I'm wondering how other folks deal with comments.
Back during the whole "prime candidate" exercise debacle, I was forced to make my comments moderated. With all of the bad (and unjust and completely avoidable) press the Foreign Service got after the press was allowed into a town hall meeting that was meant to be a forum for folks to air their concerns about the possibility of directed assignments to Iraq, I started getting some really negative comments. No matter how much we tried to get the truth out that we were stepping up to the plate and volunteering for Iraq, and that Iraq was the only embassy fully (and some might say excessively) staffed, the public was intent on believing we were afraid to serve in danger posts (that perception remains even though it has NEVER been true). One anonymous poster commented "wimps and weanies" literally dozens of times. So I stopped allowing comments to be posted to the site without my approval.
I approve almost all comments. I have a couple of exceptions. I do not approve unfounded attacks on the Foreign Service. Those are the most common negative comments I get, and they don't happen all that often. Civil disagreement, I am fine with. But I won't allow the service of the men and women of the Foreign Service to be denigrated.
The second exception is one that I had not yet had to deal with until my post about African American ancestors. So I now don't allow racist (or homophobic, though that has never happened) comments. Even if they try to cloak themselves in "facts." (Document it, or don't say it.) That kind of nonsense is not appropriate in polite society, and I don't allow it here.
Those are my lines in the sand. What are yours?
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8 comments:
I'm a First Amendment-er, so I tend to err on the side of letting anything go. I haven't had to deal with anything remotely resembling controversy, however, so I guess it is one of those bridges I cross if it ever happens.
So far I have been lucky and haven't had any trolls commenting on my blog, but the second one does I will not hesitate to delete it and if needed make it so that comments need approval. That said I don't have a problem with people expressing a position different from my own, just with them being rude about it.
I'm with David, anything goes but I've been lucky not to have the detractors visit my microscopic slice of blogutopia. I have a comment approval set up for comments on anything older than a couple of weeks just so I'm aware of anyone commenting on an old post.
I get spam comments! Since that started I approve/reject comments. I haven't had any FS comments that I've rejected on purpose, once on accident though.
I think I'd agree with Shannon though.
I occassionally get spam comments from people who are just trying to get people to go to their completely unrelated websites. I delete those.
And like I said, I am all about a good debate. But calling FSOs "wimps and weanies" over and over or suggesting racist reasons for the lack of minorities in the Department isn't debate.
I don't allow comments from Googlebots. That's about it. I do think having to get them approved has confused some potential contributors, but I am happy with the decision.
I've had some really negative comments recently, and thus had to actually delete them... which I have only done a small handful of times.
When I posted about being uncomfortable about being a Jewish girl and seeing Swastikas all over India, I was blasted for being racist...
And when I posted about Chennai being a difficult place to live, and how we decided to curtail for the sake of our family life, I was blasted for not accepting India nd told I should leave.
I really have an issue with negative comments. I don't blast other people on their blogs... or tell people that they can't feel the way they do. We should be able to agree to disagree... in a nice, friendly manner.
I can't imagine someone calling you racist over that. I would be a little uncomfortable seeing all those swastikas (and in fact AM when I see them in American Indian contexts) even though I am not Jewish (and AM American Indian) and I know that they mean something different in Indian and American Indian contexts. But they now have a powerful significance to us and to not recognize that is to not be human.
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