Zombie Journalism » community management

How to Maintain a Safe, Positive and Public Facebook Life

Mandy — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:48:31 +0000

Tips for maintaining a safe, positive and public Facebook life. [...]

Facebook comments can’t guarantee a lack of anonymity

Mandy — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:52:30 +0000

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

Mandy — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:59:30 +0000

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

Mandy — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:36:11 +0000

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

Devil’s advocate: Like it or not, site comments represent the community

Mandy — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 16:50:08 +0000

For better or worse, the people who comment on news websites do represent part of the readership we claim to serve. So should we as a news organization and conversation hub be trying to suppress their opinions? [...]

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

Mandy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:50:12 +0000

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

Mandy — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:33:27 +0000

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

Mandy — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:20:22 +0000

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. [...]