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KC Star hits a home run with its “new” online commenting policy

December 7, 2013 by jimmycsays

I’m late to the game on this, but I want to congratulate The Star for changing its policy regarding online comments.

Several months ago, The Star adopted a policy requiring every commenter to have a Facebook account. That meant commenters would be identified by first and last names and, in most cases, a work affiliation would be listed.

I don’t think I’ve ever commented on a KC Star story online, so I didn’t pay much attention, but I was aware, of course, of the history of venomous and profane comments posted by hundreds or thousands of trolls out there. Maybe that’s why I never paid much attention to the comments and never bothered to comment myself.

So, with the change, I simply went on not paying attention…until today. I’m in Chicago, visiting our daughter Brooks, and I had to read the Kansas City news online instead of in print. I was keenly interested in the story about the Yankees signing former Kansas City outfielder and start hitter Carlos Beltran, whom the Royals had targeted for signing this year.

A little background…I didn’t like the idea of the Royals signing Beltran, mainly because he just doesn’t seem like a good fit for what seems to me to be a remarkably unselfish group of baseball players. 

The Royals have, in my opinion, a very rate chemistry and camaraderie. I love watching them chat and exchange ideas in the dugout, congratulate each other when things go well and give each other an encouraging tap with the glove when things go bad. I don’t know a lot about Beltran’s personality, and maybe my instinct is wrong, but it just seemed to me like he could be an albatross.

Where the Royals are a bunch of blue-collar workers, Beltran strikes me as something of a privileged player with a big reputation…despite the fact that a few years ago he struck out looking for the Mets to end a decisive playoff  game. Nothing more ignominious — and even cowardly, at least in the baseball contest  — than being called out on the final pitch of a huge game. 

Anyway, I not only read the story, which was posted yesterday, but I read all 26 posted comments.

The tone and caliber of the comments was not only impressive but, in fact, inspiring to me — real people with real names expressing thoughtful ideas. 

Take this, for example, from a commenter named Gary Brennan, owner of The Brennan Group Real Estate LLC at Re/Max:

Glad to see CB not sign with KC. He’s been the ultimate selfish player since he first got to the big leagues. KC bought him his first house, he refused to take a rehab assignment in the minors after injury and the list goes on and on. While he has great production, he wouldn’t have fit in with the core group of players that make up this roster.

Yes, Brennan happened to echo my feelings, but, still, he made an insightful comment and backed it up with evidence.

Here’s another one:

Playing for the Yankees also helps Beltran’s Hall of Fame case with the chance to have a much better offensive and defensive year with New York’s right field. Carlos remembers the K and knows that he’s an old man.
 
That from a guy named Jim Fetterolf, who has earned designation as a “top commenter” — and because of that, apparently doesn’t have to list an affiliation. (I have no idea what it takes to attain the rank of “top commenter;” I guess it’s like getting your Eagle Scout badge.)
 
The closest thing to an argument was between Fetterolf and Brian Orloff, whose affiliation is Kansas State University. 
 
After Fetterolf suggested that the Royals now target Shin-Soo Choo, a much-coveted free agent who played for the Cincinnati Reds in 2012 and 2013, Orloff came back with: “I have some stocks I’d like you to take a look at.”
 
All in good fun and good taste — the kind of give and take that makes a serious reader want to keep on reading.
 
Kudos, then, to The Star for successfully transforming the comments section from a huge negative to a huge positive. Despite its falling fortunes, The Star still does a lot of things right, and this change shows that upper management continues to take steps to insure that The Star remains the most credible, responsible and authoritative news operation in our region.
 
 

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Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

10 Responses

  1. on December 7, 2013 at 1:39 pm richiepoor

    I disagree. Facebook is simply an intrusive spy tool which exists to mine personal data and sell it to the highest bidder. I imagine that The Star is getting a nice financial kickback from Facebook to effectively lock out all but subscribers. But who cares? The Star is dying a slow and agonizing death and has less meaningful content than The Pitch these days.


    • on December 7, 2013 at 10:33 pm jimmycsays

      The Pitch is definitely intent on moving up the journalistic food chain. They’re going to have to do a lot more spade work and story shaping, however, if they want to compete with The Star on takeouts.


  2. on December 7, 2013 at 2:26 pm John Altevogt

    The real good news about The Star today is that Yael Abouhalkah’s pay was supposedly cut. Finally, a step in the right direction.

    As for the commenting, it actually hurt the liberals on the site since most regular conservative commenters had long since been blocked and the bulk of the nameless and gutless trolls were liberals.


    • on December 7, 2013 at 10:30 pm jimmycsays

      I’m in Chicago, John…Where did the info about Yael’s pay come from???


      • on December 8, 2013 at 8:37 pm John Altevogt

        My bad, not Hearne’s, Tony’s. Here’s the link.

        http://www.tonyskansascity.com/2013/12/tkc-breaking-and-exclusive-news-kansas_7.html


  3. on December 8, 2013 at 1:12 am Larry Luper

    Fitz,
    I hope your wife and daughter are well – Prayers to your family.
    The Royals wanted to keep Beltran. He was moved to Houston, because it was the best deal the Glass family would the front office spend. He signed with the Mets after 2005.
    He had injury issues at Shea, but when healthy he eased the sting in St. Louis from the Pujols departure. The cards were looking good going into the 2013 fall Classic. Beltran was strong again in the post-season.
    I am glad the Royals did not take on an overpriced reunion to DH and play some RF. Shin-Soo Choo would be a great signing.
    But make no mistake about Beltran – he has been one the best players in playoff history at the dish. Post season stats below:
    51 games, 180 At bats, 60 Hits, BA .333, 16 HRs, 40 RBIs, 123 Total Bases and 11 SBs. Clutch against the top pitching and defense in the game (in October).
    Almost of these men, who rarely hear the word “no,” are choirboys.
    I will keep road trip stores out of “JimmyCSays.”

    To speculate on how he would fit in with the Royals for 2014 is unfair. Winners almost always fit in when they arrive with a new team. He would have deserved respect.
    The Yankees made it clear, they planned to do whatever to sign Beltran. And they will be signing more players, so do not be surprised if Beltran adds to his playoffs statistics.
    I agree with The Star’s new online comment policy. And I hope they did not cut Yael’s pay, Yael has always been cool. I would like to think we still think of each other as friends.


  4. on December 8, 2013 at 8:02 pm John Altevogt

    I want to say Hearne’s blog.


  5. on December 8, 2013 at 8:03 pm John Altevogt

    PS, hope you have time to take in the Art Museum. It is awesome.


  6. on December 8, 2013 at 8:14 pm Mike Rice

    I have always loathed anonymous comments to online stories. It allows a forum for small-minded and racist troglydytes who do not deserve a forum. And I was very irked when The Star starting allowing anonymous comments on its site. I thought that it did serious damage to The Star’s credibility.

    I remember writing a story about a homicide in Grandview in 2008, my last year at The Star. The victim had an ethnic name, which sparked a number of anonymous racially ignorant postings about the victim. Several people responded asking why The Star was allowing such ignorant and hateful comments to be put on its Web site. I brought this to the attention of my editor Tony Balandran, who had even stronger feelings about racist anonymous comments and was totally livid about the comments to this tragic story. He immediately fired off a memo to his editor and CCed to the upper management. I’m glad that he took a stance even though Zieman and Co. never appreciated having their policies questioned by staff.

    Putting this new policy in place is long overdue. When someone can’t hide behind the cloak of anonymity, they will either have to write something thoughtful or post nothing at all.


  7. on December 9, 2013 at 7:57 am Harwood Benjamin

    Had to comment about Beltran. I agree with you, Fitz, that he was a bad fit for the Royals, especially at the price he was commanding. But I thought it was unfair and over the top for you to characterize his strike out in the 2006 NLCS as “cowardly.” It was a bad outcome, but it was a decision made in a millisecond and I don’t think you can extrapolate that to conclude that it was evidence of a character flaw.



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