Over the past five years, The Daily Princetonian’s comment boards have earned the reputation as the most active compared with those of the other Ivy League newspapers.
Despite the sheer volume of comments and the fact that many of them are productive and valuable, the ‘Prince’ comment boards also consistently feature comments that are off topic, mean-spirited and offensive.
We are in the midst of a yearlong review of our web presence and in the process of developing a new website, and we have the opportunity to completely restructure how people comment on our website. But first, we need to have a conversation with our readers: What do you want in ‘Prince’ comment boards? How good or bad are they currently? Should we change our policies?
We are seeking the campus community’s input on these complicated issues to see what kind of commenting environment you would like. In order to frame the discussion, I want to present several questions for consideration:
First, are the comments too offensive? To be sure, one person’s offensive is another person’s constructive, and we don’t aim to remove all negative comments from all articles. That said, should we restrict the “anything goes” attitude for the ‘Prince’ comments, which sometimes devolve into personal attacks?
Second, should we aim to keep comments more “on topic”? And, if so, how?
Third, what is the value in anonymity? The ability to comment with absolute anonymity is a distinctive element of our current commenting system. We don’t believe that anonymity inherently precludes a high-quality dialogue online; anonymity can allow commenters to discuss sensitive issues or express unpopular views. But anonymity also makes it easier for some commenters to shirk accountability and decency.
What do you think? Please Tweet at us, Facebook us, email me or comment on this article. We will also accept signed letters to the editor, which can be submitted at dailyprincetonian.com/feedback.
We look forward to the conversation.
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