JSOnline forums will be limited to paid subscribers

[TomM]

NOTE: The following appeared on jSOnline. That site decided it had to take steps to stop unfortunate comments and threats and name calling. There are a number of posters on Wisconsin Wrestling Online forum who make unfortunate statements from behind screen names.  If this continues in the future WIWrestling.com may will consider changing to a 'name, phone and address' requirement with sign up for this forum. In the near future we will be moving to a new forum system. Changes are being considered. We will also delete questionable posters with no notice in the future.  This site is a place for respect, education and enjoyment. Those who do not follow this idea will be removed unceremoniously.

Show respect for others.

JSOnline forums will be limited to paid subscribers
Feb. 6, 2016 5:02 p.m.

FAQ: What you need to know about JSOnline's commenting changes

First, we had to eliminate commenting from our obituaries.

We learned this by rude experience immediately after we first allowed commenting on JSOnline. Possessed by a meanness that is hard for people of goodwill to comprehend, strangers hiding in online anonymity would spit venom beneath the story of a deceased person they had chosen to hate — because of occupation, race, education, religion, political leaning, nation of origin or maybe just because they had led an admirable life.

Next, we had to block comments from many stories about life in the city.

If you think racism is largely a sin of the past in America, you haven't seen what some will say from under the hood of a digital avatar or phony name. Last Sunday's story about the city's 152 homicide victims — nearly all of them young, some of them infants and children — brought out the very worst among us, including one anonymous coward who emailed that he wished the death toll were higher.

Many stories draw hundreds, even thousands of comments, posted all hours day and night. We don't have the staff to prescreen or continually read all comments. Our readers help us flag people who break the rules so we can take the comments down and suspend or revoke their privileges.

Problem is, the rule breakers return under new names and emails.

Starting on Feb. 15, we will finally have the technology available to restrict online commenting to paid subscribers. And that's what we will do.

We offer commenting to encourage a forum for civil conversation, a place where folks from various walks of life can contribute their personal knowledge, thoughts and expertise. Before writing their first comment, users agree to follow basic rules of civil behavior: no personal attacks, harassment, threats, obscenities, bearing of false witness and so on.

Many of our paying customers have asked us to do a better job enforcing those rules. As one put it, the worst comments "contribute to the divisiveness and lack of civility we are experiencing" and also "allow paid operatives the opportunity to stir the pot."

In eight days, all comments will be tied to a subscriber account. It won't matter then if the offender creates a new screen name or email. We will know who it is.

We will still allow people to comment under a screen name, at least for now. Many folks have been writing civil, thoughtful notes for years under nicknames they are now known by within their commenting community. This is especially true with our sports stories. We also want whistle-blowers to be able to share information about, say, government corruption they have witnessed, without fear of losing their jobs.

But rule breakers will no longer be able to hide their identities from us, enabling us to provide a more civil commenting platform than ever before.

As one thoughtful reader noted: "The MJS sends trained reporters to collect data, sift the information and piece together a story that, as accurately as possible, reflects some version of reality. It is then edited and printed. There is, obviously, no such process at work with the 'commentators.' They have free access to deliver what Gene Weingarten referred to as 'little spit-flecked rants.' ... These, in a way, become a part of the story that you are presenting to the public."

Indeed, researchers have found that online comments can affect reader opinions. Which is why all of us should also be aware that some corporations, industries and politicians hire communications staff and agencies to search for stories on the Internet that mention them and then write comments designed to enhance their image while diminishing their critics.

I expect some of our critics to proclaim that we are somehow violating their First Amendment rights against government censorship by insisting they follow the rules they agreed to before commenting. We are merely exercising our rights to limit our forums to known customers who wish to contribute to civil discussions.

Anyone blocked from writing on JSOnline is still free to take their opinions elsewhere — from digital platforms with looser rules to their corner tavern. At least there, they might be answered with a well-deserved punch in the nose.

George Stanley is the editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached via email at gstanley@journalsentinel.com and followed on Twitter @geostanley.

[aarons23]

Aarons23 is worried that wiwrestling will institute the same rules.  

I would be fine with everyone having to use name....no hiding.....but dont make us pay Tom.....

[wraslfan]

Does anyone even read the JS anymore? I never knew they even had a forum. The ONLY thing I ever read from that paper is Focus on Wrestling. The comments referenced (that were posted on their forum) sound about as idiotic and useless as their paper. I won't pay for their paper, I sure wouldn't pay for their forum. Their coming censorship doesn't surprise me at all. This way they can censor facts or opinions that disprove or disagree with their obvious bias/slant on all "news" they cover.   

[bigoil]

Ask Ghetto about the comments they make in regards to teachers and MPS. I am sure he will be very pleased with this move. If Tom Charges, I want the bigG discount.

[wraslfan]

Ask Ghetto about the comments they make in regards to teachers and MPS. I am sure he will be very pleased with this move. If Tom Charges, I want the bigG discount.

I'll never understand that. Blaming the teachers of MPS and not the parents of the kids that fail there, or the students themselves.
The best thing I ever did was to quit watching/reading the news. I'm a much happier person.   

[maggie]

This takes the cake, how sad that we actually have people among that think and feel this way...." one anonymous coward who emailed that he wished the death toll were higher"...I don't subscribe either..if I'm not mistaken, one has to be a subscriber to comment  as with the Janesville Gazette...SAD it had to come to such a thing...

[Ghetto]

It got pretty ugly on jsonline back in the day. I had to stop reading.

Glad we don't have that ugliness here. We kid and mess around, and very rarely get angry with each other.

[Mack]

Political comments get bizzaro fast.  And, it cracks me up when someone has an obvious political ax to grind, so they find a way to turn every subject into an opportunity to discuss their personal political agenda.  We just want to read people's picks...not how making picks is an obvious attempt by Obama to limit the freedoms of Americans.  See how I did that?  Makes perfect sense.  Just like a lot of those political comments do.

I think people are pretty decent on this forum.  I'd be happy to use real names, rather than screen names.  I try to say only what I would say to someone in person. 

Miki Smith, Sauk Prairie

[Dale Einerson]

NOTE: The following appeared on jSOnline. That site decided it had to take steps to stop unfortunate comments and threats and name calling. There are a number of posters on Wisconsin Wrestling Online forum who make unfortunate statements from behind screen names.  If this continues in the future WIWrestling.com may will consider changing to a 'name, phone and address' requirement with sign up for this forum. In the near future we will be moving to a new forum system.

Not sure I can get behind this...

[Ghetto]

Maybe if you used your real name on the forum, you'd be more likely to be ok with it. 

[Dale Einerson]

Maybe if you used your real name on the forum, you'd be more likely to be ok with it. 

Not sure I want Tomm to know where I live...might show up to spend a month or two if things get rough...will ask me how to get an old Jeep running and what not.  Then there is that annoyingly loud creaking and cracking of his joints that has gone from just morning to all day.

[littleguy301]

Well in my area my screen name is  my given name!!!!! At conference last weekend I was met with more hey littleguy than I was hey Dave.

So I guess this forum name has morphed into my now given name!!!!!!!!!

[Dale Einerson]

Well in my area my screen name is  my given name!!!!! At conference last weekend I was met with more hey littleguy than I was hey Dave.

So I guess this forum name has morphed into my now given name!!!!!!!!!

I think that is a valid point, I get called by my screen name WAY more than I do "Dave" as well...

[littleguy301]

Well in my area my screen name is  my given name!!!!! At conference last weekend I was met with more hey littleguy than I was hey Dave.

So I guess this forum name has morphed into my now given name!!!!!!!!!

I think that is a valid point, I get called by my screen name WAY more than I do "Dave" as well...

there is always one in the crowd!!!!!!!!!

[DocWrestling]

I think it would be a great idea to make everyone use their real name