News Commenting System - NEW!

[Darren]

Hi all,

This week we are beta testing a news commenting system on the live Web site. Please look for the Comments link at the bottom of news stories posted after Feb. 12 (beginning with this story). Feel free to leave a comment and interact with others there, and then post here to let me know what you think.

We are currently trying out Haloscan, a third-party system that is popular with many blog sites (or at least it used to be, before Blogger integrated its own commenting system). I'll be tinkering with the settings as we go, so your opinions and "Gosh, I wish it could do this" suggestions are very helpful. (Unfortunately Haloscan seems to require the comments thread and posting interface be in a pop-up window -- my first choice would be to have it appear blog-style, below the news story. First on my agenda is trying to figure out if we can do that, perhaps if we upgrade to a paying Haloscan account.)

This is in response to many user requests to have comments right there on the news pages, rather than just a link to the forum. It's something we were ready to launch with GateWorld 2.0 a year and a half ago, but a catastrophic last minute error forced us to strip that feature out of the new site.

Thanks!

[Linzi]

Hi all,

This week we are beta testing a news commenting system on the live Web site. Please look for the Comments link at the bottom of news stories posted after Feb. 12 (beginning with this story). Feel free to leave a comment and interact with others there, and then post here to let me know what you think.

We are currently trying out Haloscan, a third-party system that is popular with many blog sites (or at least it used to be, before Blogger integrated its own commenting system). I'll be tinkering with the settings as we go, so your opinions and "Gosh, I wish it could do this" suggestions are very helpful. (Unfortunately Haloscan seems to require the comments thread and posting interface be in a pop-up window -- my first choice would be to have it appear blog-style, below the news story. First on my agenda is trying to figure out if we can do that, perhaps if we upgrade to a paying Haloscan account.)

This is in response to many user requests to have comments right there on the news pages, rather than just a link to the forum. It's something we were ready to launch with GateWorld 2.0 a year and a half ago, but a catastrophic last minute error forced us to strip that feature out of the new site.

Thanks!

I just tried it and commented and it seems to work well, Darren. I think it's a really good idea. I agree about the comments appearing blog style beneath the article. I think they'd be easier to read?

[Darren]

It looks like Haloscan will allow us to embed the comments on the news story page itself, but they have built-in advertisements that stretch out our page template.

If this initial beta works out well and people like using it, we'll pay to upgrade our account to ad-free, and embed the comments on the page.

One weird error today -- the two news stories with Comments links seem to be sharing the same comments thread. I'll see if I can fix. [EDIT: Fixed.]

[Pharaoh Atem]

i like it so far i probably won't be using it to much but i'm sure others will

[Darren]

Yeah, it's really intended as an alternative. Many people here will obviously just want to stick to the forum threads, especially if they are daily forum players anyway.

Curiously, we estimate that only some 10 to 15 percent of GateWorld's visitors use the forum at all. Originally I wanted news stories to have forum links that encourage new people to come here, sign up, and post -- and that has worked to a degree. But the lion's share of our visitors continue to not join the discussion because they are not interested in forum membership.

[Pharaoh Atem]

well no offense to you by any means i'm sure it's going to be a good feature. but i mostly read my news on scifi stream these days

but i will definitely give this new feature a try

[ToasterOnFire]

I think it's a great idea to give users additional places to leave comments and have discussions about news items.

BUT, my big concern is that it could turn into the equivalent of Joe M's blog with fans constantly ranting at each other and TPTB. It's pretty nasty on the blog and I'd hate to see that spill over here.

Are the GW forum rules going to be applicable to this comment section and will they be enforced? Is it okay for people to post anonymously? Will someone be sorting through the comments and censoring those they see fit to censor or will a completely open approach be taken?

[Pharaoh Atem]

I think it's a great idea to give users additional places to leave comments and have discussions about news items.

BUT, my big concern is that it could turn into the equivalent of Joe M's blog with fans constantly ranting at each other and TPTB. It's pretty nasty on the blog and I'd hate to see that spill over here.

Are the GW forum rules going to be applicable to this comment section and will they be enforced? Is it okay for people to post anonymously? Will someone be sorting through the comments and censoring those they see fit to censor or will a completely open approach be taken?

Darren could assign someone to mod the comments on the front page. maybe chad???

[Darren]

At this point we don't have the manpower (personpower?) to closely monitor news comment threads and enforce a set of rules. I will encourage those who want that sort of "safe," moderated environment to stick to the forum. On the other hand, I think that some will appreciate the less-moderated environment.

There will be a few rules spelled out, such as outlawing profanity, spam, and directly insulting cast and crew. But it will largely be up to users to report violations. So it will be much more loosely moderated -- but the trade-off for that freedom is that I reserve the right to edit or delete anything for any reason without notice or notification.

[Pharaoh Atem]

i tried it out i like it (Paul M)

[Promethius30]

Very nice
are you going to add it to gateworld play so we can comment on the videos

[Darren]

That's not a bad idea. We certainly could do that if it's of interest to people!

What do the rest of you think about having the ability to comment on individual GW Play videos?

[Pharaoh Atem]

What do the rest of you think about having the ability to comment on individual GW Play videos?

i think it would be cool at least on the fan video section. and i'm sure David would appreciate some feed back on his "Phenomenon: project

[Bagpuss]

At this point we don't have the manpower (personpower?) to closely monitor news comment threads and enforce a set of rules. I will encourage those who want that sort of "safe," moderated environment to stick to the forum. On the other hand, I think that some will appreciate the less-moderated environment.

There will be a few rules spelled out, such as outlawing profanity, spam, and directly insulting cast and crew. But it will largely be up to users to report violations. So it will be much more loosely moderated -- but the trade-off for that freedom is that I reserve the right to edit or delete anything for any reason without notice or notification.

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2008/0...e_contin.shtml
Darren , previous to reading the 27 posts so far attached that topic,I'd have said adding the comments section to the news articles was probably a good idea.
Now ,I'm not so sure.
There seem to be several anonymice and others there ,who seem to be less interested in discussion than in yelling and it could escalate.

Normally I'm all for free speech within the rules you set ,but I can't see you having much luck trying to persuade non-character bashers to join the forum, if all they see on the Homepage comments is flaming .

What I've read so far reminds me a tad already of Joe Mallozzi's comment section on his old GW blog and elsewhere,before he started screening the replies .

Good luck anyway.

[chocdoc]

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2008/0...e_contin.shtml
Darren , previous to reading the 27 posts so far attached that topic,I'd have said adding the comments section to the news articles was probably a good idea.
Now ,I'm not so sure.
There seem to be several anonymice and others there ,who seem to be less interested in discussion than in yelling and it could escalate.

Normally I'm all for free speech within the rules you set ,but I can't see you having much luck trying to persuade non-character bashers to join the forum, if all they see on the Homepage comments is flaming .

What I've read so far reminds me a tad already of Joe Mallozzi's comment section on his old GW blog and elsewhere,before he started screening the replies .

Good luck anyway.

I just read the comments, and it really saddens me. I'm afraid that several of the comments border on being rude toward one of the actors -- and of course the posters are anonymous. If I were new to fandom, I would wonder what the heck is going on. I agree with you -- it reminds me of the old JM blog as well before he started screening.