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.
Wow! I was not aware the degree of political correctness going on. Yes, allow people to protect their identities. As for me, I’ll not run. I’ve got plenty of lead and one sure gun.
Make it happen! I think your site/blog is way too important to free and rational thinkers to go dark. And for those who think that posting what you think is true might jeopardize your JOB… well, I would simply say
1) either get a new job where you can be proud of what you do or
2) do the one you have better so that *not telling the truth* isn’t a daily compromise that you have to make!
Isn’t that part of the big problem with all this “climate change” nonsense?!! Sheesh… it’s Group Think for scientists! Amazing!
Anthony, thank you for all you do.
Hi Anthony you probably won’t get a chance to read this, but I just wanted to say “Thank You” for what your doing, and I’m so sorry that so many hateful and mean people post such negative comments. The ones who pretend to be the most tolerant are usually in reality the most intolerant if you have differing views. Anyways I’m just a simple weather hobbyist without the vast scientific knowledge of others on here, so I don’t post, but just read. Anyways thank you again Anthony, and so sorry for all the haters.
REPLY: Thanks, it comes with the territory I guess. – Anthony
I like reading the comments, so I hope they’ll stay. I don’t mind using my name and E-mail, or even registering, if that’s what it takes. BTW, great blog and usually my first destination when I get on the web.
Anna V: Do you have an idea of the percentage of posters using free email accounts? The percentage of unacceptable posts coming from such accounts? I would suspect that abusive and inconsiderate posts do not come from fixed e-mail providers, and certainly not from university or research institute ones.
My reasoning for recommending filtering free email is not related to current posting patterns, i.e. that abusive posts may be more likely to be from free accounts. It is because if you eliminate free email, it becomes far easier to prevent troll attacks. It is a lot of work to keep coming up with a new non-free email address if a user is banned or deleted. But it is far less work to create new email addresses with free accounts. Less work for admin’s and more work for trolls is the point.
The asymmetry is key. If it takes the attacker ten times or more work to re-register than it takes an admin to rid the site of them, then simply through resource economics, troll attacks will fade away.
99% of the people who have Internet access have a non-free email they can use to register. They may not use it for regular correspondence, but they have it, (ok at least more than 90%, but I’m guessing a lot higher), and can dust it off, receive an email, and click on a link.
My plan is about controlling content while minimizing the human labor required on Anthony and his team’s side. I would like to automate processes which can be automated, specifically registration and posting. The point of is to remove human intervention where possible, but at the same time keep control where necessary and in my plan, preserve anonymity for those who need it, and simply discard, with trivial effort, the detritus that brings down the quality of the material here.
On the other hand, Anthony seems to have a sincere dislike of anonymity.
I disagree, but completely understand and respect that.
The choice is his. I’ve argued my point of view.
Well done Anthony,
My work takes me away from civilization for long periods, alias no computer, when I do return I spend time catching up on wattsupwiththat, what I like most is the absence of the ‘mickey-mouse crowd’.
With today’s’ I am an Idiot and somehow got to use a computer’ types it is really refreshing to read serious comments on your Blog, I have learned more from your Blog than I care to admit, I have had my email address in my name for many years, and ‘IF’ I make a comment that is not acceptable it is ignorance not malintent that promoted it.
Thank you Anthony, you work is greatly appreciated, by tens of thousands.
I’m not willing to put my name onto the Internet. Anthony knows who I am anyway.
Why not simply have everybody register on your blog who wants to post?
As for the rest, I have found that a clear and consistent moderation policy helps people “self-moderate”
I agree totally with a real-names-only policy; I’ve always taken the view that since Anthony has always made his identity plain it was only good manners to reciprocate.
To those worried about ‘retaliation’, maybe they should be more circumspect in what they say – this is after all (AIUI) a primarily scientific/measurement blog, not a rant space.
FWIW, an e-mail address for me has been trivially findable from my posts (with minimal antispam protection) for a while now, and I’ve had nothing but useful comments and support.
There is just one problem, though. Some of us have very common names: Already there is another Paul (H) Clark (a fellow Brit) in this thread and there’s another ‘paulc’ as well. This could get confusing – is it possible to have both real name and a nickname?
Well after reading every comment I have had a change of heart. I agree with Jason Salit. I think this whole thing boils down to integrity. We all know that Anthony has it in spades. Why shouldn’t he require that everyone who comments also stands behind their name as he has. The way we will slide into AGW hell is by keeping quiet. Get a backbone people, it’s the only way we can make truth and freedom prevail. Besides this blog we should each make the truth known to each of our acquaintances.
I hate to make the connection to Nazi Germany, but I think it’s obvious.
REPLY: One of the problems with our society i malaise. We generally have it so good, each of these these is trated as a small and almost insignificant sacrifice.
Nature can make grains of sand can disappear from the beach, over time the beach is gone.
Anthony,
I agree with those who say it’s your blog, so you decide the rules. But I also agree with the fact that there are sometimes good reasons for using a pseudonym. And Raven has an excellenent point that there is really no way you can determine whether a name is real or a pseudonum. So the change in policy might not always work as expected.
My name is real, but you only have my word for it.
I am also visiting this site on a dayly basis. Thanks for all the hard work.
Thank God the signers of the Declaration of Independence didn’t prefer to remain ananymous.
I can just imagine the signatures…
anonymous even
you have every right to do so. I appreciate it.
Anthony,
First, I visit frequently and obviously I would like to see you continue the blog. Second, I do read the comments and have learned quite a bit from them. There are some names / handles that I always read, and some that I always skip. Lastly, while I do not comment often, I like the freedom and ability to comment when I feel I have something to add.
All that said, its your blog and therefore your choice. I would offer to help, but unfortunately I cannot guarantee QoS (quality of service). By, that I mean, I could go several days at a time without doing my part, and that would certainly take away from your readers.
If you did want to set up a pool of moderators – folks who could moderate at any time they were available – I’d be happy to join. Perhaps between a number of us we’d be able to get the job done in a timely manner. (BTW, is that what Real Climate does?)
Just a thought about using “real names” – how on earth are you going to tell if a name is real or made up.
This post could have had the name Fred Bloggs, Gordon Brown (you can tell I am from the UK) or – well make up your own option.
Anthony & Jeez I see you have several offers to help. I will include my email if you choose to take me up on mine:
CoRev at Comcast dot net
Emailing me gets my real name when i reply.
[late catch, banned poster]~jeez
I can understand Anthony’s frustration with certain behavior but to assign that entirely to anonymity is a bit off. Take TCO for example. I’ve encountered him quite a number of times in other places. I think I know who he actually is but that really doesn’t matter. He always uses TCO. It’s his trademark. When you see TCO on a post you know what it will be like. Would it really matter or help to know that his real name is Jon Jonzz? Don’t get me wrong. I’m not defending him or others like him. However, I sincerely doubt he would be any different if he posted under his full name.
And, as far as full names go, a full name is often anonymous as well. It just has the appearance of non-anonymity. If someone is bent on creating havoc, creating a “real name” and associated e-mail accounts are small impediments. Anyone who has spent any time in forums would realize this.
There’s one post above that nearly had me on the floor. I’m not going to say which because that person’s parents might have had a strange sense of humor. The fact that my initials spell my name is the result of parental humor (they though it was ‘cool’ way back before there was ‘cool’). It’s also one of the reasons why I tend to use it and would only not do so reluctantly.
One of the things I was taught: it’s WHAT a person says — not WHO says it (except in psychology it seems where WHO, WHEN and WHERE seemed far more important than WHAT, but I digress).
Few people seem to regard Spiderman as a coward because he doesn’t wear a Peter Parker name tag. OK! OK! Spiderman isn’t a real person. Hopefully though, Anthony will (and does) see the difference between manner of dress and manner of deportment.
that the blogs where real scientists discuss real science on climate, there is no pre-screening of comments
You mean like rc?
John Goetz has a good idea, a pool of moderators to take the heat off Anthony. I’ll volunteer for that if I can do it from my machine and connection. Of course, being one those who probably should be subject to moderation now and then (even though I have always posted with my name), I may be disqualified.
Nevertheless, I would endeavor to be a fair and judicious moderator refrain from posting on those days I would be moderating myself.
I’m always happy to have my full name published. I stand behind my views but are happy to listen to balanced views opposed to mine and will change my view if necessary.
If you cant put your real name down what are you?
What do you stand for, What are you frightened off? Can you not discuss difficult issues without hiding behind veils?
Good on you Anthony
From reading the comments above, it doesn’t appear there’s a good automated way to handle this without excluding a lot of legitimate commenters for one reason or another. Names can be faked, registrations also.
So the solution is: when the job gets too big for you to handle alone, delegate. When your blog gets to be too much for you to handle alone, lay out some rules and take on some moderators. Same principle applies here, and you’ve got several already volunteering to moderate for free. Put my name on the list if I can help.
Why not make the registration fee one dollar. Maybe that will keep the riff raff out, and if it doesn’t, at least you got a buck for your trouble.
Non-refundable of course…
Great BLog!