Thursday, February 02, 2006

User comments on news sites

Yesterday, ksl.com unveiled its new comment system. I must say that I love being able to see what other people think about news stories, especially local ones; comments are the feature of Slashdot that I love the most.

This is quite the contrast to the Washington Post which recently turned off user comments on their blog postings. Although I can understand why they are nervous about some of the user-supplied content, I cannot help but think that they are shooting themselves in the foot. What's strange is that it seems they weren't even allowing people to comment on the main news stories, but just on the blog.

For me, half of the value of news stories on places like Slashdot and now ksl.com is seeing how everyone else is reacting. There is a sense of community there that is sorely missing in much of today's media.

3 Comments:

At 1:44 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hmm slashdot is a responsible community by that I mean you wouldnt see something irrelevant / wrong posted(as a comment) for a long time without somebody countering it. Washington post doesnt have a 'community' commenting and correcting each other. Maybe thats why it makes sense for them ... nice blog btw :)

 
At 6:16 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like how user comments system is realised on this news site. Pretty simple - three input fields - but that's enough i think. And beautiful captcha, imho =)

 
At 2:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Washington Post edited comments on its blog. It happened to me and nothing controversial was said, but it was critical of their reporting. Also, the story of Dhiren Borat, the terrorist, who was being sentenced for a plotting to blow up the World Trade Center, Citigroup, and other things, including the usage of dirty bombs, and had been active since 1994, was withheld by major media, and is still being held. The Guardian in Britan is the only place I have seen any coverage and that not until after 4pm on the sixth. The media is full of the movie stories on the other Borat, but not following this one. I wonder if elections have anything to do with that?

 

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