According to my clandestine informants in the newspaper business.....

You learn something every day.

Today, I had coffee and a great discussion with a print media executive (you have a few of those clinging to your aura after 20 years of that business).  Through this conversation and another conversation with a newspaper moderator, I found out the scoop on comments moderation.

The name of the game is personal responsiblity!  Can you imagine that?

Newspapers cannot afford to have someone watching every thread 24/7, and if they did, they'd become the liable party to every comment.....so........they depend on reader reports for the action they take.

Now, as we witness on a daily basis, there are certain people that are just there to raise hell and then, in turn, blame it on someone else.  Hell, they'll make up something if they can't find something real to mess with.  So it's up to you, as a reader, to moderate and report.  Obviously that gets out of hand, as we witnessed last year, which became the new beginning for ThurstonBlog.  All newspapers are talking about this and many are opting out of the comments business.

I left the meeting with an entirely new outlook and realized that I make the choice to participate on newpaper comment threads.  I can also make the choice to refrain.

I have chosen to not participate on The Olympian because it's not worth the trouble.  Although I've got a stalker following me like a toilet paper trail when I participate on The News Tribune, I can choose to ignore.  I can also choose to assist the newspaper staff on their moderation needs and help preserve the right for all to participate when they can play like good boys and girls.  The newspaper appreciates that.

My new newspaper friend appeared almost envious that we have a members only system on ThurstonBlog.  I can imagine.  The Olympian ends up having to deal with all the whining from those who would not be welcome here.  I'm sure my friend feels the same pain.