• I like the approach because it doesn’t limit speech. Anonymous loudmouths can still shout. But ‘trusted commenters’ will be easier to hear.
• Washington Post Ombudsman Andrew Alexander • Discussing the Post’s decision to switch to a tiered commenting system like Gawker. Why? Too many loudmouths who hate the liberal media and everything it represents. With the system, it adds a layer of trust that encourages more good comments by allowing users to promote those and leave the conspiracy theories behind. Seriously, though, they found that a lot of story sources were getting scared off because anonymous commenters were so mean. A new bride, for example, was told to get a life insurance policy for her husband because he was obese and would probably die soon. Yeah, the Post needs to fix that. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • Permalink