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Jul282008

More on comments

Filed under Uncategorized by damon kiesow at 9:37 pm

When last we talked about comments (February 2008) we had abut 1,000 posts on our new system (hosted by Disqus.com) and we were trying to figure out how to best balance identity, anonymity, moderation and free speech.

We eneded up with a hybrid system. if your email address is unverified, your comments go into a queue for moderation. If you are verified, you can post directly and immediately.

Now - six months later, we have about 25,000 comments, a ton of registered, verified users and what looks like a pretty healthy community growing strong.

So - the verify or get moderated system must be working smoothly?

Yes and no. We are getting a lot of comments, and registered users are growing. But, there are still a large number of people who comment regularly but do not wish to or just have not verified their accounts. So - the number of comments that need moderation before they are published grows daily.

The problem there is moderating comments (sometimes 150+ daily) takes a lot of work - and people tend to get irritated when it does not happen quickly.  On nights and weekends especially, moderation can take 8 - 12 hours.

The easy answer would be to move to a fully verified user system. If you are not registered, you do not get to comment. That would reduce the moderation load. We would only need to remove comments that were offensive, not moderate the vast majority that are perfectly fine. Of course, that would also likely reduce the number of comments

So - in hope of finding a compromise we can support logistically, but that does not shut anyone out of the system - we are going to start moderating unverified comments twice daily (possibly once on weekends.) This is a change from our current practice of  reviewing and approving comments as often as we can, whenever we can.

So if you are a verified user (again, just meaning you have registered with a valid email account) you will continue to be able to comment and have your post appear immediately. if you are unverified, you comment will be reviewed in the morning (8 - 9 a.m) and afternoon (4 - 5 p.m.) During those times every unverified comment will be reviewed and moderated.

The upshot is - we hope this will enourage more people to verify their accounts - but we also hope it will eliminate the frustration people feel when they post a comment and wonder why it does not appear in a timely fashion. We will post a note above the comment box in each article explaining the timing - with a link to this blog post.

Registration is quick and easy, and does NOT stop you from using a handle or screenname. We are not looking for ‘real’ names necessarily, we just want to know you are a real person, who is posting with a single account. We still have some people taking advantage of the current system by posting under multiple names, sometimes carrying on conversations with themselves.

If you have tried to register in the past and the system has not worked from you - please send a note to help@disqus.com and the team there will work to fix the problem for you.

This new approach is not perfect, but we hope it is a practical and sustainable solution. please leave a comment below with your thoughts.

Viewing 20 Comments

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    You have a typo - spelling error - in the following sentence above . . .
    "We eneded up with a hybrid system."
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    What are we commenting on?? The drugs we are taking and the unusual side affects that are happening to our bodies systems?
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    I am from Arizona and have watched John McCain change with the seasons. I used to vote for him, but he now panders to the far right of the Republican party (Sarah Palin and her far right views is his latest offering) and has flip-flopped on many, many issues that are of vital importance. He is not forward thinking. Here are some reasons to vote for someone else on November 4th.

    John McCain has voted with Bush over 90% of the time. He is NOT an independent thinking maverick.

    McCain said in 2005 that he opposed Bush' tax cuts because they were too tilted to the wealthy. Now he supports them.

    McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn't.

    McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade to supporting the repeal, even in cases of rape or incest.

    McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as an agent of intolerance in 2002, but then gave the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University in 2006.

    McCain said before the war in Iraq that we will win this conflict easily. Four years later, he said he knew the war in Iraq was going to be long and hard and tough.

    When Barack Obama talked about going after terrorists in the Pakistani mountains McCain criticized him for it. He's since come to the same conclusion.

    On immigration policy, McCain announced in February, 2008 that he would vote against his own bill! Say what?!

    Maverick...or confused and pandering? Give them four more years? I don't think so!

    As for Obama, he plans to reach across the aisle and appoint Republicans to some high posts. “I think America deserves the best person for every job and so we are going to be canvassing far and wide if I am fortunate enough to be elected,” he said. He will be drawing on the expertise of independent Republicans such as Hagel and Lugar, who is regarded by Obama as a potential secretary of state.

    Larry Korb, a defense official under President Ronald Reagan who is backing Obama, said: “By putting a Republican in the Pentagon and the State Department you send a signal to Congress and the American people that issues of national security are above politics.”

    Korb recalled that President John F Kennedy appointed Robert McNamara, a Republican, as defence secretary in 1961. “Hagel is not only a Republican but a military veteran who would reassure the troops that there was somebody in the Pentagon who understood their hopes, concerns and fears,” he said.
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    Please note that in the NT as im most established media outlets, the conservative, pro-GOP, pro McCain-Palin side comes from the PAID political writer, ie, the press.

    The voices against the Washington conservative establishment are vox populi.
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    The GOP spend-o-rama which has gained tempo during McCain's tenure places the "gov't boot" right back on the taxpayers' necks.

    Thanks to McCain, Palin and their GOP colleagues, we must not only foot the bills for useless weapons systems, bridges to nowhere, government extragavance, and endless, needless wars, WE MUST PAY THE INTEREST on the money they are borrowing to finance the party.

    Anyone claiming that McCain-Palin are fiscally frugal can only be providing comic relief.
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    Kristi Purington
    your Aunt Mary is so proud of you! to all BG students and staff: Kristi is a championship shopper too!
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    Regarding Anytown USA: I believe the area to be the Smith Memorial Congretional Church, 30 West Main Street in Hillsboro.
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    Please list the employees involved in the latest buyouts, and give some background on each of them.
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    live in Hudson NH my neighbor has made my enjoyment of my home impossible. As a first time homeowner I bought a single family home with an in-law apartment from my uncle the end of April 2006 moved in May 1, 2006.
    my neighbor didn't greet me and welcome me into the neighborhood they went to the Town of Hudson and made a complaint I was living in a multi-family home, I'm running a business, and stated I live in an r2 zoning districk.
    Well it's septembor 22,2008 my neighbor is taking the town of Hudson to court septembor 29,2008 to over turn the long battle I went through in the eye's of the public and october 2,2008 the neighbors are taking my daughter to court for bad chose of words which they recorded without our permission and this is not the first time they recorded people on my property in fact I belive with today's techlogy the are also listening in on privite conversations. I believe if there is a crime going on record it but for all other matters leave your camers and tape recorders on the shelf .
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    sweet lets drill in the Arctic. That's not a particularly vital environment is it? This may be an avenue that avoids all the nastiest of the ANWR debates.

    Am I wrong?
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    I am a strong believer that we, as parents should have been notified of the incident that happend last week. I have a daughter also in Pennichuck middle school and feel that the schools failure to tell the parents about the incident makes me wonder what else the school and the administators are holding back and not telling parents.
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    ME AS A PARENT FEEL THE SAME WAY SO IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS DO LIKE MY SELF AND (NOT TO MANY OTHER PARENTS) GO TO THE PTO MEETINGS AND VOICE YOUR OPINIONS I GO AND BELIEVE ME IM HEARD AS YOU CAN SEE I MADE THE PAPER AGAIN WE THE PARENT OF THESE KIDS HAVE TO DO SOMETHING AS WELL AS THE SCHOOLS AS I SAID THE SCHOOLS ARE THERE TO TEACH OUR CHILDREN THE PARENT IS THERE TO RAISE THERE CHILDREN IF YOUR NOT SURE CALL AND FIND OUT
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    I POSTED A COMMENT ON THE HOMELESS MAN IN YESTERDAYS PAPER, WHY CANT i VIEW IT??? cAN ANYONE ELSE SEE IT???
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    WHAT WAS IT ABOUT
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    Hi Peggy! Please email Willa, as well: wom1@nhpr.org.
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    MY QUESTION IS WERE IS ALL THESE PARENTS TO RAISE THERE KIDS. THE SITUATION IS NOT GOOD FOR ALL, BUT WHO IN THERE RITE MIND IS NOT WATCHING THERE GROWING CHILDREN NO PARENT HAS ANY EXCUSE FOR THERE KIDS ACTIONS EVERYTHING FROM A PELET GUN IN ONE SCHOOL OR A KNIFE IN ANOTHER, BACK 30 + YEARS AGO YOU DID SOMETHING THAT STUPID AS A KID IT WAS NOT THE SCHOOL OR THE POLICE YOU HAD TO WORRY ABOUT IT WAS YOUR PARENTS KICKING THE LIVING ***** OUT OF YOU AT LEAST THAT WAS HOW IT WAS IN THE CITY I CAME FROM AND IT AS NOT THE CITY OF NASHUA THIS IS A QUITE CITY DAMM IT KEEP IT THAT WAY OUR PROPERTY PRICES ARE GETTING LOWER AND LOWER WITH THE ECOMONY WE DON'T NEED IT GETTING LOWER BECAUSE OF OUR KIDS THINKING THERE BETTER THEN THE PARENT THERE OUR KIDS WE ARE THE PARENT I KNOW MY CHILDRN KNOW THERE RITE FROM WRONGS BECAUSE EVERY DAY THAY DO SOMTHING STUPID THERE VERY WELL TOLD IT IS WRONG AND FIRST TIMES A MISTAKE 2ND TIMES A CRIME AND I HAVE NO PROBLEM CALLING THEM OUT ON IT
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    My heart goes out to Ed and Dot and Robert's and Cynthia's family regarding the accident. I cried when I heard the news and even more when I read the negative comments people have made on many sites regarding the news articles. Ed and Dot were my childhood neighbors for 25 years. They are wonderful human beings and will now need all the positive reinforcement they can get to go on with their lives. Let us all show only our love.
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    We are writing in regard to your article about husband & wife running for the same selectman seat in Lyndeborough. We think its wonderful this couple are so interested in taking part in their community. The horrendous with misleading things we have read in the papers in recent years their opponents have been involved in and supported need to be ousted. The Boisverts obviously through their long terms as residents and positive involvement in the Town of Lyndeborough appear to be the breath of fresh air well over due. This Dwight Sowerby and his cronies on the board have had the Boisverts falsely arrested, brought suits against them, had a good police chief fired, apparently supported the cover up of illegal activities by members of the select board, and the list goes on. Why would any good Town want their Town government run this way? Its time for a change, vote the bums out.
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    “Barack Obama is good friends with a man who dedicated his communist book to Sirhan Sirhan and even endorsed the book! Do you want someone like that for President? Check out pumapac.org”
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    I have experienced the misery of homelessness at several points in my life and, although there is a certain sense of freedom to it, it is a dangerous and miserable lifestyle that is hard to rise out of. Contrary to popular belief, most homeless did not become so out of choice and not because they are lazy, stupid, or immoral. Many homeless people are victims of abuse in the form of neglect and abandonment by their parents or other caregivers. Like many victims of abuse, a lot of them have chemical dependency problems. Their pain is so deep that they use alcohol or other drugs as an escape. Some of them are simply victims of life’s tragedies, such as hurricanes, fires, or other catastrophes from which they simply don’t have the resources to recover. Also, there is a snowball effect that occurs with homelessness. After all, who is going to hire someone with no address? Most homeless people don’t have the resources to even do their laundry; who is going to hire someone in filthy clothes? Also once a person has fallen to the level of living on the streets it is very difficult for them to get a job even if they are capable of working, because the condition of homelessness creates a low sense of self-esteem which makes it difficult to relate to other people. It is difficult to find, much less keep a job once a person’s self-esteem is so badly damaged. I invite you to my website: www.FreetheGods.com. There you will find an article and pictures I have taken of homeless people. I always give them a dollar or two for the privilege of photographing them. I am often surprised by their cheerfulness and sense of pride. Often, they will show themselves to have some kind of talent. There is a fine line between genius and insanity.