Internet Spotlight

"Internet Spotlight" explores Internet and Web topics relevant to librarians in the public library sector. Your input is welcome.

Dealing with Comments on Your Website

In the last ten years or so, there’s been a bit of a revolution on the Web.Yeah, yeah, we all know that. But this time we are talking about the sometimes loved, occasionally dreaded comment box.

Ten years ago, could you easily leave a comment at a website? Could you share your thoughts instantly? No, probably not. The old way to leave your thoughts was simple enough, yet sometimes excruciatingly painful. First, you had to locate the website author’s e-mail address (if it was listed somewhereon the website), and then you could write to that person (and hope you got an answer).

That worked fine for quick question-and-answer messages. But what if you wanted to hold a more public discussion about that article or webpage? Could you? Technically, yes, if you frequented USENET newsgroups or someother appropriately geeky Web tool.

Thankfully, Web 2.0 services—especially the comment box—have made commenting on websites both easy and public. Both of our blogs, for instance, allow instant commenting. Our Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook accounts allow some form of instant comments, too. Twitter? It’s all about the instant, public comment. Both of our organizations’ websites also allow commenting in a variety of formats.

But what happens when comments get out of hand? Whether the comment is on a website/blog, Twitter account, Facebook page, profile, or elsewhere, we’ve got to be on our toes. Because sometimes, comments and responses can get very interesting, very quickly with all these new Web tools.To exemplify this, let’s look at something David recently experienced with comments on his library’s website (www.tscpl.org). This situation has helped his library nail down commenting guidelines for patrons, and helped them remember to always be vigilant when it comes to comments.

First, a bit of backstory: Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library (TSCPL) plans to start charging late fees. TSCPL hasn’t had a late fee for about thirty-five years, so it’s a bit of a big deal in Topeka at the moment.TSCPL is starting to share its fees and fines plan with the community, and one obvious place to share has been on the library’s website. The marketing director wrote a post to TSCPL’sLibrary News blog, which was made“sticky” so it wouldn’t disappear from the top of the screen for a few weeks.

Guess what? The local community commented on that post. So far, it has gathered a whopping 119 comments.Comments were left by more than thirty people, mostly customers(and about seven library staff who chimed in as well). One customer left more than fourteen comments! So, it’s been a rather hot blog post for the library. As you might imagine, not all of these comments have been positive, shining examples of library love. Some commenters support the library’s plan and some don’t. And, a few commenters even added in some personal jabs directed at specific staff members.

How has TSCPL dealt with these comments? Here’s a rundown of what normally happens with comments left on the library’s website:

• The blog author (i.e., library staffmember) gets an e-mail when a comment is added to their post, and they respond appropriately to the comment.
• Once in awhile, the comment ishanded to appropriate staff to answer.
• Staff actively monitors all comments to their posts.
• When there’s a misperception or misinformation being shared, it is corrected.
• If there’s a personal attack,an e-mail is sent, reminding individuals that they’re welcome to post, but to please stick to the topic, and to steer clear of personal attacks. Then a comment is also posted on that blog post stating the same thing. The goal here is transparency.
• If there’s a comment that’s highly inappropriate, it gets deleted.
• Obvious spam comments are deleted.

Why didn’t TSCPL simply close comments when they started getting ugly? Because the library is in control of the conversation. Think about it. If people were talking about this issue on their own blogs, the library might not be able to respond. If people are discussing TSCPL in the local newspaper’s editorial section (which they have been), the library is not in control of that conversation either—the newspaper is.

But when the conversation happens on the library’s website, then it’s in complete control. TSCPL staff can easily correct misinformation and point to the correct answer.They can talk amongst themselves, craft an appropriate response, and then give a complete answer—not one that’s edited down for length.

Other organizations handle comment moderation differently. Over at Flickr, for example, they sometimes send a warning about closing the whole conversation, rather than just blocking one person from the conversation. That has certain interesting implications. They’re not pointing out individual problems—instead, they’re taking the conversation as a whole to the group, and asking them all to simmer down. In effect, they’re asking the interested people that are commenting to selfpolice. And if that doesn’t work, they simply turn that conversation off.Okay, so what are a library’soptions with comments? There are basically three:

1. Don’t allow comments. Seemssilly to say in an article about comments, but it is an option.Why would you want to do this? Sometimes you’re forced to. Some city attorneys don’t like comments. To them, it seems like “publishing” public comments. So they sometimes ask the city library to turn off comments. The downside: You’re blocking patrons from asking questions and interacting with you.

2. Moderate comments. Thisis a good option for many libraries, especially if you’re new to emerging Web trends. Comment moderation works like this: when a comment is added to your website, instead of publishing it automatically, the comment is e-mailed to a designated staff member. That person reads the comment and decides whether or not to post the comment. The downside: If you moderate comments, you need to do it fast. That same afternoon, if not sooner. Why?A comment is the start of a conversation—maybe a question expecting a response or thoughts on a recent event. If you don’t get to the comment for a day or two, you have essentially killed that conversation. You wouldn’t kill the conversation inside your physical library, would you? Don’t do it online, either.

3. Allow unmoderated comments. Simply allow all comments, come what may. Will this cause bad things to happen? No, not really. The TSCPL conversation mentioned previously would have happened with moderated comments, too. Plus, it gives patrons an added senseof satisfaction to see their comment published instantly on your website. The downside: Whatever is said appears on your website. If they didn’t like something you did, it’s on your website. Is that a bad thing? I think not. You have a chance to apologize publicly or to correct bad info (and get some pretty instant feedback from patrons).

Community Discussion Guidelines

Here are some guidelines (based onguidelines used on National PublicRadio’s website at www.npr.org/help/discussionrules.html) toposting comments and content atTSCPL’s digital branch.

We Encourage Comments

• We want to hear from you! Pleasepost comments, questions, andother thoughts as you think them.That’s what we’re here for.
• Stay on Topic. Stick to the subject and issues raised by the post, not to the person who made them.
• Think before you press the publish button. Remember that this is a public forum, and your words will be archived on this site and available for anyone to find for a long time—the Web has a very long memory.
• If you can’t be polite, don’t say it. Respect is the name of the game. You must respect your fellow commenters.

Some Don’ts

• Don’t post copyrighted materials(articles, videos, audio, etc.) that you do not have permission toreproduce or distribute.
• Don’t post content that installs viruses, worms, malware, trojans, and so on.
• Don’t post content that is obscene, libelous, or defamatoryor hateful.
• Don’t post spam.
• Don’t post personal, real-lifeinformation such as home addresses and home phone numbers.

What Will We Do?

• We’ll respond to comments, answer questions, and provide suggestions as appropriate.
• Sometimes we’ll join a comment thread or talk board topic to help focus (or refocus) the discussion, or to get people talking.
• If you break one of the guidelines above (or come close to it), we’ll e-mail you and ask you to stop. We might also post a reminder to the discussion. If it continues, we will delete your comments and block you from posting.
• We will remove any posts that are obviously commercial or otherwise spam-like.
• We will remove content that puts us in legal jeopardy, such as potentially libelous or defamatory postings, or material posted in potential breach of copyright.

And while we’re talking about these guidelines in the context of a library website that has comments enabled, these guidelines can be easily applied to other online scenarios that we are, should be, or will be dealing with in the years to come.

For instance, what if your library has a Facebook page where you can gain fans, message them, and post events and conversations? Well, you are going to need to check in on that page regularly and apply variations of the suggestions listed here if things get sticky. The same applies to “@” replies you might get on your library’s Twitter account.

Flickr is another good example to ponder here using the previous suggestions.If your library has posted photos on Flickr to share, promote, and deepen community connections, you’ll occasionally have to do more than just soak up the glory of all those “nice picture!” and “I love storytime at the library!” comments. Hopefully the information in this column will help you think about and plan for these situations, too.

We all know that ordinarily we won’t have a fuss to deal with when it comes to online comments and responses to our work. But just as we plan and prepare to deal with face-to-face situations, taking some time to think about how we have reacted to—and will react to—online comment issues can be extremely useful. Hopefully this column gave you some useful suggestions and some food for thought for when online comments get bumpy for you and your library.