Re: Do we want comments on news items? [Was: content protest--correction]

[Owen Taylor <otaylor redhat com>]

Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org> writes:

> <quote who="Alan Cox">
> 
> > Given the kind of content appearing in the discussion side of things
> > someone should either wipe all the crud (free speech does not include the
> > right to exercise it as graffiti on other peoples walls...) or put up an
> > 18 warning and ICRA rating tags for the comment part. I know which looks
> > the more professional.
> 
> As it happens, everything that goes through is moderated. Why some of the
> stuff that goes through does, I do not know. I didn't moderate those ones.
> ;-)
> 
> Anyway, given that we've kicked off the discussion, what does everyone think
> about removing comments entirely from the news system on the new website
> (which will not be squishdot-based)? Various people want them out completely
> in favour of mailing lists (which have better social pressure patterns),
> some want to keep them there.

I think comments are working reasonably well these days now
that moderation is turned on. I haven't seen anything there 
that would (IMO) justify Alan's concerns. They give certain
sense of involvement from the casual user community that 
mailing lists don't give. *But*:

 - I see a lot of questions in comments that go unanswered
   theses days ... (and seldom answer them myself either)
   I think core members have gotten out of the habit of
   answering, and also the slower response of moderation
   makes one a bit worried that one is just duplicating
   someone else's answer.

 - Anything that gets us off Zope is a big win in my book.
   (Much of our problems probably come from not having anybody
   that really understands and tracks Zope, but that doesn't
   mean that it isn't a problem.)

   And clearly getting a news-only replacement is vastly easier
   than a news-and-comments replacement.

 - Not having comments save work for the moderators.

So, it wouldn't be a big loss either. Given infinite time, it might
be nice to replace it with some sort of "letters to the webmaster"
setup where people could send in:

 - Suggestions
 - "Way to go" messages
 - Etc.

With it being explicit that only a selection will be posted, that
postings may be edited, etc. But that would clearly take both setup
time and ongoing editorial work.

Regards,
                                        Owen