5 things I’ve learned about online story comments

This post was originally written for GateHouse Media’s GHNewsroom.com.

1. Comment threads can be part of our journalism.

We’re accustomed to thinking of a story as a complete package: We went out, we discovered what there is to know, and we presented it to our audience.  But what happens when someone asks a question we didn’t think of?

In the past, maybe a reader would call us on the phone to ask — but probably not.  Even if someone did call, the bits of information that weren’t originally covered probably wouldn’t rise to the level of a followup story. And because stories used to be our only real vehicle for presenting information, those bits of information probably never saw print.

Now, if somebody asks us a question, we can answer it right in the story’s discussion section, turning that information into part of the permanent record. Take this story we ran in November.  The story was about several positions being eliminated at a local school district.  Readers wanted more details, so we went and got them.  The new details didn’t rise to the level of a followup story, but they definitely contributed to painting a more complete picture and making our coverage better.

Story discussions can also be useful for rumor control.  During a recent robbery spree rumors were flying that a local grocery store was among the victims.  In cases like this, our comments section serves two purposes. In addition to alerting us to rumors so we can check them out, it also provides us with a way to quickly distribute correct information when we find out a rumor isn’t true.

2. It’s OK to engage.

It can be tempting to just leave comments alone — to keep ourselves above the fray and let people squabble amongst themselves without getting involved.

There’s some merit to that.  If reporters get involved in arguments about the subjects they cover, it can taint their objectivity.  But if we can go into our forums and play the role of what Steve Yelvington calls the “town expert,”  then why not do it?

3. People aren’t saying anything they didn’t say before.

The public officials we cover occasionally complain that our Web site provides a forum for people to snipe anonymously at their actions — for anonymous commenters on a Web site to take potshots at the people in the news, who are very much not anonymous. It’s also easy for us to bristle when we ourselves are criticized.

What we need to remember is that our comment section didn’t create these complaints.  People aren’t saying anything on our comments section that they didn’t say before.  It’s just that without our comments section, they’d be saying those things to their friends over breakfast instead. We wouldn’t hear the critical remarks, and we also wouldn’t get a chance to refute comments based on incorrect information.

In this respect, comment sections are among our best tools.  Instead of people grousing quietly to themselves, they’re airing their grievances in public — and when they’re wrong, we now have a chance to set the record straight.

4. Participating in discussions can turn people from critical to appreciative.

This year, for the first time, we published a pullout special section on Veterans Day. The editorial department wrote profiles of several local veterans, while the advertising department sold tribute ads to people who wanted to recognize a specific family member who had served in the armed forces.

In retrospect, we should have realized that this would look bad, and a letter writer took us to task for it. We could have just let it be.  Instead, I posted a comment in the thread explaining how the situation arose and how we’ll probably do things differently next year.

The result: People who previously had been harshly critical of us — both in this thread and in other past discussions — appreciated that someone from the paper took the time to address their comments.  And they posted to let us know that they appreciated it.

5. It doesn’t take that much time.

We’re a relatively small newsroom — not the smallest in the GateHouse Media chain, but certainly not the largest either.  The prospect of taking on another responsibility, like engaging in comment threads, isn’t something we take cavalierly.  Our knee-jerk response is likely to be “OK, so what do you want me to stop doing to make time for this new task?”

But it’s actually not that big a deal.

First of all, taking part in comment threads doesn’t take that much time.  Most of the time, when a reader poses a question, I can get the answer just by craning my neck and asking a reporter one or two desks over.  Chances are, there’s someone in the newsroom who either knows the answer off the top of their head or can lay their hands on it pretty quickly. And when this isn’t the case, answering the question is usually just a matter of taking 60 seconds to send a two-line e-mail to a school superintendent or city manager.

Second, it’s very easy to squeeze comment management in between other tasks. A little bit here, a little bit there, in spaces like the five-minute gap between the 1:30 p.m. phone call and the 2 p.m. staff meeting that really isn’t useful for much else.

Third, here’s one way to look at it: If a reader called you on the phone to ask a question, you’d answer them, wouldn’t you? Then why not do the same in comments, where your answer can reach all of the people who thought of the same question but didn’t pick up the phone to ask it?

Finally — everything we do takes time. It’s just a question of priorities.  If you spend three hours this month helping to create a robust comments section that serves a useful purpose, maybe it’s OK if the tradeoff is that you write one less local editorial this month. You’re not taking time away from producing content — because your Web site’s comments section is part of your content.

Further reading:

• “Why commenting on news sites still stinks,” by Ryan Sholin. Invisible Inkling, Jan. 10, 2009.
• “‘Big Mouth’ comments and editor listens,” by Chris Biondi. GateHouse Newsroom, July 10, 2009.
• “Birmingham Post Reaps Benefits of Responding to User Comments,” by Paul Bradshaw. Poynter Online, Aug. 13, 2009.
• “Plain Dealer Creates New Comment Policy, Encourages Staffers to Interact,” by Patrick Thornton. Poynter Online, Oct. 14, 2009.

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