Posted on 07/15/2010 3:11:39 PM PDT by rawhide
Anxious to lift an outright ban on comments, The Attleboro (Mass.) Sun-Chronicle has begun requiring two things of online readers who want to leave their thoughts on stories: 99 cents and their real names.
The newspaper should expect much criticism from various quarters, but it's a fascinating experiment and a bold response to the endless trolling, vitriol and drivel that is enabled by anonymity in online forums.
Pay little attention to the 99 cents; it's not important here. The fee is a one-time payment designed not to generate revenue - this isn't about "saving newspapers" -- but to reliably enable identity verification at initial sign-up and whenever registered readers leave comments.
From the newspaper's story announcing the decision:
This change is being made, (publisher Oreste) D'Arconte said, in an attempt "to eliminate past excesses that included blatant disregard for our appropriateness guidelines, blind accusations and unsubstantiated allegations ... This is a necessary step, in my opinion, if The Sun Chronicle is going to continue to provide a forum for comments on our websites."
Comments had been suspended since April 12.
And here's what readers see when they attempt to leave a comment:
Welcome to the new sunchronicle.com comments section.
To encourage intelligent and meaningful conversation, all posters will be required to register their name, address, phone number, email and a legitimate credit card number as proof of who you are. Your credit card will be charged a one-time fee of 99 cents to activate the account. We will not retain payment information after the one-time transaction.
The poster's name as it appears on the credit card will automatically be attached to the poster's comments, as will the city/town and state of the community in which they live. You will sign in with your e-mail address and chosen password. When you post a comment, it will appear on our site like this -
Joe Smith Plainville, MA wrote on (date/time)
"Blah blah blah, blah blah blah."
Registrants understand that under existing state and federal laws they are legally responsible for any comments they post.
Please fill in the form below to continue your registration
Reasonable people may disagree with publisher D'Arconte on whether this step is necessary. The benefits of allowing anonymous comments are well known and vigorously defended. But what's interesting is that this newspaper has weighed the pros and cons of anonymity and decided that the costs outweigh the benefits.
If I had to post my real name here on FR, I doubt if I would ever comment again. In fact, I would think FR would die.
Massachusetts? It figures...
You’ll have the same 8 people commenting on everything and debating among themselves. Soo....stupid.
Talk about killing the free goose that lays the golden eggs. Reader comments are one of the three or four top-read parts of conventional newspapers. For the newspapers it is very popular free content. Now they are going to start charging people to provide them with free content. It would be difficult to think of a dumber plan.
Paper to readers: Comments now cost 99 cents and your name
_____________________________________________
Great idea. Jim should initiate this here to end double posts, vanities, and other idiot replies. Like the one I’m posting now.
I dunno. After being on the web for 15 years or so, I'm coming to the conclusion that the intelligence services (state, fed, local, international) know who everyone is but it's we who post under monikers who only mask ourselves from each other.
That’ll be a buck, please.
“Ellie Light” here, reporting for duty
I’m really not worried about the “authorities” seeing my posts, it’s my employer; a large multi-national in an industry that is constantly in the news, sometimes with much controversy.
LOL. Well, that paper’s readership and circulation will likely go right down the crapper.
Back in the day, I made “Moozle”, but for the last five years or so, I’ve used Jon Watts, my real name. I’m glad to stand up for my comments, and have had to admit to the occaisional incorrect fact or two over the years. Better to learn in a debate, I think.
As far as being watched.. Look on federales! You want me, come get me. Trouble is, I’m law-abiding, so you’ll have to make something up.
They own the website they get to make the rules. Post your opinions elsewhere.
I’m guessing there will be no stories with anonymous sources either.
Hm. It would be cool if FR let us choose to donate on a per-comment basis. You could preset the amount in settings and post away.
Lucky for you...on the other hand, we wouldn;t have these Freepathons if that were the case.
People run newspapers because they can’t do anything else. Morons.
Come to think of it, with some tight rules, and say a modest fee paid in advance to comment, like ten dollars, with each comment costing a dollar, they might make some serious money. But with a twist.
Here’s the idea. Have a news and comments section, somewhat like a newspaper, but also have a very large *advertising* section, at very low advertisement prices, a fraction of the newspaper price.
If you don’t want to spend the money to comment, then look at the advertisements to be (non-refundable) *credited* with money, up to $10.
You could get virtual money by watching video ads, or printing out coupons. Maybe a special page where you could put several coupons, to save paper.
You could also get virtual money by filling in surveys. But it all comes back to commenting for a dollar a comment.
Of course, very few people would go through the hassle of paying $10, when all they had to do is look at ads, print out coupons, and do surveys.
Then, the real big pitch would be if they paid a columnist to post an editorial, and people could comment directly to them.
How many conservatives, for example, would gladly part with a dollar, real or virtual, to send a topical message to Michelle Malkin, for example? How many liberals would use all 10 comments to send hate messages to her?
She would just agree to read them, not to comment back.
Funny how this kind of stuff starts during the Obama regime.
I would be perfectly happy to post my opinion under my own name, except I’m afraid of sickos and the government harassing me.
Oh no!!! Not The Attleboro (Mass.) Sun-Chronicle!!!
;’)
thanks rawhide.
Have a great weekend all.
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