When I launched the Scratching Post (SP) blog in 2009, I had no idea there would be comments.
The platform we were using in those days, Typepad, automatically allowed them and, to my surprise, people starting showing up to offer their opinions on stories, the team, each other and, occasionally, my dietary choices (one of the site’s first big controversies involved my decision to eat a Japa-Dog in Vancouver with seaweed on it.)
Over time, a nice little community developed. It was largely anonymous but there were plenty of regulars with handles like msd, Snake and Hammergirl, many of whom I would go on to meet in person over the years. They were, with some rare exceptions, largely supportive – instant feedback is very gratifying – but they also held me accountable when they didn’t think my work was up to snuff.
They also largely policed themselves. While I received an email notification every time a comment was published – and read the vast majority – there were very few problems. Inappropriate comments, trolls and those who went against the general spirit of the blog were usually confronted by longstanding contributors. Over the seven years I ran the SP (including an uninterrupted streak of five years of posting every day) I think I banned three people.
Things at 3Down are much different.
The site has grown to the point where it is exponentially bigger than the Scratching Post ever was and the comments section has expanded at a similar rate. We receive between 125 and 250 comments a day now from all over the country. While there is still a community here – mostly hardcore CFL fans – it’s bigger and more fractured: while the SP was almost exclusively Ticat fans, there are now fans from every team contributing on 3Down and that has led, predictably, to some conflict.
We do have commenting guidelines that are laid out in a tidy 10-point bullet list. The most salient are “comments that gratuitously attack or demean individuals or organizations are not acceptable” and “swearing, name-calling, and otherwise abusive language is unacceptable.”
Some violations of our policy are clear cut and egregious, to use one of the CFL’s favourite terms, and that’s led to some folks getting banned immediately and permanently: graphic depictions of sexual acts or use of homophobic, racist or misogynist language, for example, is a one-way ticket to the blocked list. Once there, I don’t even see those comments from those individuals anymore.
Other issues are less clear cut. If someone insults or criticizes a rival franchise, is that a violation? Should a commenter be banned for calling another commenter “an idiot” or making reference to that old troll standard, “mom’s basement”? Does a commenter that posts on virtually every story and dominates discussions need to be regulated in some way?
These are judgment calls that are left, primarily, to my discretion. And, quite frankly, I hate it. As someone who has strong views on free expression, the idea of muzzling others is distasteful. It is not, however, a freedom of speech issue. Freedom of speech is my ability to run this site free of government interference, not a commenter’s right to say whatever they want using this platform. Feel like your freedom of speech is being infringed? Go start your own blog.
(Our commenting guidelines spell this out as well: “we reserve the right to remove comments or any other content we deem unacceptable in our sole discretion, including removing user names and profile pictures.”)
Another measure at my disposal, and one that I’ve employed more frequently of late, is comment moderation. Instead of comments being published automatically, as they typically are, they are held until I manually approve them. It allows me to ensure that content from commenters I’m concerned about meets our guidelines.
A few regulars who have had moderation imposed on them have complained. In each case, I usually attempt to contact the commenter directly to explain what I’m doing and why and outline how to have the restriction removed. In most cases, that results in a productive discussion and an end to the moderation. Others simply leave and don’t come back. (I can be reached at dedwards@thespec.com)
Many sites, including TSN and a number of newspapers, have decided that an open, anonymous discussion is simply too much work to manage and have done away with comments altogether or gone to a system that requires further identification like Facebook logins. We’ve considered both options as well and we may, at some point, be forced to take action.
But I hope not. This is a CFL-themed site and my experience with the community of fans that support it over the last nine-plus years covering this league has been overwhelmingly positive. I’m hopeful that the spirited discussions, comments on stories and complaints about my food choices will continue for the foreseeable future.
