No More Topix Comments At T-S?
This is day 3 that I've noticed the Topix comments have been removed from the Times- Standard web site. Shame, as I had fun with them. Probably more fun than I do with the local blogs.
I'm guessing they got tired of dealing with moderating comments?
posted by Fred Mangels @ 6:24 AM
10 comments
10 Comments:
I'm guessing they turned off comments for Thanksgiving because no one would be monitoring, and then they forgot to turn them back on because they just don't have that level of attention and care in their work.
Ahhh, there you go. Could be. Still, I imagine it could be a hassle they'd rather not deal with.
I see other Media News Group sites like the Ukiah Daily Journal still have the Topix comments.
To me a news web site is pretty much like a blog. If you don't allow comments it seems like only half a blog or news site.
Except the Times-Standard's implementation is half-assed. They have no control over the Topix forums. They only control whether there is a link to the Topix forum at the bottom of their webpages.
When a discussion gets out-of-hand (which happens often) the best the T-S can do is de-link the discussion. Anyone can still directly visit the Topix website and find the discussion, and continue participating.
Blogs are a different animal. Newspapers are the official written record of our time. To allow anonymous less-than-factual comments is a terrible thing. Commenters on news sites should be held to the same standards as Letter To The Editor writers - at the very least they should have to use their real names. IMO
Imagine being someone in the future, doing research and having to wade through all that sh-t. Is that really the picture of what we are as a people in this day and age that we want to be seen throughout time?
Good points, both of you.
Don't worry Rose. Most comments won't be saved. When websites are redesigned, the content is often scrapped. And when the Times-Standard closes, its content will be as available as anything at the Eureka Reporter website.
The only permanent archive is located at archive.org, but it spiders websites infrequently, often fails to record images, and usually misses any content that is generated using JavaScript (often, web comments are powered by JavaScript).
In short, a web-based history is severely fragmented, at best.
My understanding is that they were getting a lot of complaints about the comments being left there from both subscribers and advertisers who are already financially feeling a pinch and didn't like the TS not doing a decent job of moderating.And maybe Kim Wear thought that paying someone to be a comment babysitter isn't money well spent at this time.Now I don't know if that is what is happening here,but it wouldn't surprise me.
Janet Napolitano will only allow you to post a comment after either your full body scan or federally sanctioned sexual assault.
It's because the T-S is actually more in favor of censorship than any other local paper. They refuse to allow comments that contain accurate and truthful criticism of the paper, more specifically, of the editorial staff. Of course when you have Kim Wear, the worst managing editor ever to be hired there, you end up with a newspaper full of half-truths and omissions, thereby spurring an angry community to post negatively critical comments. Their moderater must spend hours every day chasing posts that rip on their horribly subpar news reporting. Normally small newspapers have high turnover due to newbies not being good enough to work at bigger, better papers. They learn what they need and move on. However, most of the staff of the T-S has been there long-term, we're talking years. Why? Because the T-S attracts talentless, ambitionless, uncaring burnt-out newsies who know they are not good enough to work anywhere better.
So get used to the Sub being the Sub because the very staffers who are the problem aren't going anywhere anytime soon.
The comments are back up.
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