RFC: Proposed comment policy change

Posted Nov 20, 2004 3:02 UTC (Sat) by mmarsh (subscriber, #17029)
Parent article: RFC: Proposed comment policy change

LWN was useful before there were comments. When LWN started to offer subscriptions, I refrained from commenting because I hadn't yet subscribed. The first time I wanted to comment on an article, I paid up. That only seemed fair, since I'd enjoyed this site's contents for awhile and was now availing myself of a new feature. Of course, I can afford it, so it was not exactly a hardship (and was something I felt a little guilty about not having done sooner).

Without knowing what fraction of useful comments (however you might define "useful") come from non-subscribers, if it's greater than zero (as I am certain it is), then it would be a shame to lose those comments. If trolls are really getting out of hand, then something would seem to need to be done. If non-subscribers can no longer post, I would hope that there would be some alternate method for them to make observations or corrections, possibly by sending mail to the editor of the relevant section. I see these as different than letters to the editor, in that the comments could be incorporated into the comments thread for the article. Individuals who proved themselves to be conscientious with something tangible to contribute might even be granted free "comments only" accounts, similar to what non-subscribers currently have to have in order to post comments.

I have no idea what kind of burden this would place on the staff of LWN. I would hope that it's minimal -- it would certainly reduce trolling (at least that any of us readers would see). If non-subscriber commenting has to be disabled, my vote would be to at least try the above system. Either it works or it doesn't. If the latter, disabling it should be simple.