I hope Captain Ewok doesn't read this. This is an example of change we DON'T need!

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(CNN) -- User comments on news sites, while vital to interactive storytelling in the digital age, often read like scribblings on a bathroom stall: anonymous, offensive and full of hate.

"I hate what you people, and by that I mean the blacks, are doing to this city," wrote one Buffalo News reader last month in response to a story about a local shooting. "Each area you move too [sic] quickly becomes over run [sic] with crime, loud music [at] all hours, adults swearing and screaming at kids, children playing in the street, porches with beer and garbage thrown all around."

Rants like this one prompted the Buffalo, New York, newspaper to discontinue anonymous user comments on its website as of August 2. Commenters will be required to register with their name, city of residence and phone number -- more information than most news sites require -- and staffers will attempt to verify their identities.

...

Like those bathroom-stall messages, online comments on news stories can be difficult to police. For years, many publications have tried to strike a balance between encouraging open communication among readers and maintaining civil discourse. But a few sites, fed up with rude or inflammatory comments, are taking bold new steps to raise the level of dialogue.

The website of the Sun Chronicle newspaper in Attleboro, Massachusetts, launched a new system July 7 that requires commenters to register with their names, addresses, phone numbers and a credit card number. Users are charged a one-time fee of 99 cents, activating their accounts; commenters' names and communities, based on their credit card information, appear beside their posts on the site.

...

In the competitive world of online news, many sites encourage comments as a way to create a conversation with users and to measure which stories resonate most with audiences. On the most popular sites, it's not unusual for a story on a hot-button topic -- politics or immigration, to name a few -- to attract more than a thousand comments.

...

The debate over inflammatory online comments always seems to boil down to whether users should be allowed to post anonymously. Some industry observers say many people would be reluctant to comment without the promise of anonymity, which encourages candor.

...

Others argue that anonymity protects irresponsible or even dangerous commenters.

...

Sullivan of the Buffalo News predicts the paper is likely to see a smaller number of people commenting once the new system goes into effect next month. But she believes it was the only logical next step toward cleaning up the site's reader forums, and she hopes the comments that stories do receive are more thoughtful.

...

Though soft registration, and requiring readers to provide their real names, still hasn't managed to completely clean up comment boards, there is one technological advance that Bill Adee, vice president of digital development and operations for Chicago Tribune, says significantly reduces the amount of hate speech spewed by commenters.

"As we implement registration that's tied to people's social media profiles, that helps raise the level of discourse on the comment boards," Adee said. "Nobody is going to drop an f-bomb when their grandma can see it on Facebook."

From requiring users' full names and phone numbers to linking user comments with Facebook accounts, news sites are approaching this issue in many different ways.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/07/19/commenting.on.news.sites/index.html?iref=allsearch

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I think people would behave differently online if they lost the anonymity that they currently enjoy. If signing up to online boards were linked to the person's facebook a person might be less likely to post racist garbage.

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I think people would behave differently online if they lost the anonymity that they currently enjoy. If signing up to online boards were linked to the person's facebook a person might be less likely to post racist garbage.

There are plenty of neo-fascist racist groups and pages on Facebook.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

I think people would behave differently online if they lost the anonymity that they currently enjoy. If signing up to online boards were linked to the person's facebook a person might be less likely to post racist garbage.

Wait a minute.... aren't you the guy that had a fake profile and a fake country listed on VJ for years?

[^_^ 5,021]

Wait a minute.... aren't you the guy that had a fake profile and a fake country listed on VJ for years?

Actually, that would be me.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Actually, that would be me.

Him too. I don't think you were around. So you wouldn't know.

(he had a fantasy book country)

Edited July 24, 2010 by John Galt

[^_^ 5,021]

Him too. I don't think you were around. So you wouldn't know.

Oh so we're talking ancient history here, back in the UPL days?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

when VJ was text only

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when VJ was text only

lol wut!!!! dayum.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Wait a minute.... aren't you the guy that had a fake profile and a fake country listed on VJ for years?

Doesn't sound like me. Perhaps you're mistaking me for someone else.

[justashooter 430]

Wait a minute.... aren't you the guy that had a fake profile and a fake country listed on VJ for years?

he still does, in a manner of speaking.

as for facebook, not everybody has a page. many of us have real friends, so don't have much use for facebook.

as for the poster's comments as transcribed in the OP. this is not "hate speach". it is a condemnation of a sad reality. it's easy for wealthy liberals to bash people who tell the truth about slum life, as they don't have to endure it in their neighborhoods. i have long been a proponent of the concept that those who scream "RACIST!!!" should have to open their homes to some from the "ethnically challenged underclass" for a few weeks.

[Dan J 277]

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Yes - I have a "fake profile". That's rich, isn't it Rich (or is it John Galt)

Bait fail - try harder people

Shitcock - there's one I hadn't thought of

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

Doesn't sound like me. Perhaps you're mistaking me for someone else.

Benefit of the doubt given...besides, who cares?

Now about anonymity and honesty. In recent posts regarding gun control you explained the virtual lack of crime in Vermont, where anyone can carry a concealed weapon on...

Low population density (even though our population density is much higher than Nevada)

Old average age. Even though only 1/3 of the population can be called old

We even have an international border by both land and water.

But what other demographic can play a part? What is Vermont missing besides "young people"? We will see if anyone is interested in facts.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Gary and Alla

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Benefit of the doubt given...

Now about anonymity and honesty. In recent posts regarding gun control you explained the virtual lack of crime in Vermont, where anyone can carry a concealed weapon on...

Low population density (even though our population density is much higher than Nevada)

Old average age. Even though only 1/3 of the population can be called old

We even have an international border by both land and water.

But what other demographic can play a part? What is Vermont missing besides "young people"? We will see if anyone is interested in facts.

You're doing it again Gary. Stop derailing threads with your personal vendetta.