Comments
I have had a handful of interesting exchanges with people who have written in by e-mail over the last week, about our comments section and how we ought to handle the problem of a space for reasoned debate getting crowded out by anonymous posters competing to see who can insult each other the most.Some people have urged me to drop the comment section altogether – an option. Others have repeated the request that I begin moderating comments, deciding which ones to post and which ones not to – not an option. I am not interested in investing the time or in becoming a censor.
Others have suggested that we require people to register in some way to post a comment, which I suspect will end being pretty much the same thing as shutting the comments down entirely.
So instead let's try it one more time and see if everyone can act just a little more adult and focus on criticizing one another's writings (including mine) instead of attacking people personally.
I hope that those of you who have been our reasoned commenters in the past will try returning once again. Your analysis and your intelligent criticism are missed.
A few others suggestions to keep in mind. Please feel encouraged to draw our readers' attention to other Blogs on Bolivia or other articles by posting links to those. We have more than 2,500 readers a day and many will be interested in other sources you might suggest. But on the flipside, please don't clog up the comment section by pasting the full text of long articles. These are always posted somewhere else on the Web and a link will do just fine. If people want to read it they can.
So the comments section is open for business once again, including on our most recent post: Three Things that the Governments of the U.S. and Bolivia Should Do.
Let's proceed on the honor system, in the hopes that all posters here will act honorably, regardless of their point of view. If commenters are not able to do that, then the comment section may have to be put to rest permanently, which would be a loss for everyone.
posted by The Democracy Center at 12:01 PM
The Democracy Center, based in Cochabamba Bolivia and San Francisco California, works globally to advance human rights through a combination of investigation and reporting, training citizens in the art of public advocacy, and organizing international citizen campaigns. If you like the Blog, consider becoming a subscriber to The Democracy Center's free e-newsletter by sending us an email at 
1 Comments:
Thanks! I am surely not your most prolific commenter nor the most well behaved, however this is a great place to share ideas and learn things about my country, about how it is seen abroad, and how other English speaking Bolivians understand our current situation, having learned to tune out certain voices (at certain times) over the years.
One suggestion: check out the comments system at www.slashdot.org. You have 5 levels of comment rating, and the reader can choose to only see comments rated with a "5", a "4" and so on. Readers, or your trusted group of email friends, could assist with the moderation, and anonymous comments are automatically rated a "1" making them easy to skip if desired.
The crucial element in this system is the existence of registered users, which you discount since apparently most of this blogs commenters prefer to remain anonymous.
Which brings up my question: why do you suspect this would end up being the same as closing the comments section?
If the Democracy Center considers that human rights, free speech, and public dialogue are so deteriorated in Bolivia, that its readers legitimately could be afraid to sign their name to anti-government posts, shouldnt that in itself be the subject of a post? Are the people who have emailed you in favor of comments section unwilling to go public? None of my business, of course, but curious.
Just some thoughts, thanks for letting us rumble.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home