Human moderation at the Times

The process of moderating comments at The New York Times is the subject of this piece. The Times uses both computerized and human moderators for its comments section.

Annual story from The New York Times community desk

I have not posted in a long time - pandemic fatigue I guess.

The New York Times has posted its annual review of online comments. It's a heartening story, although not widely commented on (?). It attracted just eight comments in a week.

It supports my contention that there are carefully moderated comment spaces online that provide an extraordinary service. The difference between the Times and other spaces is the commitment of time and resources the Times can make to its online comment sections.

Columbus Dispatch

The Columbus Dispatch, a Gannett paper, ended its online comments about the same time as USA Today.

Yahoo! "suspends" comments

Which probably means that Yahoo! comments are gone for good.

Many media outlets that end comments do so saying the suspension is temporary, but I rarely see the comment sections return. Here is the statement posted in place of the comment sections on Yahoo!:

"Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting. In the meantime, we welcome your feedback to help us enhance the experience."

I have been trolling around looking for any additional statement from Yahoo! but I have not found anything. The reception on Twitter is predictably angry.

Inside Higher Ed removes comments

Inside Higher Ed, a trade publication for academics, has closed its comments. I always thought the comments were pretty good, but I guess I did not read them enough (or closely enough) to dwell on the problems cited by the editors. There clearly were plenty of comments from critics of the academy, but they seemed easy enough to ignore. Editors have instituted a letters to the editor section.

Incivility and lack of representation were reasons cited for ending comments. Comments were dominated by a small portion of the readership, editors say. (This is a common point made by editors closing comment sections.)

Wanted: Online comment writer

"Defend our online reputation." Everyone knows this takes place, but I have never encountered a job advertisement for an online comment writer.

USA Today ends comments

You would think these things would be easy to figure out, but not always.

USA Today once had online comments (beginning in 2007 and at least until 2016). Sometime between those times the paper banned anonymous posts. The paper's redesign late last year removed all comments (Nov. 1, 2019). This change went by without much notice.

From the Editors:

Commenting changes: We've decided not to include commenting on stories for now. We're thinking about other ways for you to interact with our work and our journalists. You can find most reporters' Twitter handles at the bottom of their stories, and you can also join us on Facebook and across social media. 

Fair enough, but I always wish the editors would talk more broadly about the role of comments, if any, in the larger mission of newspapers in the marketplace of ideas.

Changes at the Boston Globe

Changes at the Boston Globe comments policy, published March 9:

We’re experimenting with new ways to generate conversation at Globe Opinion. For the next month, instead of our usual anonymous comments section, we’re inviting you to submit signed 100-word responses to what you read, some of which will get published in our Letters section. On select op-ed columns and editorials we’ll have an audience tool like the one here to collect and publish your feedback.

What do you think about this idea? What would you most like to see in online conversation here and what would entice you to participate?

Ordinary comments appear to still be available at the Globe.

Telegraph limits comments to subscribers only

The Telegraph (based in the UK) has announced a comments policy where only subscribers can post comments, effective April 29. The Wall Street Journal did the same thing last year. (I think The Times of London does the same. Not a subscriber, so not certain.)

The Telegraph had ended comments in 2016, but reinstated them sometime since. The Telegraph also has a set of guidelines for comments.

Artificial intelligence to detect positive comment threads

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have devised an artificial intelligence algorithm which highlights positive comments, or what they call "help speech." Other similar algorithms have been devised to block hate speech. This effort would, "assist with the cybertopian ambition of better making the internet a voice for empowering the voiceless," according to the article here.