Ah, crap. Just when we thought things were settling down around here, the TTAG Fire Department gets another 911 call to go put out some flames. And potentially, evict some arsonists from our happy little group of campers. Tsk, tsk. But in order to preserve a more perfect TTAG, and to try to head off more Napalm at the pass, as it were, we thought a few words on our comments policy might be appropriate. To wit…
RF established TTAG as a place where writers and readers can discuss, well, the truth about guns. We call ’em like we see ’em, and unlike a lot of sites, when we don’t see ’em we don’t make ’em up. We don’t always get everything right. But when we drop the ball, we fess-up, apologize, take our lumps and move on, a little older, and presumably, a little wiser.
As far as comments (and commenters) go, a couple of things to note. We love our readers. They are the reason we get to do what we do. And unlike old-style, print journalism, we get near-instant feedback on our work. If we get it wrong, we hear about it, in a hurry. (On a personal note, there’s only been one story I wrote that raised the ire of most of our readers. And when you guys decide to come down on someone, you are ruthlessly efficient. Ouch.)
We do our best to present all sides of an issue. And just because someone has a view that runs contrary to our own positions does not mean their voice gets stifled. On the contrary, we oftentimes ask those contrarians to turn their comments into a full-blown post, so our readers can see a wider variety of opinions on a topic. In fact, many of our writers started off as commenters, graduating to writing about their passions for all things gun-related.
Note that our resident Liberals/anti-gun guys (that would be MikeB302000 and Magoo) have not been banned. It’s rare that either RF or I agree with either of them on just about anything. Yet, their voices are not censored. Why? Because they typically play nice, and keep it civil. (Although Magoo has been getting a little too snarky and personal of late. Still…)
But there is one, common thread that runs through our writing and the responses from our readers. Civility. At TTAG, you’re entitled to your opinion. You are NOT entitled to spew hate, get personal, and generally make an ass of yourself. To date, we’ve only had to ban two people from TTAG. Both were banned for being obnoxious tr0lls who’s constant refrains contributed nothing to the discourse. When they exposed themselves as having an irrational devotion to flaming, they were warned. When they did not heed the warnings, they were banned. Permanently.
There’s a difference in “banning,” “moderation” and “censoring.” And that difference bears some explanation here.
When you write a comment, most of the time, our blogging software (WordPress) posts it automatically. But there are certain things that will trip the WordPress trigger, as it were, and put your comment in the moderation queue. These include (but are not limited to) adding URL links in your comments and using certain words that are on the WordPress “naughty” list. This process is completely and utterly automatic.
We (RF and I) get notices by email that we have comments needing moderation. Keep in mind, neither of us sit in front of our respective computers, breathlessly awaiting a notice that we have a comment to moderate. That means it may take a couple of hours before we get around to approving or deleting your comment. We also have the option (seldom-used as it may be) to edit your comment, so that it can be published without violating our rules. Typically, we don’t edit comments, because we don’t want to filter your expression. That’s why if you say something inappropriate in a comment, it may not make it onto the site.
So what’s “inappropriate”? Well, to begin with, any kind of racial slur, intensely personal, derogatory comments, and any kinds of threats are considered inappropriate, and just won’t fly. If something is particularly heinous, we have the option to ban someone from the site immediately. But we generally try and give someone a warning before we invoke TTAG’s version of the death penalty on a commenter. On the other hand, if they establish a pattern of abusive comments, we reserve the right to spike ’em right then and there.
The other way your comments might get sent to that big dead letter box in the cloud is if it trips the WordPress SPAM filter. You’d be surprised at how many spammers try and sneak in some ad for their crap in our comments. As we speak, we have over 800 comments caught by our spam filters. (We have multiple filters.) As a result, chances that you see spam masquerading as a comment are between slim and none (And “Slim” just left town. Heh.)
We realize that everybody’s got an opinion. And when it comes to guns, those opinions can be, well, pretty strong. We also realize that things we say here on TTAG may get your motor running, and every now and then, may cause you to respond in print with a skoche too much passion. We get it. And that’s generally okay. Don’t feel as if you have to be afraid to comment. On the other hand, if you think it’s okay to spew hate, bigotry, and ignorance on our site, do yourself a favor and take it someplace else. Because if you don’t, we’ll do it for you.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled blogging experience.
It’s ‘sukoshi’ (Japanese).
+1, and good riddance to bad rubbish.
Thanks for all you do, TTAG is a great site.
You guys do a great job running this site and you keep it fun and interesting, but our resident TROLLS deserve to be flamed because they intentionaly piss people off.
You just like being pissed off, Joe. When someone disagrees with you, that’s a good enough reason.
Pot meets Kettle.
Well put, tactful and fair. Your site is one of just a few that really tell “The Truth About Guns” and I have enjoyed it for many years. Keep it up and thanks!
Thanks for all you guys do!
Quick question though, when an individual is banned from commenting, are they able to still read the posts? I imagine ignorance and low public self awareness are the main cause of flaming, so shouldn’t trolls be given the option to rehabilitate themselves by gradually being introduced to the saner side of the internet? And if it is possible for banned individuals to view the site, what measures are in place to prevent them from setting up a new profile and resuming their place as village troll?
You are very fair here. As many may know, I am no big fan of politicians. And on those few occasions I let the “Busey” part of me take over, and my comment could have been interpreted as a threat to certain worthless politicians or communist celebrities, the crew has looked out for me. One time I was so angry at my fiance’s ex that I started to spew over at the ridiculous steps needed to gain an order of protection-and had a few ideas of nipping it in the bud-Robert took me aside so to speak, and got me to chill out. You guys are more than a site, you’re friends.
“We (RF and I) get notices by email that we have comments needing moderation. Keep in mind, neither of us sit in front of our respective computers, breathlessly awaiting a notice that we have a comment to moderate.”
Why the aych eee double hockey sticks not? You call this service? I want my money back!
I’ve had better service… well… nowhere, really. Keep up the good work.
Ditto to some of the responses. TTAG does a great job presenting information and commentary on each subject. Your honest approach keeps me coming back to learn more. Keep up the great work!
when you guys decide to come down on someone, you are ruthlessly efficient. Ouch.
It’s all out of love Brad; ruthless and effecient love.
I will leave it to Markos Malitsas and his ilk to ban commentors who don’t tow the party line. However, you should be aware, and I am sure you are, that it is a “Progressive” trick to gin up some insane “fake rightwing nutjob” post so they can discredit voices that they don’t want heard. It’s called doing a Moby. I think it is necessary to identfy suspected Moby-poster and eliminate them.
Because there aren’t enough birthers, truthers, firsters, Nazi wannabes, sovereigns, gold bugs, moon landing deniers, and other nitwits in the gun loon community. The “progressives” make up these people to make you look like the lunatic fringe element. Right.
Well Magoo,
It remains to be seen just how far a gun-grabbing, communist, climate alarmist, Obamapologist, baby-killing, tree spiking, hoplophobic, astroturffing, shill for PETA progressive may go to make one of their points.
You have been following RF’s series on the ATF Death Watch and this progressive Gun-Walker mess? Seems to me someone way-up the food chain in this government’s JD went way out of bounds to make a point that was never true.
Makes us wonder what else you folks may be up to…
I make a habit of reading the comments section on the Daily Kos, Huffington Post, the Democratic Underground etc. They make you look rational. You see a lot more anti–Semitism there then I see on Conservative blogs.
This is a great site. I check it waaaaaay too often.
Keep up the good work!
ha agreed me too, TTAG is my favorite firearms blog by far.
Kozak says: “Note that our resident Liberals/anti-gun guys (that would be MikeB302000 and Magoo) have not been banned. It’s rare that either RF or I agree with either of them on just about anything. Yet, their voices are not censored. Why? Because they typically play nice, and keep it civil. (Although Magoo has been getting a little too snarky and personal of late. Still…)”
I’m not liberal or anti-gun. I just don’t share your views.
Magoo says, “I just don’t share your views.”
Yes, because our views are libertarian or conservative and pro-gun. Thanks for clarifying. Funny thing, though — when you’re not busy being ubersnarky, I do enjoy your comments. Doesn’t that make you feel all warm and fuzzy?
“The police are all jack-booted criminals” is not conservative or libertarian ideology. It’s just crazy people chattering at each other. I’m not any snarkier than you guys. You guys like to dish it out just fine but you can’t take it, that’s your problem.
“You guys like to dish it out just fine but you can’t take it, that’s your problem.”
That doesn’t apply to me at all, Magoof. *starts racket*
“The police are all jack-booted criminals”
No no no. Not the police. The ATF, well, that’s a different story.
Dammit Ralph! How did your comment appear in there while I was typing mine? I don’t type quite that slowly!
Magoo said: “The police are all jack-booted criminals”
No, I am sorry, I must disagree. that should be “Most of the ATF Agents are jack-booted thugs”. Criminality is a matter of law not opinion.
Magoo:
It was arch liberal John Dingell was labeled the ATF as a bunch of jackbooted thugs. Now that is one liberal proposition that I can support.
The police and the ATF are the enforcers of GOVERNMET POLICY!
Don’t like guys getting killed for selling loose cigarets? VOTE SMARTER!
Just spent two days meeting with (polite and helpful) ATF and industry reps to find solutions to some industry problems. The ATF was happy to consider solutions to our problems WITHIN THE LAW! If you don’t like the law, VOTE SMARTER!
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