Staying civil when feelings run high is a challenge for all but the most saintly among us. It’s fair to say that in the recent tumult around Denver Public Schools and its new board of education, civility has suffered. People on both sides of contentious issues have behaved badly at times; they’ve called one another names, stretched the truth, and assumed ill intent on the part of their adversaries.
Some of that lack of civility has bled over into the EdNews blog on occasion. Managing an interactive forum when people’s emotions are at fever pitch is challenging, to say the least. So I am asking you, dear readers, for some advice. Here’s my basic question, and I’ll elaborate a bit below: Should the blog allow people to comment anonymously, or without using their real names? Or should we require full disclosure?
Here’s some background. When the blog first launched, back in the spring of 2007, all bloggers, yours truly included, wrote under pseudonyms. Our initial thinking was that some of our bloggers were people who held the kind of positions that might cause them to pull their punches if they had to write under their real names.
Over time, though, our thinking evolved. We decided that people should be willing to own what they wrote, and if they couldn’t or wouldn’t then they shouldn’t be writing, at least not for us. That has worked out well, and the blog has remained a lively and vibrant place.
Blogs are interactive by nature. Comments that people submit in response to blog posts are a vital part of the conversation. Unlike newspaper websites, which receive thousands of comments a day and publish them unmoderated, our site receives a more modest number of comments. I read everything before approving it to appear on the site.
Over the life of the blog, I’ve probably deleted no more than 1 or 2 percent of the comments we’ve received for violating our ban on personal attacks, unfounded claims or simple mean-spiritedness. Each decision is a judgment call, and some people will disagree with some of my calls.
Until the last week or so, the question of whether to allow anonymous comments, or comments penned under a pseudonym, has never been an issue. Plenty of people submit comments and identify themselves only by their initials, their first names, or sometimes a “handle.”
But as the debate and the rhetoric have heated up, some of the anonymous comments have crossed the line. One of our own bloggers even submitted some comments under a pseudonym so he could say some things he felt were better not said under his own name. His identity was uncovered and he has subsequently reposted some of his comments under his real name.
So now I’m wondering – and I’d appreciate your input: Should I ban anonymous comments altogether? Should anyone who wants to comment on this blog have to register under his or her real name, with a verifiable e-mail address? Or would that stifle the conversation? To put it in perspective, only a small number of people comment while masking their identity.
Please send me your thoughts. I hope to make a decision over the course of the next week, and it’s a decision I’m struggling to make on my own.
The line between vigorous debate and civility is blurry. One person’s aggressive argument is another person’s insult. As I see it, some people have crossed the line on occasion, some regularly. Some of those transgressions have made it into virtual print, to my subsequent regret. Others I have declined to publish.
A few people have called me a censor and a coward because I have refused to run pieces by them or their allies that I found offensive. Not because I disagreed with their positions, but because what they wrote was rife with personal attacks and unsubstantiated claims and accusations.
It’s fine if these folks want to call me names. That’s how they choose to play. My plea to all of you who contribute to this website on any level, or who participate in public discourse of any kind, is to keep it civil. You can disagree with people’s positions or actions without descending into personal insult.
It has become obvious that a small number of people are incapable of drawing that distinction. But that’s a tiny minority. I implore the rest of you to keep it lively but respectful. We may not all be able to get along, as Rodney King hoped, but we don’t have to divide into enemy camps.
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Alan,
I post under my real name and I understand what that means. My boss’ boss’ boss mentioned that he’d read something I wrote here.
I’m generally willing to own my thoughts and beliefs publicly. However, I do understand how someone might need to say something important that s/he could get into trouble for. I think anonymous posting should be available in such situations as long as the content adheres to the site’s guidelines and it remains the exception rather than the rule. I also think anonymous posters should still supply you with a valid email address.
In my opinion you have every right to control what appears on your blog. Every day around the world editors sift, modify and reject content for their respective publications. Given your background and comments above it’s clear that you’re aware of the sometimes fine line between editing and censorship. It’s one of those tightropes we humans negotiate everyday.
However, once something has been posted, I recommend not taking it down later. If it passed editing before, it should be good to go and pulling down posts feels like covering up little bits of history to me. But that’s just me.
And by the way, thanks for running this blog.
Hear, hear. Anonymity might allow more teacher voices.
The differing opinions on this blog are what draw me to it regularly. My opinions rarely remain static as I read the experiences and viewpoints that are expressed here. I’ve never considered you, Alan, to be a censor or a coward, but quite the opposite, and I am always grateful for your civility. You provide a forum for those of us with passion for public education to mull over ideas, current studies, evolving theories, and on occasion to watch people verbally duke it out with dramatic postulations and name calling. We are public education geeks. Bring it on. We’ll read it.
Many of us know those folks who can’t seem to decipher between tenacious argument and downright rudeness. They are our neighbors, colleagues and friends. I say if you want to put it out there in a public forum, Claim it. Own it. And revel in how your own voice sounds.
I embrace the different voices that come to this discourse….the peacemakers, the rebel rousers, and the vast majority who want public education in our neighborhoods to improve but don’t have the time, the resources, or the personal power to jump into the fight. I appreciate when the loudest voices aren’t the only voices that get heard, and I think this blog encourages that kind of civil discourse.
My vote: Argue hard. Prioritize listening. Be civil. Own your words.
Alan, I think the astute press critic A.J.Liebling gave us good, if not a bit cynical, guidance on the power to publish. “Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one,” he said about 70 years ago.
Or in your case, it belongs to the guy who has the talent and perseverance to launch an online publication. Your site. Your rules, my friend. And I think your fundamental pursuit of civility covers the water front – no personal attacks, obscenities or unfounded claims — Be Nice.
As for anonymity, we both know from years in daily journalism that there are valid reasons for unnamed sources. And just as valid ones against them for the underhanded agendas they frequently try to advance.
Just as we did at the dailies, it’s a case-by-case judgment call. And at EdNews we are fortunate that judge is you.
Thanks for the good work.
Brian Weber
Stapleton Foundation/Denver Language School
Former Rocky Mountain News reporter
Alan, thanks for putting this good question to your readers. I would agree with Jeff Buck on this one. While I do think it is always better to know who is the “owner” of the words as written, I worry that limiting comments to only those willing to publicly expose themselves might overly narrow the range of comments and opinions expressed.
We often see the same cast of characters commenting and it is often those with very strong opinions about various issues. I would hate to limit discussions to only those voices.
I know of several people who have other thoughts, but are perhaps too timid to openly and publicly express them. Over time, it is my hope that all such voices find a way to be heard.
Jill
It takes courage to use one’s real name. On some days, I hardly want to claim mine but There It Is, demonstrating on its own all the angst and numerous frustrations I’ve encountered on school district issues for the past several years since my husband left DPS employment after 23 years of faithful service.
The worst part about using my name is that by inference, I’m also using his. Still — we only live so long — and I figure it’s better to stand for something we believe in before The End than to waste Life altogether by sliding through anonymously. Admittedly, I don’t feel that way all the time, only when I’m feeling courageous, and the rest of the time am the same recluse I ever was — so that if you took my name off, none of my friends or family members would probably recognize the posts as mine. What an unlikely zealot!
My preference is that bloggers who post on this site do so under their names. I think this helps the reader put the information into some important context. For example, when Paul Teske posts, I know about his background as an academic at UCD which can impact my reading. When someone reads one of my posts, they know that I am coming from a teacher’s perspective. I believe that as a regular blogger my responsibilities are different than those who respond to posts.
As for the responses to the posts, I think it is acceptable to have them done anonymously. Allowing people anonymity lets them respond openly and without self-censorship. But are people who post under a pseudonym really protected from being “outed?” How was “horsewithnoname” outed? Do people who respond to posts understand that they can be “outed?”
Alan, you do a wonderful job of monitoring this site.
I vote for name disclosure. I recently ran for re-election which forced me to get out into the public again. I got re-energized by connecting with my constituents, and I have been contemplating starting a blog about issues related to our district, school finance and the tax structure in Colorado. If I do start a blog, I am going to insist that people sign in using their full name or at least their full first or last name with the first letter of the other name so their posts aren’t so anonymous.
I am increasingly frustrated with the tenor of blogs that eventually burn up and die because people get so nasty taking pot shots at each other. This tendency is a reflection of debates occuring on the larger stage in the US, like health care and immigration policies. I think the art of debate has been lost ,and issues get polarized due to sound bites and lack of true understanding of complex issues. Owning up to our comments may help vitalize healthy debate about emotional topics, such as education,and help us move toward an understanding of the complexity of issues as veiwed from many different facets.
On the proverbial “other side of the coin” is this:
I was contacted earlier this year by a reader of this website who felt comfortable contacting me by telephone but not posting on the site. (This person had received what she viewed as a threatening communication and was plenty shook up when she called.) The experiences of that person should have become part of the blog but, no doubt in part because of a fear of being discovered, she never signed on.
Unless anonymous comments are allowed, with a promise of anonymity in the event of an inquiry, the voices of these people will never be heard nor documented. Without breaching a confidence that person shared with me, I’d comment that what she said raised my eyebrows to my hairline and would likely have had the same effect on others made privy to her story.
Keep it real, Alan. People should use their own name. Just a vote from one of the mean spirited name callers…
I’m for people using their real names. Somehow I just don’t think that including such information will harm anyone, though I’d like to hear from Jeff Buck as to whether he felt threatened by his “boss’s boss’s boss” comment to him.
Hi Pat. It’s been a long time.
No, I did not feel threatened at all. He just let me know he thought I had added something to the discussion at the time. I only brought it up to show an awareness of my audience when I write here.
I don’t find myself in conflict with anyone in my chain of command. I work for what I consider a very good principal and I feel pretty confident in my abilities as a teacher. I also think I have a reasonable capacity to engage in collaborative problem solving so I see no reason to fear putting myself out there.
But as I mentioned above, I can easily imagine how someone in a different situation could have valid reasons to worry about speaking out publicly. I hope we evolve to a place where that no longer holds true but I don’t think we have arrived there yet.