Several people have written to express their support for the new policy that Frank Report recently enacted with respect to readers’ comments (The new policy was announced in a November 26th post). A few have written to tell us what they think is wrong with it – or to complain that it’s being selectively enforced.
Just to review what the new policy entails, here’s a quick summary:
No comment will be posted unless/until it has been reviewed by me or a member of the Frank Report staff;
Comments that are rude to other commenters will not be posted*;
Comments that have nothing to do with the topic of the post on which they’re made will not be posted (If you want to write something about a specific topic that you think is noteworthy, send it to me – and, unless it’s abusive to another reader/commenter, I’ll be happy to publish it); and
Commenters that submit multiple comments on the same post will not have all those comments posted (No one reader is going to be allowed to take over the comments section. So, if you submit 10-12 comments on a particular post, you’ll probably see only 2-3 of them published. Be selective and strategic in what you submit. Sometimes, less is more).
*As I noted when I first announced the new policy, “ All readers can feel free to criticize the subjects of the stories, even the writers of the stories, other public figures, etc.”.
Thus, when someone adopts the role of “writer” – as opposed to “commenter” – they may see more published comments that they consider to be harsh, mean, etc. Writers have a different role here than commenters – and they understand that in posting their own material, they’re opening themselves up to criticism and negative comments.
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So, let us know if you think the new policy is working – or whether it needs additional tweaking.
And also let us know of any topics that you’d like Frank Report to address with future posts.
