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Hiiraan Online Editors
Thursday, July 31, 2008
We are disappointed with the postings/comments by our readers to the news and opinion pieces that appear on HOL. Instead of encountering intellectually engaging and insightful reaction to news bulletins and opinion pieces, our Comments section is inundated with barrage of postings that is below our expectation in terms of substance and style.
As firm believers of freedom of expression and creating a level playing field for HOL readership, we kept the Comments section open and allowed almost everyone to post whatever they were eager to let loose. We have the technical capabilities to censure, edit, suspend and block anyone who misuse and abuse the commentary space. However, we opted, most of the time, not to enforce the Comments guidelines hopping that the learning curve will level-off and self-correcting, vibrant and mature readership / community will emerge.
Unfortunately, that did not happen. We have seen time and again, comments that were posts simply for the sake of the postings; other statements that were dripping with tribalism and backward mentality; pronouncements that bordered criminality, hyperbole and gross generalizations. We have also seen contributors using the Comments section as chat forum, where they unload hastily typed and mostly irrelevant tirades and of course posting comments anonymously.
Neither our readers nor we are amused with this shoddy interaction. The problematic behaviors that we had to put up with for long time and that we have no appetite are chronic cynicism, bloated narrow-mindedness, inflated self-righteousness and outright poor writing style.
Hiiraan Online appreciates and encourages a spirited and interactive dialogue between our readers and us as well as among our readers. What we however expect is contribution that adds to the discussion, or is interesting, or is an intriguing observation or is a smart critique. We also ask our readers to limit their postings to one comment per issue with a possible rebuttal. Anyone who more to say, may consider writing an opinion piece.
Finally, there are great contributors whose insight, succinct prose and creative wit makes us hopeful. We are firing this note on behalf of the smart contributions and the silent majority we are repulsed by the uncivilized and insensitive comments. We know they are not amused.
We are confident that this frank memo of our readers’ comments will result in the desired objective - an interactive and responsible relationship. By providing an open and interactive space and sharing what is wrong now, we did our part. Please do yours.
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