Preparing to launch a “flame”.
A couple of things have happened this week that has made me look at this blog just a bit differently than in the past.
- I’ve had to ask for help for the very first time in moderating comments as I’ve run out of hours in the day. Thanks Jeez.
- I’ve had one of the most stressful weeks ever in trying to juggle all the workload with this blog, including a wildland fire that has made 5 of my 6 employees absent today. The phones are quiet at the moment and nothing had broken (yet) in our 50 or so servers.
- The realization that I’m going to have half a million unique page views this month
- Some very rude and juvenile comments were posted as of late by anonymous commenters, some of which I’ve simply deleted wholesale. Some I’ve banned. The trend for this has been upwards.
- I’m not getting other important work done, such as getting the surfacestations.org database updated as new stations are surveyed, and I need to deploy my Stevenson Screen paint experiment again. One of the screens has been damaged my a recent windstorm (knocked over, anchors pulled out).
- I’m falling behind in email correspondence.
As I review my time, I find that a good portion of it goes towards managing this blog. It has become a hungry insatiable animal. While I have no lack of material for postings, doing the moderation/management is becoming a bit much. It is often irritating as well as time consuming.
Faced with a choice of giving up blogging (as Roger Pielke did for awhile) turning off comments altogether (as Roger Pielke did when he returned to blogging) or changing the way comments are handled, I’m considering the latter.
One of the things that has always bothered me about blogging and commentary is that the “anonymous cowards” (as Slashdot calls them) generally have the upper hand. Science bloggers like Tamino and Eli Rabbet fall into the “anonymous coward” category, as do many of the rude posters here and elsewhere. Some like “Dano” and “TCO” have whole careers based on snark. Who are they? I don’t know/don’t care, as they are irrelevant. But, they waste everybody’s time nonetheless.
Being anonymous or using a handle allows you to say any stupid, hateful, inciting, derogatory, or otherwise negative thing you want and have no accountability for your actions. At the same time, your opinion or writings is generally worthless as it can’t be verified. Anonymity IMHO, serves only the purpose to allow bad behaviour while protecting oneself or one’s reputation from any real damage.
On the other hand, people that put their name out there with their work or writings, such as John Coleman, Roger Pielke, Joe D’aleo, Basil Copeland, John Goetz, Steve McIntyre, David Smith, Evan Jones, Jim Goodridge, Warren Meyer, and many others (I’m sorry if I missed anyone), including myself, often get viciously criticized for putting their word and reputation on the line every day for writing something they believe in.
The “anonymous cowards” that publish blogs or comments take no such risks when they criticize or challenge. They can work for NASA, be a member of the IPCC, work for a science organization, be a professor at a university, and can taunt, castigate, or criticize in any tone they wish, all without risk to their professional or private reputation.
So today, when I got some angry anonymous comments, one of which came from a NASA employee (which I know because WordPress.com automatically puts the source IP next to each comment, that’s not something I had to search for) it made me think about “why am I taking all the risks”?
Peilke and D’Aleo solved the problem by turning off comments. I like comments because they give myself and others new perspectives, but I don’t like the easy “drive by vitriol” that sometimes springs forth from anonymity. The commenter “MA” recently provided an example of the worst sort of that.
My father, God rest his soul, always told me to “stand behind my words”. I do that, by putting my name on everything that publishes here. I’ve taken a lot of heat for doing so.
So I’m considering this:
Change of policy – all commenters must use their real name and have valid reachable email. The name would be published, the email would not.
Sure, that will anger some folks, but at the same time it will also force those that wish to comment to choose their words carefully, to act responsibly, and to be courteous of others. It will also cut down on the volume of comments that need moderation.
I figure if you have something to say, and what you have to say is useful, factual, and important enough to add to the discussion, you’ll have no problem putting your name to it. Right?
Ok have at it. I’ll make a decision next week.
I would recommend restricted registration. And the first category of those allowed to post would be those who have surveyed a site for surfacestations. And you post an address for volunteers to assist in moderation.
coolest thing I found out in the last two minutes:
When you mouse over the dates on the callender a drop down box tells you what stories were posted that day.
That’s a nice touch.
I don’t know what sort of capabilities your setup features, but I’ve seen systems where the readers themselves are able to gauge who is being a troll. Instead of the blog pilot, that being you, looking through every utterance deciding whats profane or irrelevant, all the posts go up without filtering, then on the rare abusive post there is a hotlink for we the viewing public to click our disapproval of a disrupting influence. This sends a red flag over to you where you return to the task of being moderator, but instead of moderating every word, you are freed up to do the other thing, only needing to deal with the rare 2 % of the bad apples if you choose to.
That’s the way the Sac Bee does it.
Jim
I read your blog daily and find the comments enlightening, informative, entertaining, and sometimes they confirm my worries about humanity. To that end I have always used my real name, and would have no disagreements with registering to be able to post a comment. But please use the method that fits your needs best, and I for one will still follow along.
BTW I live in Iowa near Cedar Rapids where all of the flooding is occurring, and could not get to work today since there isn’t a bridge open to my south within many miles. However the Storm Predator was great in tracking the precipitation and everyone I showed it to liked it. My house is way above the 500 year flood plain, so all I have to worry about is the sump pump.
Thanks for all of your hard work in getting the real inconvenient information out there, and hope the fires do not affect you too much.
Richard
(P.S. No one has blamed this on global warming yet, but I am waiting for the other shoe to drop.)
Do what you need to do, but please keep your blog going. I visit every day and have encouraged some of my Warmist friends to stop by as well, just to show them that there is another side to this issue beyond the relentless MSM drumbeat. Good luck with the wildfire.
Change of policy – all commenters must use their real name and have valid reachable email. The name would be published, the email would not.
Here Here!
If one believes what they are saying and one acts as an adult, then there should be no fear of this simple requirement. Many a child will be disappointed, bear them no mind. They have little to add to the discourse.
Respectfully,
Anthony,
I agree with those who say it’s your blog, do what you want. From my standpoint, I prefer not to have my name easily “googled”. Just call me paranoid. But that’s my choice and I can live with it.
But I would also agree with some who have commented on the chance of confusion, even if people honestly use their real names.
Just think of all those poor guys named “Steve Bloom” out there.
Anyway, one other possibility is, has someone else suggested: Require registration; but make it clear that you reserve the right to publish e-mail addresses if people choose to abuse their privledges.
The policy would make no difference to me.
While I a a nobody, science-wise, I am Larry Sheldon, and my cox email address has that in it.
Actually, I am Laurence (growing up, my nickname was Frank–long story), but the school system stuck me with Larry and I gave that fight up years ago.
I have (like your father) always said that (in general) if you can’t put your name on it, I don’t trust it.
(Yes, I understand that if you are in Zimbabwe, or a womens shelter, anonymity might be important, but if you are writing from anywhere else, I mostly don’t think so.)
So I am all for it.
Is there a place for volunteer moderators?
Whatever you prefer is okay with me, just so long as you don’t discontinue the blog. I enjoy the links and comments left by the other, more erudite posters. I’m just thrilled that I’ve found that there are other people that aren’t buying the global warming meme.
If you don’t mind, I would prefer not using my real name. I used to post only under my real name; however, in the past a lonely man decided based on my comments to a livestock and farming blog that I was his soul mate, whatever THAT is. It’s not that I mind having people show up at the house unwelcome and uninvited to carry me off because then I get to run them off with the shotgun, but my family gets all upset.
IMO making every poster’s IP details publicly visible is the only way it could work. A new email address can be obtained in less than a minute at no cost, and I’m not sure how you would go about verifying someones name, without, I guess, needing a credit card check of some kind.
The psychology of pseudonyms is interesting because no one who chooses a pseudonym has to choose one that is easily identifiable as one. Sometimes a real name sounds like a pseudonym (i.e. the real scientist named Michael J. Fox). So people who choose obvious pseudonyms are making a conscious choice to tell people that they are using a pseudonym which is probably better than encouraging them to adopt real-sounding pseudonyms which would make it impossible to separate the genuine from the anonymous posters.
It also don’t think you should judge people simply because they use pseudonyms. I use one for my own reasons but I don’t treat it as a license to be rude or insulting. That said, I leave a real e-mail address. I would definately use my real name if I started a blog on any topic.
I have no respect for bloggers like Tamino and Rabbet who use that anonymity to make vicious personal attacks on others.
My suggestion: ask people to use an obvious psuedonym if they don’t want to use their real name but require a real e-mail address.
I have now read all the comments ahead of mine, and modified my opinion a bit.
Regarding nyms –it isn’t a perfect world and I forget that some times. There are people who work in the PRB and similar places for TLA’s that have the power to hurt.
So I’d suggest a registration procedure that allows nyms after verification of email and maybe real name.
And I still recommend you identify several that you trust (I’d like to be one) that have the time to take on some of the oderation work (I do).
Great idea!
Mike Smith
At the very least, require a real name along with the email address which would not be published. Or membership, although that could take a lot of additional time to process. I stop by a couple of times a day and learn a great deal from many of the posts. I’d volunteer to help, but I don’t have any background in weather, just an old engineer.
Bottom line, do what you have to do.
Thanks.
I would let people write under a pseudonym if necessary, political correctness might prevent some folks from commenting if their real name was on the record. I certainly think you should have a verified email from each commenter.
I admire those bloggers who maintain their sites and manage/moderate comment sections as well: it is very time demanding and sadly, the few personally abusive posts and emails one receives can be enough to dissuade comment sections altogether. It is a conundrum with no simple answer: the interchange of ideas from responses to posts are often the only way debates occur in this field which is sadly overly polarized and often tainted by personal attacks. Full anonymity shields the net cowards and that is who we should be seeking to flush out. Is there perhaps a means by which respondents must register to post and pseudonyms can be used only with registered approval? This again generates more work and only those who have never faced the problem or hosted their own blog would be critical of any decision you make.
I’ve long thought the term “Anonymous Coward” was apt.
Real names for real people!
(btw, “Google” me, and you’ll end up with a fellow 2500 miles away. I have never seen myself on Google)
Anthony, it’s your blog and have been doing a great job with it. I would suspect though that too many people have too much too lose considering the “brown shirt” mentality in the media and leftists that are out there. I mentioned in a private email my situation. You could try at 1st step to register using your full name and address. Snarks could still give a false full name in any case.
I agree with “Raven”. I use a pseudonym because I live in “enemy territory” – all my neighbours have socialist signs on their lawns during elections. A letter to the editor lead to both my vehicles being vandalized. That said, my name is not unique (I share it with a well-published author) so he can get blamed for my views!
“I have never seen myself on Google”
The other issue is wackos. Once someone had a first and last name they can often use the phone book to locate a telephone number and address unless everyone has an unlisted number (and then what is the point of a phone book?) and that can expose one to considerable harassment in the case of some of the absolute crazies on the net.
I could post as Joe Smith and nobody would know if that is my real name anyway. I fear a requirement to use full names will simply end up in the use of fake ones.
The blog is very important, the comments have the ability to extend the entries greatly. If the conversation between people of goodwill requires stern management, so be it. The rule regarding proper and full self-identification seems perfectly reasonable. Please, somehow, keep up the good work.
Although I posted earlier and have similar problems with spammers subscribing to “The Mysterious Climate Project,” I thought I might add another two cents after reading all the above posts.
Why not create two categories of posters: “Trusted” and “Probationary.” Let the “Trusted” posters slide by unless you start receiving complaints from other “Trusted” bloggers about their behavior. That leaves you “only” with the task of moderating the “Probies.”
Once a “Probie” has established themself, move them over to the “Trusted” category.
Just a thought.
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterous Climate Project
http://www.climateclinic.com
It’s your house, run it as best suits you. The comments are often informative and I hope you can afford to keep some. I’ve been tending to be anon here because there are too many jerks with power elsewhere; at least pseodonyms have let me contribute a penny or two.
I’ve been involved with “the net” since it was the ARPAnet and implemented some of the first telnet, ftp, and Email programs anywhere. (Sorry about that last one….) Back then no one considered being anonymous, when the Internet went commercial I figured there was no point in hiding behind a screen name. Besides, with a name like Werme, I’m dreadfully easy to find. I think there are about 100 of us on the planet.
Through years of taming flame wars on Usenet, writing some web pages that take my state’s biggest agency to task, I’ve had very few negative things directed my way. Of course, were I young and female, more of a public figure, or moderated more than a stray Yahoo list, things might be different. Finding my Email address is easy. I’d post it it here, but spammers’ web crawlers would find it too.
To all the anonymous cowards: Write as though you’re talking to someone with a holstered handgun on his belt, ignore flamers and trolls (they hate that), and spend more time researching your post than typing it. Do that and you won’t have much trouble with attaching your name to your words.
I accept that some of the better commenters here have good reasons to shield their identities. I guess I’m glad I’m not one of them. Please keep them around.
Anthony: Please keep the comments, a lot of good stuff shows up in them. Is there some mechanism where you can let some people’s comments sail through to leave you stuck with reading everything from the lesser posts? Hmm, that doesn’t sound rewarding.
What are you going to do when you reach 5,000,000 views per month? Sorry to hear you’re so successful.
All: Think before you post. Post only stuff that adds to the discussion. “Me too” posts add nothing to the discussion. Proofread before hitting submit.
crosspatch wrote: “The other issue is wackos. Once someone had a first and last name they can often use the phone book to locate a telephone number and address…”
This actually happened to me a few years ago. I started receiving threats via snail mail which included a photo of me taken off one of my websites.
The case ended up in the hands of the FBI (via our county cops) who found the nut case in downstate Indiana.
It turned out I had said “bad things” about bush league Bush the Senior and he was going to “teach me a thing or two.” All the Fed Boys would tell me was that he was back “in the home” and I’d be okay.
By the way, I removed all my photos from my websites!
Jack Koenig, Editor
The Mysterious Climate Project
http://www.climateclinic.com
Crosspatch: Googling public records is even easier particularly if they know your rough geographic location.