Thursday, August 07, 2014

A Word About Commenting On Posts Here...

As with every election season, posts here, because of their tendency to be political in nature, are often commented upon. Our attitude has always been that comments on posts here are not only welcome, but are actually encouraged. 

However,  If you're not willing to sign your name to your comments, I'm not willing to publish them. 

This isn't about censorship, or about my choosing to ignore anything that disagrees with what I've written here. It's simply about commenters having the courage of their convictions, and the willingness to own their words. Nothing more. Nothing less.

We've all seen the rude behavior and hatefulness spawned by people hiding behind anonymous screen names on the Kitsap Sun site. While the paywall has discouraged some of that, there's still a fair amount of it going on. The Sound Publishing papers make commenters sign in to Facebook before they can comment as a way to keep the discussion civil, which I think is a pretty good solution. Unfortunately, since this blog is hosted by Google, that option isn't available to us.

What has prompted this post, is a rash of unsigned comments on some recent posts that I actually would have liked to publish, but won't because "Anonymous" isn't anyone's name. I believe that if people are forced to own the things they say, the quality of the discussion increases — as does its civility.

I hope you understand and agree. So in the future, sign your name and email address (which we don't publish or use in any other way) for verification, and look for your opinion to be published. It's just that simple.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:44 PM

    I am not interested in anyone knowing what my true opinion is.I just want to hide behind thoughts I have without anyone knowing that I said them. Staying anonymous is a way to say something without hearing any feedback directly or having any repercussions. If is a way of expressing my opinion without any responsibility which is what I want. I can say anything I want because no one knows its me. Whether it is the truth or not. So what if I lie. If it stirs the pot so be it. Anonymous.
    (aka Fred Depee)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous1:46 PM

    If you can't stand behind what you say, and take heat or compliments for it, then you don't have the courage of your convictions, and no one should waste their time reading anything you spew out. Michele Lowe

    ReplyDelete