Hi everyone.
As many of you know, this blog has been plagued by trolls, flamers, and other nutty types since its inception.
I will be writing at greater length today about discourse, debate and intimidation in the community (using yesterday’s presentation of the community survey as a very positive example of how Jews can discuss important matters in a civil and rational way).
But for now, I think it’s important to shift the atmosphere here from one of threats, flaming and other off-topic fripperies, so I’ve put the blog on a new moderation setting.
For a trial period, all comments will have to be moderated by me before they actually go up on the blog.
Because I can’t monitor activity here 24/7, this means that sometimes, your comments will not appear immediately after you post them. I ask for your patience on the matter, and hopefully, we can transform the comments section into the forum that was originally intended.
No related posts.
I think this is a great idea – the decision to approve comments before they are published. I’m sure it was also a difficult one to make considering the notions of censorship and bias, which aren’t very popular terms in a forum like this. I think it is important that the focus must be shifted and it is sad that it had to be enforced like this.
Nevertheless, it seems to be the only option.
I haven’t commented before on this blog, but I have read many of the comments, specifically from the last post, and I think some of these ‘trolls’ have some serious insecurities and mental issues. It is not right what they are doing, it is violent and aggressive, it can be hurtful etc.
However, when it comes to legalities, I think people have to really work out why they wish to take legal action and consider their own intentions. I have not seen many of the really seriously bad comments because I assume they were deleted from Alex, but unless they exploit people or defame people in a really harmful way, as opposed to just juvenile insults, then I reckon it is just best to ignore and avoid. Like Alex put it in the last blog post: “Don’t feed the troll”. Just realise that these people are trying to stir because they get some sadistic rise out of it and leave it to Alex to delete and attend to. She is the moderator.
But there is one thing that I do not agree with, Alex, and that is your threat to publicise some people’s private information. There is the LAW… and there is policy. I don’t want to get into the debate over national law, international law (as this website is hosted on a Wordpress US Server), I have not studied law, I am not a lawyer, but I am quite sure that it is the Webmaster’s, Administrator’s, Moderator’s etc. responsibility to ensure privacy to all those who enter the site. This means not publishing an email address when it says “Email will not be published” and not publishing an IP Address (unless given permission). Maybe this isn’t so clear-cut and doesn’t include abusive people. I am not sure. Anyway, perhaps it is possible to set your own policy about when and where private information (one’s email address) could be published. Probably in the “Leave a Reply” section. Because if it says it won’t be published, then it is, no matter what, your duty to respect that. If there are any serious issues that require legal action, deal with it off-blog. That’s my opinion.
Does Wordpress have a banning system, where you can ban certain IP addresses? Or is the problem that these trolls keep changing their IPs?
Also, have you installed an Anti-Spam plug-in on the blog?
I like the idea of the new moderation settings, but, of course, as I’m sure many people will talk about, ensure there is no bias, and only the obviously irrelevant comments which consist of personal attacks will be disapproved. You already know that.
Good work with the blog overall and enjoy the hardships of moderation.
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