Update on Tyee Comments

With two months under our belt and with 300 new people contributing their comments to The Tyee’s pages, now seems a good time to check in on our comment forum experiment. Plus, we made a couple small tweaks to the system that might interest you.

First the tweaks...

Today we removed the expand/contract option from the All Comments tab. (Was that a cheer I just heard?) It was one of the top two issues people complained about. The other was the speed of the system. Turns out, they’re related issues.

When you clicked either expand or contract, the system reloaded the page, sending you first to the top and then back to your location in the comments thread. In some cases, depending on the speed of your Internet connection and the number of comments in the thread, this took more than a few moments. And in Internet time, a “few moments” often equals “too long to wait, there must be something wrong.”

So, by removing the feature, we solve the usability issue and the speed problem. But this doesn’t mean it’s gone for good.

You see, the original goal behind the expand/contract option was to allow you to quickly scan the comments thread. We still think this might be a worthwhile tool. But we need more of your feedback to help decide the matter. If you have a moment, please take this quick survey to help us decide.

No more blue ribbons

We also heard some of you complain about the “Best Comment” label in the All Comments thread. We agree. It can feel like an intrusion on the thread, which wasn’t what we intended. It’s now gone.

We will, however, be keeping the Best Comments thread, which many of you have said you enjoy and appreciate for the more succinct and on-topic selection of reader views it provides. More about Best Comments later.

We also made some other small changes and are considering a few more. So, if you have time, please do give us your feedback.

Reclaiming the echo chamber

One of the main goals of this experiment was to change the tone of the debate, to reclaim the space for those who want to have truly constructive and informative discussions. It’s an ongoing experiment, but we think we’re getting there.

And the thanks for that go to you. Although we’re now putting more time into moderating the forum, the fact is we can have more than 20 stories open for comment at any given time, and we can’t be everywhere at once.

So that means you are the ones who are demanding a higher tone from each other. You are the ones refusing to engage with those who are here just to stir the pot. You are the ones demanding substantive comments, and even references, from each other. And you are the ones who are reporting offensive behaviour with the “Suggest as Offensive” option.

So, again, thanks for that.

Some inoffensive words about offensive words

Speaking of offensive comments, we should explain a bit about what we consider offensive. There have been times when a number of people reported a comment as offensive when it was actually just an opposing point of view.

A good example was the Top 10 reasons Canada should merge with the USA comment that appeared after Murray Dobbin’s story about deep integration with the United States.

Many found the idea of Canada integrating with the United States offensive and reported it as such using the Suggest as Offensive option. Many of us here at The Tyee also oppose the idea of a merger, but for us to censor a comment simply because it represents a contrary point of view is offensive to the very idea of a forum. To paraphrase the old adage: if you believe in free speech, you have to defend those opinions that are contrary to your own.

On guard for trolls

That said, as we all know, freedom of speech has its limits. In our context, the limit is racist, sexist, homophobic and libellous content. In addition, we try to spot and curtail the activities of trolls. A troll is someone who regularly makes unsubstantiated and inflammatory comments that don’t seem to add to the debate. The intent, on the contrary, is to sidetrack the debate for some kind of personal thrill. The result is a thread that spirals into the inane. If we notice this kind of pattern, we will act on it.

But as you might imagine, it’s not an exact science. Although this conversation is mediated through circuits and silicon bits, we’re actually human. We do make mistakes and there will be times when we are inconsistent. We’re hoping you forgive us our inconsistencies and continue to help us with this experiment (but do keep us accountable).

Generally speaking, though, know that we deliberate over each intervention and try to use a light touch. We believe it better to have borderline opinions appear uncensored so that they can be exposed to the rigorous light of your reasoned arguments.

A short comment about best comments

Some, too, have wondered about our criteria for the Best Comments thread. It’s pretty simple. To be a “best comment,” a comment needs to be on topic, without personal insults or racist or sexist remarks, and convey some information. We also tend to assign “best comment” to no more than three comments by the same person on the same story, to encourage a diversity of views. We may not be perfectly consistent, but these are the ideas that are guiding us.

So, again, thanks for your patience and your help. And please continue to keep us, our writers and each other accountable. And don’t forget to take our survey!