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http://www.omniture.com --> Mail Tribune Blogs --> --> « Esther the Molester Meets the Mail Tribune Why we do this » Why register? Posted by Bob Hunter I got this question today and thought I’d share my answer with more than just the one person: The Question: There have been times when I thought of commenting on stories that have the flag for readers to respond. I haven’t because I find it annoying that the paper requres a responder to register and use a pass word. Why? Persons writing letters and sending them via postal mail don’t have to have register and have a pass word, or do they? My Answer: We require the registration and password for our forums so that we are able to restrict — or eliminate — a user’s access to the forums if they don’t follow the rules — in other words, if they don’t play nice with others. We already have that ability with the letters we receive via the postal mail, because we can decline to run them. We do not screen the forum comments, but do remove posts that violate the rules. If someone persists in posting abusive or unseemly comments, we can block them. As far as I know, that has only happened a couple of times, but it’s a control that we need to maintain for those rare occasions.(And, yes, we know they can get around that block in various ways, but at least it’s one option for us to deal with the very, very few problem posters we run into.) (I didn’t include this in my original answer, but if you’re not a forum user and you’re worried about the prospect of registering, it only takes about 30 seconds. When you post a comment, other forum users will see only your user name, although the option does exist for you to make more information about yourself available, but only if you choose to do so.) This entry was posted on Friday, February 2nd, 2007 at 6:05 pm and is filed under From the Editor . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response , or trackback from your own site. 3 Responses to “Why register?” Dennis Dunleavy Says: February 3rd, 2007 at 7:53 am Some people might consider regulating what appears on a blog a form of censorship. The ease in which we can say anything about anyone on the Internet is unprecedented. In the age of “instant” communication people have become accustomed to unvetted commentary and spam. However, the reality is that, at times, it becomes necessary to have some control of content for the greater good of all concerned. Despite the appearance that much of what is on the Internet is public, the majority of what we read is owned by private companies. What we might think of as a violation of our First Amendment right to free speech on the Internet does not qualify as a form of government control. What this means simply is that the content or service provider (the Website and the ISP you use) can deny you the right to say anthing about anyone or anything. Even in the age of “instant”, civility is still a good thing. This should not discourage engaged readers from taking advantage of forums such as this one. In fact, your chances of getting heard are much greater than they were with the print format. Blog forums can equal the power of a town hall meeting. Bob Hunter Says: February 3rd, 2007 at 11:28 am Dennis makes a good point about the First Amendment and freedom of speech: Those guarantees protect the public from government censorship. Private organizations, such as newspapers, are not trampling on constitutionally protected free speech rights when we decline to publish something, because we’re not the government preventing the person from expressing his or her opinion. That being said, we still publish a really wide range of opinions (3,000+ letters to the editor in 2006), many of which run counter to our own editorial opinions. So when we don’t publish something, it’s not because we disagree with the sentiments. Some people think we run too many off-the-wall letters. You should see the stuff we don’t run! Blogs and forums do give folks another outlet — and the good news is that those opinions don’t have to sit in line for days or weeks before being published. Online publishing makes it easier for both the opinion-provider and the publisher. And that’d definitely good. Tate Hall Says: February 4th, 2007 at 10:30 pm One uses a user name to keep from being harrassed by others or worse. Why would this paper need our personal information and breach this privacy? Nor do we need to world to have our private information. I think the Tribune is wrong in this instance and should revise their demands. Perhaps you would receive more responses. Leave a Reply Mail Tribune Blogs is proudly powered by WordPress Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS) .