The community as online cops
Earlier today, we removed some offensive comments that were posted to a story from our 24/7 blog, after a reader brought them to our attention. He asked if we screen comments before posting them. Because of the volume we receive, we don't. They're posted automatically, and like countless web sites out there, we seek the community's help in policing them.
The trickier question, as we've discussed in recent days, is where to draw the line. The internet is the purest mass medium out there when it comes to free speech, and if you;'re in the free-speech business, you want to be mindful of your censorship role while balancing your own credibility.
Then there's this approach, which another blogger shared with me today:
I found your commentary on blogging very interesting. I have a blog but deactivated comments. Most of them were either offensive, either in a stalking type way or racist/sexist or homophobic or they were leaking confidential material from personnel investigations or criticizing the police department which led to an investigation of my site's comments after the police department found out about it. After all that, it just wasn't worth it.
It's a strange new world we're all navigating.