Trolls and Bullies Mar Online Comments

We have trolls and spammers. We have the bigots with an agenda. And we have the experts who know everything about everything. Caught in the middle may be the innocents.

These are the commenters on our online articles at our website. And almost every day one or more breaks or tries to thwart the rules that we've established for our comments areas.

So why haven't we put an end to the chaos? As the cliche says: "it's complicated."

For years, we, like most newspapers, has allowed comments online. We also allow readers to voice their opinions anonymously. The participation has increased, particularly on controversial stories. But the comments are often rude, threatening, disruptive or profane.

In an attempt to increase online readership and interactivity, a Pandora's box of issues has been dispersed.

The decision to let readers comment under the cloak of anonymity is a common one. Requiring readers register with their actual names theoretically could make them more civil and accountable, or it could reduce participation. Avatars and anonymity also can result in a more "lawless frontier" atmosphere. Colorado Springs Gazette columnist Bill Vogrin says some commenters "should be ashamed of themselves."

There are basically two prevailing philosophies about how to manage comments. One is simply to not moderate and let the users police themselves. At our website, users can choose to ignore or report offensive content. Obviously, this tactic is only as good as the users make it and can be frustrating if you are the subject of an attack. It's against human nature to push the ignore button and simply walk away from a fight.

The other way to manage comments is to moderate them. Most newspapers have some minimal moderation. As technology develops, filters that flag profanity or hate speech can help to block some offensive words. Some larger papers moderate their comments more closely.

Last week the Huffington Post, an online news powerhouse, banned some users because they expressed skepticism about the White House's various versions of the bin Laden raid in Pakistan. The Huffington Post pre-moderates comments on their news stories and on their blogs. The banning resulted in many users complaining elsewhere about what they felt was unfair censorship.

The Greeley Tribune suspended its online comments earlier this month. Randy Bangert, the Tribune's editor, called the change a "pause" in the editorial he wrote explaining the decision. All the previous comments were deleted and the ability to post comments has not been restored. The Tribune has not taken a hit in its online traffic, and the public reaction has been mostly favorable, according to local news editor Larry Ryckman, former Gazette managing editor.

The Gazette's approach to managing the comments is to monitor them, but we don't have a full-time moderator. We ban users only as a last resort.

The Gazette's editor, Jeff Thomas, knows the pitfalls of online interaction but also understands that it is invaluable: "For any news organization to deny the public the opportunity to interact and participate with its journalism is to invite irrelevancy," Thomas said recently in a discussion about the merits of comments.

"People expect the opportunity to discuss the news and to have access to the news organizations that have presented it. That's just a new reality made possible by digital technology."

Thomas thinks the larger issue is how to manage the comments in this relatively recent arena: "The whole question about comments is method; how they are managed. The Tribune has basically turned them off. They are trying to come up with a better way. I think there's probably a better way. The overall tenor of commenting is abysmal."

So technology has given the media an amazing ability to know what readers think, like and, in some cases, can contribute to the news. On the surface that should be an opportunity to add depth to our coverage. Below the surface we still have to struggle with the trolls, bigots and bullies. And sometimes we miss the good old days when readers had to write in and sign a letter.

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