The Cavalier Daily publicly launched a new, revamped online edition of the paper Sept. 8. In the weeks since, the comments feature of the Web site has seen much use, with several articles in particular sparking an extraordinary amount of discussion. We are thrilled to witness this user interaction and want to outline our policy and procedure for inspecting comments. Furthermore, we hope to highlight our goal for what this feature should accomplish.
The online comment form states the general policy: "The Cavalier Daily reserves the right to edit and/or delete any comments deemed to be in poor taste or unfit for publication, and to block users from commenting in the future. Please exercise judgment when composing your response." This means that the editors will review and occasionally remove comments. The aim is not censorship, and thus the approach we use is as laissez-faire as can be reasonably tolerated. Though the policy is rather straightforward and succinct, the phrase "poor taste" naturally is subjective. We strive for excellence and accuracy in our newspaper's content, but recognize that regulating the Internet is not possible. Still, we will do our best to protect readers from egregiously offensive or libelous comments whenever feasible.
One basic criterion for assessing comments is to see if they contribute to the conversation at hand. We certainly do not want to eradicate humor, strong disagreement or even a little absurdity. Showing respect for fellow users is important, however, and we maintain a strong interest in making sure that the discussion is constructive. So far, this approach has resulted in remarkably little intervention. Of the hundreds of comments posted since Sept. 8, only a handful have been removed from the site. That is a both a testament to people's responsibility in writing respectful comments and, we hope, to our own aversion to clamping down on free discussion.
A concrete example of unacceptable activity would be someone misrepresenting his identity. Though users need not offer their real names when posting on the Web site, they also cannot pretend to write as another person. Such a comment would be removed as soon as it comes to our attention.
Moving forward, we have plans to upgrade certain aspects of the comments feature in a manner that preempts misuse. Currently, we are one of very few collegiate or professional papers that does not require registration to post online comments. Though we greatly prefer to keep it this way, we plan to take a few steps to increase user accountability. Soon, we hope users will have the option to connect with a Facebook or Twitter log-in, allowing them a consistent identity for posting comments. Registration will also be available directly through our Web site. For users wishing not to register, a confirmation e-mail will be sent prior to their posts becoming viewable on the site. The objective is to limit the barriers for commenting as much as possible but still to safeguard against improper usage.
The comments feature works best when each person feels comfortable expressing his opinions in a civil environment. For the most part, such a system can be self-regulating. From time to time, we will step in to eliminate abusive posts. In each decision we make, the goal is to put the reader first.
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