October 8, 2007

Posting Comments

The protocol and procedure of posting comments in the newsletter is a second issue. I’m personally happy erring on the side of openness as far as readership of the newsletter goes. But I feel a responsibility to guard against public gatecrashing when it comes to comments. I would propose restricting the conversation to NW Chapter members and the same GBW members who will also be receiving announcements of each newsletter (that’s the executive committee, chapter chairs and newsletter editors). It would be pretty easy to make that group either more restrictive (NW Chapter members only) or less restrictive (any GBW member welcome to comment). I’d like to know what you think.

I would serve as comment moderator, with comments being posted only after I’d had a chance to review them. That’s a little work there for me, and a short delay before comments appear, but it seems like the best solution for screening who is posting. Since this is not a group where everyone knows everyone else, I’d expect comments to be signed with first and last names—no zingers from Boopsie or Mr. X.

If there was consensus among members that we should restrict readership of the newsletter to a closed group of e-mail addresses, the need for ongoing comment moderation would presumably be eliminated.

Again, I welcome your input on this issue, either by posting below or by getting in touch with me at smcollard@gmail.com.

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