Washington Post tries to stop trolls & a$$holes

[SlyPokerDog]

Anonymous online commenting has always been rowdy and raucous, especially when public figures are the targets.

"Excellent!" exulted a Post commenter when conservative columnist Robert Novak died in August. "Hope he suffered."

When Sen. Edward M. Kennedy died a week later, a commenter wrote: "They are going to have to bury him in a secret location to stop people from defecating on his grave."

And after The Post reported last month that the wife and daughter of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had been badly injured when their car was hit by a tractor-trailer, a commenter applauded: "I would dearly LOVE to shake the hand of the driver of the other vehicle."

Those in public life come to expect despicable and hurtful comments. Most have developed thick hides.

But for average folks who are out of the public eye and agree to be featured in The Post, brutal online comments can be unexpected and devastating. Post reporters say increasing numbers are expressing regret they cooperated for stories that resulted in vicious anonymous attacks.

"I think it's a major issue at The Post," said reporter Ian Shapira. "We just totally throw them to the wolves" if comments aren't moderated.

Style section reporter Ellen McCarthy, who writes the Sunday "On Love" feature on couples who wed, said she spends an "inordinate amount of my time on weekends" monitoring comments. Many are so cruel they get deleted. For example, one implored a bride to take out a life insurance policy on her new husband, suggesting his obesity would soon kill him.

Several other reporters said they routinely monitor comments after their stories appear in hopes of deleting inappropriate ones before they're spotted by news sources. They can be so venomous that religion reporter William Wan sometimes warns those he has written about to avoid looking at them once the story appears.

In a few cases, those who helped with stories have said "never again." Michael J. Sutherland, who heads American Collections Enterprise in Alexandria, reluctantly agreed to cooperate for a February Post story on debt collectors. "I would never do another interview, knowing how negative the comments were," he said last week.

Readers regularly tell me The Post's online comment boards have become little more than cesspools of venom and twaddle. Many want an end to anonymous commenting, a step some Post staffers privately favor.

For every noxious comment, many more are astute and stimulating. Anonymity provides necessary protection for serious commenters whose jobs or personal circumstances preclude identifying themselves. And even belligerent anonymous comments often reflect genuine passion that should be heard.

While some readers complain they've had it with unruly online conversation, thousands have joined it. In a typical month, more than 320,000 comments are made in response to Post stories, columns and blogs. That's almost a third more than a year ago, said Hal Straus, who oversees commenting for the Web site. The growth is critical to The Post's financial survival in the inevitable shift from print to online. The goal is to dramatically build online audience, and robust commenting is key to increasing visitors to the Web site and keeping them there as long as possible.

When they register to submit comments, readers must agree not to post "inappropriate" remarks, including those that are hateful or racist, or those that advocate violence. The Post's Web site relies heavily on self-policing, where readers hit a "Report Abuse" button to flag potential violators. About 300 comments are deleted each day. But others slip through because The Post's staff of only a few monitors can't possibly scrutinize everything. So how to deal with bullies who break the rules?

The solution is in moderating -- not limiting -- comments. In a few months, The Post will implement a system that should help. It's still being developed, but Straus said the broad outlines envision commenters being assigned to different "tiers" based on their past behavior and other factors. Those with a track record of staying within the guidelines, and those providing their real names, will likely be considered "trusted commenters." Repeat violators or discourteous agitators will be grouped elsewhere or blocked outright. Comments of first-timers will be screened by a human being.

When visitors click to read story comments, only those from the "trusted" group will appear. If they want to see inflammatory or off-topic comments from "trolls," they'll need to click to access a different "tier."

I like the approach because it doesn't limit speech. Anonymous loudmouths can still shout. But "trusted commenters" will be easier to hear.

/02/AR2010040202324.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04

 

[MARIS61]

And yet, no word yet from Faux News on muzzling Hate-Czar Glenn Beck who makes these comments seem supportive by comparison.

 

[Natebishop3]

The internet as a whole has been heading in this direction steadily for the last decade. It's funny because I remember when I first got online back in 1996. I had AOL, and it was cool to just get in their chat rooms and talk hoops or politics. Of course there were the guys who would just say "LAKERS SUUUUUUUUUCK" but there was also a lot of good conversation. I've been on forums, like many of you, consistently for the past ten years or so. The trend on most forums, not just sports forums, is a cynical, rude, antagonistic persona. It's "cool" to make fun of people. Gaming forums are especially bad. It's a bunch of greasy haired dorks with no life who are getting their jollies by putting others down.

It seems like everywhere I go online, whether it's gaming like MW2, or youtube, or comments on articles, it's some guy saying the "N" word with the user name "AdolfHitler" or something along those lines. I would really like to know what a psychologist would say about this type of behavior. I realize it's the anonymity of the internet that brings it out, but what is the root of the problem? Why do these people behave like this? Are they unhappy? Are they angry? What are they unhappy or angry about? I don't think most of these idiots truly believe what they are spewing, but they simply want a reaction. Trolling has become a common issue on the internet. I've seen it in one way, shape, or form on every forum I've been on.

The subject is very interesting, while disturbing, and I would truly like to know some of the reasoning behind it.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

The internet as a whole has been heading in this direction steadily for the last decade. It's funny because I remember when I first got online back in 1996. I had AOL, and it was cool to just get in their chat rooms and talk hoops or politics. Of course there were the guys who would just say "LAKERS SUUUUUUUUUCK" but there was also a lot of good conversation. I've been on forums, like many of you, consistently for the past ten years or so. The trend on most forums, not just sports forums, is a cynical, rude, antagonistic persona. It's "cool" to make fun of people. Gaming forums are especially bad. It's a bunch of greasy haired dorks with no life who are getting their jollies by putting others down.

It seems like everywhere I go online, whether it's gaming like MW2, or youtube, or comments on articles, it's some guy saying the "N" word with the user name "AdolfHitler" or something along those lines. I would really like to know what a psychologist would say about this type of behavior. I realize it's the anonymity of the internet that brings it out, but what is the root of the problem? Why do these people behave like this? Are they unhappy? Are they angry? What are they unhappy or angry about? I don't think most of these idiots truly believe what they are spewing, but they simply want a reaction. Trolling has become a common issue on the internet. I've seen it in one way, shape, or form on every forum I've been on.

The subject is very interesting, while disturbing, and I would truly like to know some of the reasoning behind it.

Yeah, people are really getting carried away. It gets old reading leftie & rightie troll material. Then again, we have some here- eh maris?