Dec 3, 2009

Say your name

From now on you'll have to use your name if you want to call somebody an a$@hole on the Voice of San Diego's site:

No more anonymous commenting on the website...

We want it to be civil and smart. Unfortunately, many of the conversations that take place underneath the articles on news websites devolve into name-calling, racist or sexist remarks, and other vulgarities. That's in no small part because of the veil provided by anonymity and a lack of moderating by news organizations.

That's also not the kind of conversation we're willing to host on our website. We will -- and already have for a long time -- moderate the posts to weed out overly personal attacks or unsubstantiated allegations. It's never been a perfect system, but we do our best. Comments aren't moderated to exclude a specific political view or shield us or others from legitimate criticism. And we don't discourage pointed or passionate discourse.

This isn't censorship or a 1st Amendment issue. This is a forum we're choosing to host and these are the rules we're asking people to abide by.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree.