Over the past month or so, the Washington Post has been quietly allowing users to post comments on articles appearing on it’s website. [Just in case anyone is interested in the technology they’re using, I’ve had a look and it appears that they’re using Delphi Forum software as their back-end. Delphi’s parent company, Prospero, lists Washington Post as a client – along with the majority of the American TV networks and a trolley full of other big name clients.] Jim Brady, editor of WashingtonPost.com, told Editor & Publisher that the comments feature "extends our mission of trying to generate a dialogue between readers and journalists" and that he’s very satisfied with the resulting quality and number of users:
So far, comments have been both "high-level" and on-topic, says Brady, and in many cases the newspaper’s journalists have, in fact, learned more about issues based on reader comments. He notes that the paper has only had to remove only about 30 comments from the the site in the five weeks since comments were launched.
Brady then provides some useful insight into the way the Post manages user comments and it’s plans for the future:
- a profanity filter screens posts for obviously objectionable word usage
- editors are still required to keep users from "posting personal attacks against the journalists and other commentators"
- two people actively monitor(moderate) comments during peak periods, removing those that break the rules
- the news desk acts provides further support, monitoring comments as needed during the day and taking over the task at night
- readers can flag abusive comments for the attention of moderators
The Editor & Publisher article also notes one of the challenges of moderating comments, particularly when they’re related to volatile news stories:
He [Brady] admits, however, that "once you open there door, you can’t choose who comes in the door," and that there will naturally be complaints about which comments are accepted and which are deemed worthy of removal. Brady anticipates this to be an especially complicated issue as the site extends comments capability to all of its articles, enabling readers to weigh in instantly on controversial articles of national and international signifigance.
What does the future hold? Brady says that the site will soon have features allowing readers to upload photos and first-hand accounts of breaking news events that could be routed to reporters and used in articles. They’re also hoping to include social networking features for readers.