Social Media, Free Speech, and Governments

Interesting case studies on how to use (and perhaps not use) social media in government - Charlotte NC is going down one path and Mecklenburg county (where Charlotte is located) is going down a different path. Good article here: http://bit.ly/cmP53c

NY Times Q&A with Facebook exec

Remarkable degree of passion in the five pages of comments on a fascinating Q&A with the NY Times and top Facebook exec. Worth reading all five pages of comments. http://nyti.ms/cyMIDd

Understanding before disagreeing

President Obama used a great phrase today in introducing Elena Kagan as his Supreme Court nominee - "understanding before disagreeing".

It's a great approach - listen, gather facts, understand the arguments, and then and only then make up your mind.

Certainly hope this comment truly reflects her approach. Now we just have to hope that the nomination review and confirmation processes are conducted in a civil and thoughtful fashion and not in the court of "outraged sound bites".

Respectful disagreement is a good thing

It strikes me that so much of our so called political dialogue in this country has degenerated to new lows. It seems like the rules changed when I wasn't looking. "If I disagree with your position, then my first response should be to demonize you" is the new rule.

What happened to respectful disagreement? As in, "I listened carefully to your points, I thought about them, and I happen to disagree - but - I still respect you as an individual and I look forward to debating with you again because I might actually learn something from someone as smart as you clearly are."

Where can you go to have that kind of discussion now?

A defense of Anonymous Comments

I've been following Matthew Ingram on Twitter. He has an interesting perspective on the dialogue around anonymous comments that are worth reading.

http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2010/03/20/anonymous-comments-are-they-good-or-evil/

Kudos to North Bay Nugget

Nice position on comments on their articles by the North Bay Nugget. Yes - they want to encourage comments. And, yes, they reserve the right to help ensure the comments are moving the dialogue forward.

Well phrased here: http://www.nugget.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2568341

Good to see that more and more people are encouraging civil and thoughtful dialogue and taking reasonable steps to facilitate this.

Thanks!

Guidelines for Anonymous comments

Here are the guidelines our local online paper put out around their new anonymous comments policy: Seem smart and thoughtful to me!

"

We have had a strict policy since our inception that we would publish no anonymous material. The reason for that is basic: We want to encourage responsible commentary and factually correct submissions.

But in the last couple of years, several letters have come to us on topics of interest, really topics of concern, to many in the town and school district, and the authors have asked to remain anonymous. We declined to publish those letters, consistent with our policy.

We now believe that the community is less well-informed for not having had access to those thought-provoking letters. We believe there are situations where the advantages of an informed public outweigh our concerns for full disclosure of possible bias (which is one of the fundamental reasons to avoid anonymous postings).

But let’s not all disappear down a black hole with our identities cloaked. We strongly encourage commentators to use their real name or initials when posting comments. It does make for a more honest discussion. But if you deem it necessary, we will accept comments from people using pen names or simply “name withheld.” Typically, the sensitive nature of the thoughts shared is explanation enough for the request for anonymity.

It’s simple, so comment already!

The rules of engagement are simple:

1. Anyone many submit a comment at the end of an article. You need not be a subscriber. (But subscribing would be a good idea because it would make following the responses to your thoughts easier.)
2. The “post a comment” form includes a request for an email address where we can reach you. THIS WILL NOT APPEAR ON YOUR POSTING. It is for our internal use only, which can be something as simple as contacting you to check on the correct spelling of someone you mention in your comment, or suggesting your spicy language be revised a bit.
3. Your “Display Name” will be associated with all your comments on NewCastleNOW.org. We encourage commentators to use their real names or initials as their display names.
4. We will use a gatekeeper to maintain our standards of civility. We will not censor based on content.
5. We will censor personal attacks, racism, sexism, all the awful, hurtful things that sometimes slip out when people are passionate about an issue. We understand stridency, advocacy, wry commentary and dry wit, indeed, encourage it.

So, let’s see how it goes. As a community, we’re all in this together. What do you think about that??"

Anonymous Comments

Our local online newspaper just added a comments feature. Great move. They are accepting anonymous comments and have a "lite" gate keeping function. Smart.

Here's a typical reaction:

"This is great feature. I’ve seen websites with name (or at least a pen name) required and others that are 100% anonymous. I find that over time, the quality of submissions are very similar, but the latter type of websites seems to get a greater volume of quality submissions. So, I would go with the latter. A gatekeeper is definitely necessary at least in the short term just to make sure a good thing does not turn into a bad thing."

Exactly right!