Alan, I’ve never done a formal count of phone calls/emails I get compared to comments posted on the board. A rough guess is that at least 90% to 95% come to me directly. Increasingly, those people explain that they didn’t want to post publicly. Also, I often address questions here that I get in person at community events.
I understand their point and yours about subjecting yourself to abuse by rude posters. On the other hand, when you post publicly, everyone gets the benefit of reading all of your comments. I suppose it’s a plus that more people use their real name when they email or call, and they probably wouldn’t in a posted comment. So in that regard, it’s a more personal connection for me to get direct contact vs. a post.
But posted comments allow for a multi-directional conversation. If you do post, and you feel like someone attacks you personally, flag that post and we’ll review it.
Ellie asks a pointed question, and she’s right. Our posting is spotty on this blog, and we need to do better. She says she clicked on the About link, and has “never seen a peep from those peeps.” Her chastising is on point and we’re without a good defense. We need to do better.
When I make time to post here, I get (mostly) great feedback from readers and I love the two-way conversation. The other newsroom editors also need to get in the habit of making time to post - we all do, and Sports Editor Kirk Seminoff brought this up recently. So you’re right, and I’ll take your challenge to crack the proverbial whip. And yes, I’ll also gig Jean to post a “real bio.”
Arlene, nope, the vacation I mentioned was not a sun-drenched beach, but thanks for asking. I took a week off to do some birding and get some general R & R at Dan and Cathy Brown’s ranch in Christoval, Texas, south of San Angelo. They’re two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and their ranch makes for a quiet, peaceful vacation retreat. I didn’t even miss the sand and surf.
A couple readers have asked me if an actual human being sees user comments that are flagged for questionable content, or whether those posted comments are weeded out through automated filters.
Those comments do get reviewed by a real person, who decides whether they get deleted (if already posted) or they are allowed to post (if they’re on hold before posting).
Reader comment boards on Kansas.com are not routinely reviewed by our online staff. A couple of situations can cause a comment to be flagged for review. First, if a site user finds a posted comment offensive, he or she can report it as a violation under our terms of service. One of our staff members will review comments flagged as violations and determine whether they indeed are.
Another possibility is that a comment contains a questionable word and gets caught in a filter before it posts. Those comments are held for review before they post, and again, they’re reviewed by a real person.
Sometimes the review process happens immediately. If a comment is held up in the filter while the online staff is out of the office, say, at lunch, or in a meeting, it may be withheld for an hour or so awaiting review. In the overnight hours or on weekends, the delay might be longer.
We occasionally hear from site users angry at the “censorship” of their comments. We want robust and lively discussion on our comment boards, but when users flag offensive or abusive comments, we remove them. We’re first in line among advocates of free speech. But we also expect site users to respect the responsibility that comes with it.
I wrote recently about some notes I had from readers unhappy that we didn’t publish a story commemorating the 64th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. The responses to that post make a few things - and only a few things - clear.
The flurry of calls and emails has died down, so I’ll share a few reactions: a) The range of opinion - from ambivalent to impassioned - offered nothing in the way of consensus of opinion. b) Some people have serious trouble arguing their viewpoint without resorting to personal attacks. c) Leave my mother out of this, if you don’t mind. d) And I haven’t drawn any sweeping conclusions from the responses I received.
Some people told me there’s no reason a newspaper - “which has ‘news’ in its name, last I checked” - should write a story every year recapping history. They saw that as a matter of personal responsibility, or the territory of a history journal. Others were irate that I would even question whether there should be a story, and believed people who lost sight of history were disconnected from patriotism and the freedoms they enjoy every day.
As a side note, I have to wonder what happened to the concept of civility in discussing ideas. It doesn’t bode well for the coming election season, or for any civic conversation, for that matter.
It’s disheartening that so many people can’t advocate their ideas without hostility and anger. One reader (amid other name-calling) noted that people obviously don’t care what I think because there are few comments posted on the blog. Throughout that day, several readers emailed comments to me directly, saying they’d rather not post on the blog because people are so hostile and “downright mean” that they didn’t care to post publicly. I know some people believe the anonymity of the Internet is to blame, but I see comments just as bad from people who sign their names. The community loses when the bullies control the discussion.
A reader told me a few days ago that she got a fourth-hand email that referenced the 2008 Pulitzer Prizes for journalism. Someone from outside the state had flagged to her attention that it looked like an Eagle editor had been on a selection jury, and she didn’t think that could be true. It is. In 2007 and 2008 I had the honor of being invited to serve on a nominating jury for the prizes.
The administrator for the prizes works to put together nominating juries that are diverse in geography, newspaper size, company ownership, etc. Jurors spend three days in March working at Columbia University in New York. I learned upon reporting for duty on the first morning which category’s jury I would serve on (this year it was local news reporting; last year was commentary). The number of entries varies by category — for the categories I read each year, there were a large number of entries, so we worked some long hours to get finished on time.
Juries narrow the field to three finalists and submit those to the Pulitzer Board, which chooses the winner in April. It was a great honor to be invited, and a humbling and inspiring experience to spend long days reading the best journalism in the country.
You can find a list of all jurors at the Pulitzer site by clicking on the 2008 winners link, then scrolling to the bottom for the link on nominating jurors.
Two readers, Chris and Justin, took issue with a sports story on the KU basketball team’s visit to Wichita. Both were pretty upset at reporter Jeffrey Martin’s reference to a fan in a wheelchair and a passage in the story when she met Darnell Jackson up close. This is one of those instances in which I can only say, “Yes, you’re right.”
Both Justin and Chris felt like the story was insensitive, and I agree that’s how it reads. As I explained to Justin, I’m certain Jeff never intended to embarrass the woman he referenced in the story. This was a case of trying to be funny — which backfires more than it works in the written word, I think — and needing an attentive editor to pull the plug on a bad idea.
I had the same reaction as Chris and Justin when I saw the story in the paper. We committed multiple fouls: I think referring to a woman as “lady” is offensive to many women and we shouldn’t do it; we should never refer to a person in a wheelchair as having an “affliction”; and the phrase “with all due respect” placed in front of an insult will never mitigate the insult. Justin raised an excellent point in his email about whether referencing a person’s use of a wheelchair is relevant at all and compared it to people noting someone’s race. In fact, the Eagle has written guidelines specifically against referencing race unless it’s directly relevant to a story.
We’ll take some learning from this on matters of sensitivity.
As it turns out, western Kansas already has some spectacular breaks.
I spent last weekend in the far northwest corner of the state looking for birds with the Kansas Ornithological Society. In eight years in Kansas, I had never made it to the western part of the state, and anyone who knew I was headed to Goodland made less-than-kind remarks about my choice of a weekend getaway.
But it turns out the joke is on those who haven’t taken the time to get off the interstate out west. True to the reputation of Goodland, it’s probably fitting that I had to drive through a May blizzard to get to the hotel Friday night. But I spent a beautiful weekend driving gravel roads and visiting the incredible Arikaree Breaks near the three-corners area of Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska.
I don’t know if high gas prices really will keep more of us home during the vacation season. But if you haven’t taken time to appreciate this part of the state, you’ll find the drive well worth the reward if you appreciate magnificent and pristine landscape.
Many thanks to Barbara from Severy for sending me a full week’s worth of Eagle newspapers from the 1991 Andover tornado. The reader whose mother died in that tornado will be very happy to have these. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, and I know she will, too.
Several weeks ago I posted a note asking if any readers had saved newspapers with coverage from the Andover tornado that they would be willing to part with. A reader had written to me and explained that her mother died in the tornado, and she had saved those newspapers and read them each year on her mother’s birthday. The papers were in a box that was among things stolen in a home burglary, and she was trying to replace them — but we no longer had those papers here at The Eagle.
I’m delighted to report that several readers came through with the papers. Today the woman wrote this email to me: “I can’t tell you how happy you just made me. Thank you so much. And thanks to your readers too. You are all in my prayers….You are truly a blessing to me.”
I want to send a huge “thank you” to our readers for taking the time to find those newspapers and give them to a total stranger who needed them. Thank you, Teresa, Tabby and Audrey, and also for “backup” offers from Floyd, Pam and Bobbi. Your thoughtfulness made my day.