthermore, given that what we're after here is reasoned debate, any sock-puppetry would serve only to stifle discussion rather than enhancing it. Also, any failure to implement a clearly defined policy would smell of hypocrisy.
If you run a weblog that contains a significant level of political discussion, you really should have some form of comment registration in place or be ready to moderate your arse off. If you don't do either, you lay fertile ground for anonymous bullies who seek to limit free speech by undermining and intimidating those they don't agree with (while simultaneously screaming about their right to free speech).
With that in mind, here are the rules:
- Only registered users of Blogger.com will be allowed to post comments.
- Comment moderation will be on full-time, and all comments will be read by a moderator prior to publication (or deletion).
- The new version of Blogger.com does not allow for editing of comments, so we will be forced to delete any insulting or abusive comments outright. If ever a situation arises where a comment includes insults/abuse and constructive/intelligent input, the onus will be on the relevant contributor to repeat their comment (minus the insults/abuse).
- As the majority of comments will be moderated in their pre-publication state, not all deletions will be noted/apparent (i.e. no 'removed by a blog administrator' notice will appear). It should be taken as a given that any comment deleted was deleted in line with this policy. If we feel there may be some confusion or if a reason is requested, an explanation will be given.
- Any libellous comments will be deleted as soon as our attention is drawn to them. Please note that proof, either for or against, may be requested in order to substantiate the complaint.
- Sock-puppetry and astro-turfing will not be tolerated. IP addresses will be tracked if we suspect either, and we reserve the right to 'out' repeat offenders.
- The decision of the editorial team is final. You may plead your case by email and we are open to debate, but there will be no free-for-all in the comments.
Labels: housekeeping
Posted by Clive @ | Permalink
8 Comments:
- LG Test Blog said...
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Only registered with Blogger may comment, that's a bit lame. Forcing people into the ever growing empire of Google...I can understand the move but still.
4:50 PM, April 12, 2007 - Scott Matthewman said...
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All sounds perfectly reasonable and well-thought out (I'd prefer post-moderation rather than pre-moderation, but I completely udnertsand your reasons for making that decision).
4:52 PM, April 12, 2007
A clear policy such as this shouldn't really be too difficult to implement on any blog that prefers quality of comment discussion over quantity of posts. - Clive said...
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LG Test Blog and Scott - Thanks for commenting. In an ideal world there would be a form of independant online registration, thus avoiding the Blogger/Typepad/etc/etc registration sprawl. Until that time, if registration is a requirement, then it is a bit tricky. We did consider Movable Type for this microsite, but then that opens another can of worms.
6:06 AM, April 13, 2007
Maybe one thing that can come from this site is a clear idea of how we'd like moderation/registration to work on an ideal political blog. - Aaron said...
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Thumbs up on the title chaps. Very good.
7:53 AM, April 13, 2007 - james higham said...
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You see, this is a blog that intends to debate/discuss the UK's leading political blogger and hold him to account.
10:12 AM, April 13, 2007
I thought that was Guido. - Tim said...
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Guido is Britain's leading *tabloid* blogger.
10:17 AM, April 13, 2007
;oP - Aaron said...
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Oh yes Tim, quite right.
12:37 PM, April 13, 2007
Iain is very highbrow. Although don’t ask him what a ‘nihilist’ is. He doesn’t know, apparently. - Sam said...
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Its annoying you can't see whether there are comments unless you click on the permalink.
7:43 PM, April 14, 2007
