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| I would like to make the opportunity for everyone to get to know each other. In the comments section please feel free to describe a little about yourself.
Photo courtesy of facecrunch.
The comments system on TNN was designed to allow people to post under the cloak of anonymity. Comments go live on the website immediately, there are no moderators sitting around actively approving or disapproving comments. In fact, comments are only removed in extreme circumstances. With that said, TNN moderators (namely me), highlight the comments that contribute to a photo or are an interesting read. At a glance a visitor can read the interesting comments or read the entire conversation.
The above design has brought life to a community of regulars. The regulars often have interesting things to say about photos, but in most cases seem to carry on a conversation of their own. I have had emails from all over the world from people who say the comments in TNN are just as interesting as the content itself.
With that said, let's get to know each other a little more. Who are you, where are you from and which fellow community members do you enjoy reading comments from?
Breaking News
It seems as though the community is quite divided on whether or not comments should be moderated. There are strong arguments for both sides of the fence. On one hand the unmoderated comments allow the conversation to flow whereas moderating the comments would get people back on topic again.
In the future I might add a new feature to the site that allows people to only view featured comments (the comments that are in yellow). That way you can stay focused on the comments that are relevant to the posts. Should this be enabled by default? Please share your thoughts...
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| Vincent Pinto commented on October 25, 2007
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I'm located in Hyderabad, India. I'd appreciate if you would moderate the threads/comments. Most of us do enjoy most of the pics, and the healthy comments that naturally spring up. But you must arrange to eventually moderate. Select moderators you are comfortable with, who are permitted to block stuff out, and let the blocked stuff go in another sidebar link, if you want to; but not displayed in the main queue. Allow yourself to bring back blocked stuff into the main queue, if you feel the one of your delegates might have been unduely limiting. Allow your delegates a list of options to choose from to indicate to the other moderators why they blocked a comment. Perhaps checkboxes like Abusive, Private conversation, Utterly irrelevant, and the like.
Yours is a fun site. If someone wants to read garbage, or flame around, let them find other sites.
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| A.W. commented on October 25, 2007
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Well Quintem, where do I start? I'm a 25 year old software engineer located near Philadelphia. I have a list of 20 or so websites which I religiously visit through out the day, your's is somewhere near the top of the pile =). As for the whole moderated comments idea, I'm on the fence. I agree that there are pro's and con's to each perspective, but I'm not going to pretend I know which one is best for you and achieving your goals. I enjoy being able to read everything that everyone has to say, often times the comments work like natural selection - certain idiots hurt themselves more than their "internet enemies" every time they post. It's all quite trivial, but I could see how people new to the site might not fully appreciate the history that some of us veteran visitors have come to enjoy. With that said, if you do decide you'd like some help with the updating and moderating of the website, I'd like to volunteer. You know my email address, so if you want to talk about it and find out more about me, shoot me an email (or respond here with your questions). Assuming you can find someone with a good sense of humor, a strong background in computers/internetz, and the intelligence to moderate to your liking, I think it'd be a good idea to pick that person up =). Once again, thanks for the website and all that, you're doing a great job and it is certainly appreciated!
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| Vincent Pinto commented on October 25, 2007
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Some premises must be stated and recongnized, else conclusions will be false. 1) "Quintem" is _not_ a governmental body/agency, or one funded by the government. Therefore, he has the right to moderate what _he_ wants on _his_ site, just as much as _John or Jane Doe_ have a right to their sites. 2) The fact that he has opened this question/forum strongly demonstates he is uncomfortable with what he reads. 3) Garbage accumulates without effort in our universe of entropy. Therefore, regular cleaning is essential. If not, some will eventually relocate. That's their freedom to do, as much as another's to stay. 4) There still remains that fabulous option open for the non-governmental, non-government-funded owner of this site to choose to create a link where unmoderated items are displayed, and to create another one where it is moderated. I'll link to the second one. 5) If not moderated, sooner but _certainly_ later, verbal-garbage dumpers will increase, creating a bad headache for the owner and moderators, and some will leave this site. 6) If moderated, the verbal-garbage dumpers will eventually diminish, and will find another site. I for one would be very grateful that the owner (or his delegated moderators) have filtered me from the garbage I might have had to read, had they not borne it themselves while they had to read it prior to filtering it. And, honestly, I wouldn't have a bad day or a sleepless night trying to figure out "Now what garbage did I miss reading today?" Those of us who remain and participate will still continue to ever increase our enjoyment and fun we all get out of this otherwise very wonderful, clever, witty, informative, delightful site!
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| Vincent Pinto commented on October 30, 2007
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Quintem: There have been sufficient excellent, do-able suggestions so far. One more: You could provide a clearly-marked checkbox just above where the comments section begins, with a note saying something like, "Select checkbox to display only gold-background (moderated) comments. Uncheck again to display all." Let there be a cookie to know this setting, or if you implement user-login, then the preferences stated in the user's profile can become active. But do keep the default as unchecked so that newcomers can exercise their right to free-reading, and no one accuse you of stifling free-speech, even though you, as owner, have a right to care less.&#lt;b&#gt;
Could you let this forum know about the next steps you plan to take?
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