Community Management | Zombie Journalism

Facebook comments can’t guarantee a lack of anonymity

There’s a conventional wisdom out there in the online journalism world that: 1.) News site comments will automatically be better if people have to use real names, and 2.) Using Facebook for your comments will accomplish this.

I’ve said many times before that I don’t think anonymity is the problem. My campaign on that seems to be [...]

Pay-to-play commenting can eliminate trolls – and kill discussion

A Massachusetts newspaper is banning anonymous comments by charging for the privilege. This seems like overkill – and it can eliminate important discussion. [...]

An anonymous comment ban could kill the public forum

If news websites were to get rid of anonymous comments, we may be eliminating the opinions of some very valuable (and young) readers. [...]

Anonymity isn’t to blame for bad site comments, it’s a lack of staff interaction

We as an industry like to collectively wring our hands about the toxicity of online comment boards, but if we really want to improve the quality of on-site discussion we need to be willing to get involved in our sites in a hands-on manner. No amount of filters, comment-detecting robots and user-end moderation will replace the presence of a dutiful moderator. [...]

A new media how-to roundup

Here’s a collection of great tips and how-tos I’ve found lately you might find helpful if you want to break into media – or break out. Includes tips on YouTube, data mapping, UGC, training and starting your own blog. [...]

No winners in online comment debate

Online comments are a gigantic albatross for newspaper sites, but I believe we need them. Instead of panicking, we need to ride out these early days of commenting and learn to become better community managers. [...]

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