Via Romenesko we learn of local Illinois news site Pantagraph.com that has suspended comments on local news stories as a “cooling off period” after it felt that the comments had become too uncivil. I’m wondering how this will actually help. This is the internet that we’re talking about here, and once the comments are turned back on, I would imagine that they’ll quickly return to the same level of civility (or lack thereof) pretty quickly. If you want to create more civil commenting policies, a “time out” doesn’t do that. Putting in place better incentives does.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story