Comments and courts

Few things draw out emotions like crime. Mix that with the Internet's ability to remove a person's inhibitions, tact, and sense of shame and you're left with what many media outlets call their “comment section.”

When we at the Banner post an article to our website, you can register for a Disqus account and fire away. We post links to these articles on our Facebook page where you can also leave your thoughts. We don't see much feedback from Twitter.

Some things that are true about the comments under courts and crime articles holds true for anything we post, but since this is a court blog we'll stick to court and cop comments.

First, a history lesson.

When I started working at the Banner the articles on our website would be automatically paired with a link to a “Topix” discussion board. Users posted anonymously and we did our best to keep things civil.

Topix is its own entity and you can still go there to comment on Banner articles, but the reason we switched, to my understanding, is because the Topix board became a howling pit of madness that served no purpose other than to be a nest of cyber bullies who constantly attacked citizens and public figures while hiding behind screen names. These folks enjoyed naming alleged sexual assault victims and insulting high school sports teams. A former colleague of mine described the board as a “car wreck,” and having seen more than a few vehicle crashes I have to agree, the old board resembled a pile of needless destruction that's hard to both look at and look away from.

Our new comment system still lets people post anonymously, thus shielding them from every social mechanism developed to keep people civil, but the added work of having to register with an email seems to make people more polite. Still, I don't find the discussions being had particularly valuable to anyone, aside from maybe the posters themselves who need a place to vent their anger and frustration with the world. We all need that from time to time but would it hurt to offer a constructive opinion now and again? Maybe ask an actual question and not one that's rhetorical? We'll reply if something is unclear or left unstated.

As for Facebook, discussions have been slightly better, but still we have people calling each other names and saying accused drug dealers should be killed via overdose. I'm not going to tell you how to feel, but you live in an age where your ability to spread your opinions far and wide is unparalleled with any other time in history, you should use that ability a little better than you are.

Of course we're somewhat to blame here. Media groups all over have been stumped by these comment sections. When you write us a letter to the editor, you have to put your name and hometown on the letter and provide us with a phone number so we can ensure you are who you say you are. We have no such standard for our website or Facebook page. In many ways, we treat them like gas stations treat their bathrooms. It's standard in the industry to have them, they're great in theory, and we struggle to keep them clean.

And finally, one thing that crops up from time to time is “freedom of speech.”

Here's the First Amendment, quoted from www.webcitation.org

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

Notice how it says nothing about a newspaper being required to provide anyone with a medium for expressing their opinions. We can delete comments as we see fit and even ban users when they repeatedly cause problems. 

Contact Keith Whitcomb Jr. at kwhitcomb@benningtonbanner.com or follow him on Twitter @KWhitcombjr.