I attended a talk/ a mini-Iblog about the elections and what the roles of blogs can be in that situation.One of the more interesting discussion in the talk was whether or not to moderate comments in the blog, There were two views to this,
First, to allow all comments in, This would free the blogger from legal responsibility for the comments. And then this would be coupled with a system that would allow commentators/readers themselves to mark the comment as spam or as inappropriate.
Second, Is to moderate comments. Direct moderation as opposed to community moderation. It was further added that this would then make the blogger legally responsible for the comments.
Of course this has not yet all been legally tested. I have been told there have been cases involving forums,
Months pass and a lot things have happened. Political and social discussions in the blogging community have exposed how lethal and how the medium of blogging can be used to critique and also destroy reputation and lives. No different from the other form of media.
I am not a lawyer but I do believe that the blogger not only acts as the writer of the blog but also its editor, publisher, moderator, photographer, actor, director and producer. I also believe that one cannot separate the blog from its comments. This I truly believe not only from the legal but also from the ethical point of view. It does not matter where your blog is or who you are. The Blogger is responsible for his blog – everything.
I believe that because of this responsibility one of the tasks of the blogger is to moderate and even edit the comments. However, In order to do so a blogger must also sit down and write a commentary policy. One way or the other comments here and other blogs have been moderated automatically using such services as Akismet and blog settings have been set-up to do so,
Here is the commentary policy that was written just before the end of 2008 and posted in this page:
Dear Friend and Reader,
Thank you for reading this blog. Here is the commentary policy of this blog. You are free to join the discussion – agree, disagree, debate and even criticize the blog and the blogger. Just be aware and before you post your comment of the following:
A. The Blog and the Blogger reserves the right and sole discretion to remove comments, words or phrases that are:
1. Defamatory
2. Abusive or incite hatred
3. Advertise commercial services
and
B. In extreme cases, The Blog and the Blogger reserves the right and sole discretion to remove/edit comments, words or phrases that are:
4. Excessively Off-topic, irrelevant or inane
5. Needlessly aggressive or rude
Have a nice day!
Juned
At least this thing makes it all clear, And its not just something pulled out of the air, I believe this has to be done because ultimately it is the blogger who is responsible for the blog, This is as important as giving air to both sides of any issue – in reportage or even in a commentary.
To Moderate or Not
I attended a talk/ a mini-Iblog about the elections and what the roles of blogs can be in that situation.One of the more interesting discussion in the talk was whether or not to moderate comments in the blog, There were two views to this,
First, to allow all comments in, This would free the blogger from legal responsibility for the comments. And then this would be coupled with a system that would allow commentators/readers themselves to mark the comment as spam or as inappropriate.
Second, Is to moderate comments. Direct moderation as opposed to community moderation. It was further added that this would then make the blogger legally responsible for the comments.
Of course this has not yet all been legally tested. I have been told there have been cases involving forums,
Months pass and a lot things have happened. Political and social discussions in the blogging community have exposed how lethal and how the medium of blogging can be used to critique and also destroy reputation and lives. No different from the other form of media.
I am not a lawyer but I do believe that the blogger not only acts as the writer of the blog but also its editor, publisher, moderator, photographer, actor, director and producer. I also believe that one cannot separate the blog from its comments. This I truly believe not only from the legal but also from the ethical point of view. It does not matter where your blog is or who you are. The Blogger is responsible for his blog – everything.
I believe that because of this responsibility one of the tasks of the blogger is to moderate and even edit the comments. However, In order to do so a blogger must also sit down and write a commentary policy. One way or the other comments here and other blogs have been moderated automatically using such services as Akismet and blog settings have been set-up to do so,
Here is the commentary policy that was written just before the end of 2008 and posted in this page:
At least this thing makes it all clear, And its not just something pulled out of the air, I believe this has to be done because ultimately it is the blogger who is responsible for the blog, This is as important as giving air to both sides of any issue – in reportage or even in a commentary.