Redefined Gazette.com commenting policy launched

Here's a conversation stopper: “What a walking piece of …………… stay home, the dogs are much easier to get along with then you.!”

We removed that comment from the Community Conversation section of TheGazette.com recently. Also pulled from the site was the corresponding, “How about we just ban YOU from appearing in public, (last name used here)?”

We are not interested in this kind of conversation. We are interested in responsible community dialogue about things that are important to Eastern Iowans.

TheGazette.com has revised its Rules of Engagement for public commenting, and has posted them on our website. We do this because we want this news outlet to provide an exchange of information and ideas that engage, connect and inform. Uncivil behavior in our comments section does not engage. It produces chasms instead of connection. And, in the end, that means it does not inform because people tune out.

This situation is not unique to TheGazette.com. News outlets across the country have spent the last couple of years trying to tame the beasts they created when seeking public comment in the digital world. At the same time those managing these outlets know that public comment – regardless of, and sometimes despite its popularity – is critical in a democracy.

But free speech rights carry responsibility. Just as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. famously ruled that free speech does not mean you falsely can yell “fire” in a crowded theater, we maintain that uncivil, unfair, libelous and generally off-track conversation does not have to be tolerated.

We've embraced that notion with Rules of Engagement that have existed for some time for commenting on TheGazette.com. Now we've given some clarity to those rules so that commenters know what they are, what we expect on behalf of TheGazette.com and its readers and what will guide our newsroom as we become more attentive to moderating comments.

Two examples

We want to be as open about the commenting as possible.

Some commenters on Thursday, June 23, were pretty rough verbally on the Cedar Rapids BBQ Round-Up, complaining about its cost and lamenting the paucity of local vendors. But one local vendor appreciated the support while others defended the price and the conversation turned around. Should we have removed some of the harsher comments about the event? If so, how is customer behavior about costs and vendors reflected?

An example I thought was interesting from this week came from a story about Cedar Rapids' efforts to get rid of geese at Ellis Park, near downtown along the Cedar River and at the Jones Park Golf Course. A regular commenter who agitates people with personal accusations, including against this outlet even as it provides a platform, and with the same themes against city and local business leaders over and over repeated one of those themes. Stay on point, I responded.

His response: Try an urban hunt, which has worked with deer. Licensed hunters could keep one bird if they desired and the rest could go to the food bank. Opinion on that idea started flowing onto the site. I heard the idea mentioned as a talking point the next morning on WMT radio. The proposal became debatable, part of the community conversation in a much more substantive way than name calling.

Answers to anticipated questions

I expect to hear from people so here are a few answers, before you ask:

1. We don't have favorite topics. This is about the tone of the conversation. If you can live with the Rules of Engagement you get to participate. If you cannot live with them, other sites exist for your brand of commenting.
2. We don't have favorite commenters. You obviously are aware when you, and likely your friends, receive a notice from us about a particular comment. You often are not aware of notes sent to others, including those with whom you disagree.
3. This is not censorship. It is about having a public conversation that all can participate in and learn from, moderated in a way that upholds common decency and trust that Eastern Iowans have had in The Gazette for 128 years.
4. Moderators are Gazette reporters, their immediate supervisors and editors.
5. Yes, The Gazette is dictating the Rules of Engagement. We are doing that because it is our website and we aren't seeking a graffiti board. This locally owned company has invested decades into being a trusted news and information provider and we want comments to enhance that.
6. We constantly will review our commenting policy for the best reader experience possible.

Be part of the conversation

We expect those of you who have complained about the comments' tenor to make your voice be heard publicly. If you want a high level of comment, participate. Advance the story with your knowledge and experiences.

Rules of Engagement

• Be truthful. Cite your sources when making claims of fact. Comments should be on topic, accurate, timely and fair. Share your eyewitness accounts, background, observations and history so that you advance what we all can learn about the story. Ask about what you don't know.
• Be civil. Do not make personal attacks on others. Do not use ALLCAPs; we get it, no need to shout. The same goes for imperatives, such as “Wake up, people,” or examples of Godwin's Law.
• Be responsible. Refrain from using obscene, vulgar, lewd or sexually-oriented language; statements that convey racism, sexism or terminology that degrades another person or class of people; and attacks on others that range from being against someone's character to threatening someone's physical safety.
• Own your words. Use your name.
• Leave the trolls alone. Let us know if things are getting out of hand by using the "Report Abuse" button on offensive comments.
• Take commercial ads elsewhere. They won't be allowed in the news comments section.
• Know that comments will be moderated. Reporters and editors will respond to questions, statements of facts and comments that require responses and also gauge comments' value in terms of the principles mentioned above.
• Or what? Comments that do not adhere to the Rules of Engagement will be removed.

Comments: lyle.muller@thegazette.com or below. I expect to be writing more about this in the coming weeks on this blog.

Some things to look forward to: we are redesigning our main page and plan to reveal it on June 30, and we'll include in that launch published guidelines for the daily conversation feature.