Cyclists: Let the Backlash Begin (or Not)
Muni Ticket Agent Arrested After Assaulting Juvenile
So Much For That Plastic Bag Ban
Verizon Droid: Big Deal? Or Just Another Late Arrival Rival?
Feinstein : Will She Or Won't She?
Come, let us gaze boldly into the amazing future together, where events such as these will affect you ... in the future.
As you may or may not know, readers of SFist are permitted to submit responses to our incredibly incisive writings. These Complimentary Sentiments, or "com-ments," form the lifeblood of our work, as without input from our audience we are like blind actors stumbling about on the stage, constantly in danger of tumbling into the orchestra pit. Our corporate masterminds are always on the lookout for new and exciting technologies to improve the commenting process, and now at last the story of their search can be told.
You may all prepare, in the coming months, for a revamped commenting system on SFist. All commenters will have the opportunity to get profiles, so it'll be easier for to identify yourself and link automatically to a list of your recent comments. (Just like how it works on the Gawker sites, one might observe.) Anonymous comments will still be permitted, much to the relief of the Newsom administration, but if you're commenting without using a profile, you won't be able to choose your own name -- it'll just show up as "anonymous." And other readers will have the option of hiding all anonymous comments, so if you don't use a profile, your comments might never be read.
Why are we introducing these breathtaking changes? Gothamist explains,
We've made these changes because the old comment system was constantly getting snarled with spam, and we wanted to give our readers a personal page here on the site.
So that's why we're doing it. If you check out Gothamist, you can see what the future of commenting on SFist will look like, which is good, because the future is where we will spend the rest of our lives.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
But I want lots of fake names!! Now I will need to set up lots of accounts, like on slashdot.
We ought to still be able to choose our own names because that doesn't affect spam.
The "hide anonymous comments" thing could still work with that.
Maybe I'll register "anonymous."
is this some sort of system gothamist programmed themselves or is this like what Movable Type 4.0 is promising to help regulate comments?
I know I have a problem every few months when suddenly I get a wave of fake comments with links to pills, lotteries, and the like and it is a real hassle to filter out.
It's about time...thanks for making this change.
I agree with "I don't want to register." I think this change will seriously reduce the number of comments on the site. Most people don't want to register to post a comment. It seems like not letting people specify a name when commenting is going to lead to confusing discussions between a whole bunch of anonymouses.
And the hiding anonymous comments features seems like a solution in search of a problem. Has comment spam really been that big of a problem on SFist? I'm a regular reader and I think I've only seen one or two spam comments ever.
Spam on SFist is a RIDICULOUSLY HUGE problem. I'm glad to hear that you don't see any, because we've spent hours preventing it from showing up.
Hiding anonymous comments will discourage commenting, yes. I personally regard anonymous comments as having a lower value, since they lack the context of a comment from a known entity. Comments from regular, familiar readers tend to have heightened insight and appeal. That's why I'm glad that Gothamist is arranging for this change.
So while some folks may not feel as eager to comment anymore, well, that's fine. I hope they'll reconsider; but if they're not willing to go through the laborious process of getting a profile, that's OK with me too.
Just today, a commenter on another post lamented the lack of identify behind anonymous comments, and requested that we "regulate" a bit more. This change will accomplish both of those things.
I personally regard comments from MattyMatt as having a lower value.
Well, then, you can ban me from your blog.
Fair enough. I'm still not sure I get what the benefit is from making all anonymous comments anonymous, but I guess I'll take your word on it. As for the need to regulate comments, I agree that the occasional trolls are annoying, but it seems like the current self-regulating style works out with trolls mostly being ignored and incorrect information eventually being corrected.
But more importantly, I loved your use of an image of Mark Twain on the Enterprise-D from ST:TNG. Obscure yet appropriate graphic for boldly seeing the future. I respect you even more now.