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ChineseTroll Control: MetroRiderLA’s Comment Policy
SUMMARY
MetroRiderLA is all about community. We celebrate the Los Angeles Transit Oriented Lifestyle, and at the heart of that lifestyle are the people who live it. Once a post is published on MetroRiderLA it’s far from being done with, in fact publishing is just the beginning. A post is not so much a post as it is a conversation starter, and you’re invited to join the discussion. Comments allow our postings to take on a life of their own, beyond the author’s limited perspective and, in the Socratic tradition, allow further insights through the dialogue they spark.
MetroRiderLA comments also follow the democratic tradition, allowing every individual a voice regardless of their opinion. Comments are not moderated by the administrator’s in any way (with a few key exceptions). Of course, this means you may read something you don’t like, or something that offends you. MetroRiderLA takes no responsibility for the comments of individual commenters. This being said, we obviously encourage civility. Remember, everyone here is a real person in real life and although the anonymity of the internet allows for a certain courage that one might not have when his/her identity is at stake, we ask that you treat others as you would were you face to face. This is also why we encourage sharing your personal website/using your real name/commenting frequently. These things make the conversation more human.
TROLLS
Wikipedia defines a troll as someone who intentionally posts controversial or contrary messages in an on-line community such as an on-line discussion forum or group with the intention of baiting users into an argumentative response.
Trolls are a major problem and annoyance on the internet, and any site that encourages discussion will undoubtedly face the scourge of a troll or two. They can take a potentially insightful dialogue and send it off onto unintended and irrelevant tangents that lead to the inevitable devolution of the conversation and the potential disbanding of the community. The problem with trolls is that it can be often hard to decipher whether someone is actually trolling or simply presenting another point of view. Furthermore, as previously noted, conversation on MetroRiderLA in the name of free speech, remains unmoderated from the administration. The solution is user-moderation, or as we call it, Troll Control.
Troll Controll puts the community in charge of deciding who is adding to the dialogue and who is simply trolling for arguments. It’s a completely democratic system that allows the community to establish guidelines of what is acceptable conversation and what is not through a simple system of voting.
Here’s how it works: At the end of each comment there are two symbols, a plus sign ( 
) and a minus sign (
). If you approve of the comment, click the or move on, and if you disapprove of the comment and feel that it’s trolling, click the . Keep in mind that having a different perspective on an issue is different than trolling. The should be reserved strictly for those comments you feel are baiting irrelevant discussions and arguments just for the sake of it. You’ll know one when you see it.
Once a comment gets five negative flags from unique users (an individual can only flag a comment once), the following icon will appear underneath the comment:
This icon will remain with the comment and serve as a reminder that the commenter has been moderated by the other users as a troll and therefore not to engage in further conversation with the commenter. The surest way to silence a troll is to ignore it. This is a fact. Further engaging the troll, or feeding it, only serves to the strengthen the troll and weaken the dialogue.
The purpose of this system is create a fair system of moderation where the community decides whether a comment is worthy of discussion or whether it’s just flamebait. It offers the user the opportunity to deal with a trolls comment by simply modding it down rather than dignifying it with a response (which only serves to empower the troll). Once a comment has been modded down to troll level, the icon alerts every reader of this fact – hopefully encouraging everyone to simply ignore it and move on to more constructive conversation. What’s also nice about this is that it works on a comment by comment basis, not a user basis, so a troll has a chance to redeem his or herself and has the opportunity to continue the discussion in a more civil manner.
EXCEPTIONS
There are a few cases when the administrators will moderate comments. If links are provided to sites that offer grotesquely pornographic, violent, or otherwise repulsive imagery/content that has no relation to the topic the links and comment will be deleted. If personal information (email, snail mail, phone numbers, home/work addresses, etc) of any reader/commenter/contributor/author is posted without their explicit permission, the information and comment will be deleted. Hold off on the personal attacks, if you disagree with someone make your arguments about the content, not the person. Personal attacks that “go too far” (per the discretion of the administrators) will not be accepted and will be deleted.
EMAIL PRIVACY
If you put your email address in the comment form, rest assured that it remains unpublished and unshared. Only the administrators have access to it and will only use it to privately contact you in regards to the blog,
IF YOUR COMMENT DOES NOT APPEAR
If you leave a comment on the blog and it doesn’t appear for a reasonable time period, it is likely you included too many links and it has been held for moderation by the spam filter. Once the administrators ensure it is not spam, the comment will appear.
DISCLAIMER
All comments within this blog are the responsibility of the commenter, not the blog owner, administrator, contributor, editor, or author. By submitting a comment on our blog, you agree that the comment content is your own, and to hold MetroRiderLA and all subsidiaries and representatives harmless from any and all repercussions, damages, or liability.
