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Why are the comments for the Davis story deleted and people not allowed to post new ones? Is it because this paper endorsed him for congress? There is going to be alot of dirty dealing come out over this race. Just another case of the rich looking out for the rich. I wonder how long this discussion will stay up.
I'm not typically one to give
I'm not typically one to give a lot of credit to the News Gazette, but I think they do a great job moderating the comment sections on this website. I have only seen them censor comments that were abusive, vulgar, or violent. I've never seen them censor comments just because they disagree with them.
I also appreciate that the N-G has a comment section in the first place...many online newspapers don't.
It's hard to believe that they were censoring the article in question due to Rodney Davis bashing, since there are probably at least a dozen articles on this website with several Rodney bashing comments (several of mine included) that were never censored.
I do agree, though, that when an article's comment page gets out of hand, they should only delete the offensive comments instead of shutting down all of them. Or, at least, shut down the ability to post new comments but keep the existing, non-offensive ones up.
The threatening comments were
The threatening comments were over flag burning. Davis wants a flag amendment. I have had some comments deleted that I can find no reason for. I could see someone may have not liked them but they didn't cross any lines. I had others in the same thread that were worse that were left.
Referees make good, and bad
Referees make good, and bad calls during a game. The same applys to the individual employee of the News Gazette who decides what to delete, and what to consider "inactive". Personal attittudes, preferences, and personality enters into it. It may not be up to just one employee either. Whatever the protocol is for making the judgement would be interesting to know. I do not want to buy into the conspiracy theories that are prevalent in so many of the comments on articles. However; I feel confident in saying that the News Gazette is conservatively biased in political issues, and business issues. Many times, I wish that the newspaper would present all sides of an issue. The reader should be able to decide their position on the issue without propaganda influencing them. I guess that I listen to, and watch too much PBS.:)
I think the flag burning part
I think the flag burning part of the discussion was getting out of hand. Too much talk of rearranging faces. lol
That's what I thought. Maybe
That's what I thought. Maybe they didn't think people were being nice to Rodney. There's getting to be a lot of attacks on Kacich too. Lazy comments. If they really were saying something okay but back it up. Show some proof to what you're saying. Just name calling over and over doesn't make a point, you know what I mean? I think about half of it was really good discussion. I kind of wish they had left that up but I think the rest would have still taken over. I would prefer if they would leave comments up and close it if they were going to do that. They could still edit it but they don't have to always kill all of it.
They could respond with a
They could respond with a comment of their own outlining what is acceptable, and what is not in comments. It would not hurt to inform the readers of what is considered abusive comments. It would be a reminder; but at the same time, it would define the News Gazette's censorship authority. It would prevent speculation that the News Gazette is politically partisan. :)
I don't like the part about
I don't like the part about comments just being gone. There is no record a comment was made. On other sites you get it changed to an "this is unacceptable" type statement. Then I would need an app to save the discussion before they edit it. There have been inconsistencies to the policy. I kind of take it as them giving a little more leaway but sometimes it gets confusing. And sometimes I think it's just not done in real time and we think it always is. So they may be reacting to something different than we think they are.
Add to that; articles that
Add to that; articles that have comments that never make it to the "most comments" section. It may be a subject that has numerous comments; but it is buried in archives. At least for now, there has not been censorship of individuals comments that I know of happening. I am amazed that the politically partisan opinions, and editorials continue in this rapidly changing diverse community.
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