Civility and Comments

First off, I want to apologize for letting this go so long.

I created this forum as a way for neighbors to get to know each other and to form a tighter, more cohesive community. I was afraid that too many of us walk from our front doors to our cars, off to work, home again, and never have a chance to meet and talk. Dialogue, whether about “important” topics like laws and taxes and schools and land use or “unimportant” topics like restaurants and dog leashes, helps us know and trust each other. When we know each other, we’re more likely to help and collaborate, and when we collaborate, we’re all better off.

But, the Internet.

While a great deal of the conversation that’s gone on has been healthy and productive, a good chunk of it, and a growing chunk has been poisonous. It’s the nature of anonymity: try being rude to someone’s face, and you’ll feel like an ass when you see how it hurts them. But some people forget that, and take only joy from the cowardice of the keyboard.

I’ve resisted instituting rules and policing conversations for a few reasons:

1. I hate the idea of censorship, of someone getting to decide what comment is OK and what comment isn’t (because their biases will inevitably slink in to what should be an objective call)
2. I want people to feel free to express themselves in a natural way
3. It’s a lot of work, and this ain’t my day job

But I’ve spoken to a number people in the community, and I realize that something has to change. In particular, I spoke to someone earlier today who explained to me simply that she has wanted to join the conversation, but was afraid of doing so because she didn’t want to be personally attacked.

Afraid.

No, that’s not right. And when I looked back at my goals for creating Wallyhood in the first place, and then looked at what was happening, I realized that I was letting a few bad apples undermine my goals for no good reason.

So, as of today, I’ve changed the comment system and policy on Wallyhood:

• You must create an account to leave a comment. This is to create some consistency and accountability between your comments. You’ll have one, consistent persona. You can’t create a new name just to be mean to someone, then come back the next day and pretend to be someone else.
• No rudeness. You can disagree with each other, you can say you don’t like things, you can say why you disagree with ideas, but you must keep it civil. As Justice Potter Stewart famously put it: “I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description … and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it”. Rude comments will be deleted. Repeated offenders will be banned.

There are some other settings I’m playing with: you can flag comments that you think are inappropriate. If enough people flag a comment, it will be hidden until I have a chance to look at it. You can also “upvote” and “downvote” comments, as a way to show your support (or disagreement) with what someone is saying. I’ll see how these and other features work over the next few weeks and months and make changes as appropriate.

Again, for all those bruised in this forum, I’m sorry. I should have stepped in sooner, for your sake and for the sake of the community I’m trying to serve.

And if you’ve been reluctant to join the conversation previously, I hope this helps.