chicagotribune.com has had a couple of cautionary tales recently with reader comments.
On an editorial cautioning seasonal Santas not to say “Ho, ho, ho” because it is demeaning to women, the computer software automatically filtered out all comments using the word “ho” — until an alert online editor used good judgment and common sense to override the filter.
On another part of the site, a comment was posted that encouraged the assassination of one of the presidential candidates. That was removed within hours.
“At one time, I believed chicagotribune.com should reflect the same anything-goes reality of the Internet,” writes Public Editor Timothy J. McNulty .
“I thought voices should be immediate and unrestricted, a cross perhaps between Speakers’ Corner in London’s Hyde Park and the frontier streets of Deadwood, S.D. We value free speech, even if it is not always very civil. The idea of language filters made me wince.
“Then I saw what some people wrote. That changed my mind and made me appreciate the idea of establishing House Rules. “
