Last Wednesday, we ran an experiment. We reserved the comments thread on one post for new and infrequent commenters.
We were pleased with the resultant debate and received some warm feedback about this.
We also received negative feedback about the idea from….er…..frequent commenters.
We welcome our frequent commenters and appreciate their views. However, after the success of the experiment last week, we will feature occasional new and infrequent commenter posts, as the mood takes us. One such post follows in ten minutes’ time.
* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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17 Comments
I certainly think it is a good idea, however, your criteria for infrequent commenters might need to be relaxed if your experiment is successful, otherwise infrequent commenters might soon find themselves cut off from their own discussions.
I am happy to be allowed to comment frequently on those subjects that are chosen to be suitable for frequent commentators.
So please take this as positive feedback. 🙂
A cynic might express a view on the subject chosen for infrequent commentators. But as everyone knows I have not got a cynical bone in my body so I would not even think such a thing.
Is it true that Charlie Hebdo following the example of LDV will in future do two editions?
One for cartoonists who frequently upset people and another for cartoonists who only upset people occasionally?
10 points to Tilley, the irony of LDV cremating the meaning of their “je suis Charlie” moment has clearly not gone unnoticed. It’s like the bakers down the road – I went to get a pasty and apparently Cornish folk aren’t welcome between 1-2pm on Wednesday, because they’re more likely to complain about the quality of pasties!
It’s given me an idea though John, maybe we could play this game too? We could have our own forum, specifically for people banned or censored from commenting on LDV. That way we could have the same discussion here, but freely. I could even consume the content from here automatically so we can interact on these discussions, just on another site. That would mean all of the censored, cleaned discussion could happen here, and we could say what we like on a more liberal site; we could call it More LDV! They get rid of us and leave only agreeable Clegg conformists, we get to discuss what we want without moderation, everyone’s a winner! 😉
We have had many many coment threads open to all about NC’s leadership including one YESTERDAY on which you commented John. Just as Charlie Hebdo’s editors can take decisions, surely the editors of this site can take a decision to occasionally have a new/infrequent commenter post, can they not?
Paul
I am not complaining just making a cheeky point.. All power to the editors at LDV. I do not always agree with you but you allow me to disagree with you (well most of the time) and I appreciate that.
No complaints from me! Too many comments, too frequently, but no complaints about the editors of LDV. 🙂
Chris B
I may be subject to a banning order for replying to you but I do not mind the people who disagree with me in LDV.
It is sometimes irritating when I have just taken fifteen minutes to craft what I regard as a brilliant piece of prose only to find it has been scooped up by the censorious software and shoved into a box of suspended animation until nobody will be interested in the pearls of my wisdom because the discussion has moved on.
But worse things happen.
Out of all the regulars in LDV there is only one who I would like to have hung , drawn and quartered. Amd then only if I could find a cartoonist to the drawing.
How are we to know how frequently we comment?
My frequent, robust comments do not get published. Does that make me an infrequent commenter?
Gareth
Just give it a go and see what happens. Not knowing hasn’t stopped a lot of people. The odd person might remember roughly how much they have commented. You’ve only commented twice in the last month before your one above.
Best wishes
Paul
Peter 14th Jan ’15 – 5:18pm
“My frequent, robust comments do not get published. Does that make me an infrequent commenter?”
Peter – you’ve had thirty comments published here in the last month alone.
In the last five months you have only had two comments not published – because they did not comply with our comments policy.
My last comment was intended to be tongue in cheek but apologies for its failure. However, it was very surprising to discover the number of comments I’ve made. I think maybe I should shut up for a while.
Paul Walter: Just as Charlie Hebdo’s editors can take decisions, surely the editors of this site can take a decision to occasionally have a new/infrequent commenter post, can they not?
Paul : From where does your authority come?
Stephen – we own the site, so we are editors and publishers just as Charlie Hebdo has editors and publishers who own that newspaper.
Having said that we rely on our thriving readership – otherwise it would all be a bit pointless. But obviously our decisions are taken with that in mind, and we have had a groundswell of feedback to say that our comments threads are often drowned out by frequent commenters. So we have started a little feature, one post amongst 40 a week, normally about topics which have already discussed exhaustively on the site. Quite modest, but there it is.
I think I’ve asked about this before, but I don’t remember seeing an answer.
What is the tone of discussions in the members-only part of Lib Dem Voice?
Is it more supportive of the leadership than the public discussions? Is the debate more technical?
Peter Watson 15th Jan ’15 – 12:01pm
Peter, although I am a member I never go to the members only part of LDV. This is for technology reasons rather than any wish to avoid it — the password system is so clunky that it seems incapable of remembering me from one visit to the next. So I have simply stopped trying.
I am told that what some people describe as “negative comments” are more common because members do not feel the necessity to hide what thy really think from UKIP trolls.
I suspect that many infrequent commenters regard me as part of the cosy, male, comment-club on here. But in reality I am a fringe LibDem, who finds this site a lifeline to the wider world of LibDemmery and I have only gradually talked my way in by dint of having lots of opinions and no shame.
Keep doing this, don’t stop – the breadth of commenters needs to increase and keep in creasing.