Comments on: Proud papa

By: Andrew Whitacre

Andrew Whitacre — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:27:07 +0000

That’s a good question. As it’s set up now, though editors get an e-mail when a comment is submitted, comments post automatically without moderation. (In fact, I installed the “AJAX Comments” WordPress plugin—an example of a good use of AJAX, because it gives commenters immediate feedback on whether their comment was successfully posted. That’s important for JHA because there’s a good chance our commenters will be in a developing country with a spotty internet connection.)

The staff is a bit concerned, though, that with such emotionally charged topics being written about that we might get some overemotional comments. It’s something we’ll have to keep an eye on.

WordPress has a good deal of countermeasures, fortunately. It allows editors to set aside selective comments for moderation, such as any with more than one link (to combat spam) or any using certain words. So if we find that 50% of all comments that use “Qaeda” or “Bush” are inflamatory, we can put a hold on any that use those terms.

By: Andrew Whitacre

Andrew Whitacre — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:27:00 +0000

The staff is a bit concerned, though, that with such emotionally charged topics being written about that we might get some overemotional comments. It’s something we’ll have to keep an eye on.

By: jordon

jordon — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:12:06 +0000

nicely done. do the comments post immediately, or are they vetted? this issue has been on my mind since that article gary kamiya wrote this week in salon about the impact of online feedback on journalism. it looks like there's a good mixture of academic and biographical rejoinders. you wouldn't see something like that in the "letters to the editor" issue of a print academic journal.

By: jordon

jordon — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 00:12:00 +0000