NPR says that its editors and staff have reached their limit with some of the user comments that appear on NPR.org's printed stories and blogs. "We've recently observed a significant increase in the amount of spam in the comments as well as comments from some individuals who participate simply to anger or insult other community members," the Inside NPR blog noted on Wednesday.
Hence the organization "will more aggressively" moderate subscriber responses on the site. New registrants who wish to post comments on the radio service's webpages will go through a vetting process, conducted by a team of community managers. The latter will enforce NPR's Community Discussion Rules, the short version of which can be summarized as follows:
* Be polite
* Don't use obscene words
* Stay on topic
* Don't ramble, and
* Report trolls, but don't respond to their posts
Once a new user "has established a reputation for following the commenting guidelines all of his comments will appear immediately after posting," Inside NPR explains. "Community managers will only review comments in response to a specific report from other community members."
As for existing users, about two percent "who have demonstrated a history of breaking the discussion rules," will have their comments scrutinized. Once these "consistently adhere" to the community rules, "we'll stop reviewing their comments before they are posted."
Appalling things
This new policy has been a while in coming. In October, NPR noted that the site had grown to 350,000 registered participants, and thus needed a little help moderating comments, particularly with trolls who come "to wreak havoc in discussions." Hence, the media organization brought in Canadian-based ICUC Moderation Services to assist.
NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard insists that the newest move wasn't prompted by subscriber "vitriol" in reaction to NPR's coverage of the attack on CBS Correspondent Lara Logan in Cairo. But those responses obviously vexed the organization. Some NPR.org users said "appalling things online" about the case, Shepard complained, "so ugly, in fact," that staff took down dozens of anonymous remarks that appeared on an NPR blog about the situation.
Among them: "Those dirty Muslims. Now I know why their women wear burkas. It's because the men can't control themselves." And: "They're Arabs, what do you expect? They're nasty people from the dirtiest place on earth."
Face-to-face
Since October, NPR.org's registration total has grown to a total of 450,000 subscribers, the new procedures announcement discloses. In a recent blog post Shepard suggested that the network should go even further in moderating discussion.
"I am a strong advocate of doing away with anonymous comments," she wrote on Friday. "I often wonder what the dialogue might be like in a face-to-face setting, if people would be so harsh or make personal attacks."
News organizations are struggling with the anonymous comment question. Last year Arianna Huffington of the eponymous Huffington Post told The New York Times that the "trend is away from anonymity."
But even as The Washington Post announced plans to revise its comments policy, the Post's ombudsman Andrew Alexander noted that 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."
