[IMC-Boston-Editorial] Ed issues

Tue Dec 13 12:28:22 PST 2005

       Hey folks.

       Just thought this recent hidden post might help contribute to the Editorial discussion about hiding vs. not hiding posts that are considered conservative, etc. This post was apparently hidden by Sofia under the code "policy violation": 

  http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/47230/index.php

     I agree that it is in violation in that it specifically targets Jamie and Jonathan by name which can be construed as a personal attack. I also agree with the general premise of hiding posts that directly criticise the IMC without providing constructive criticism or an e-mail address that we can reach the poster at to follow up on their concerns about our site... 

       However, as an new-old editor I have noticed that Jamie in particular has been concerned about hiding posts that are of a conservative nature. This post is one little bit of evidence that some of our readers are on our editorial list and know us editors by name, and are concerned about exactly the opposite problem from Jamie's concerns - they are concerned about the increase in conservative posts on our site.

       Because I spent 2 years as an IMC editor from fall of 2002 to fall of 2004 I know that we will never satisfy *every* reader who comes to our site. However, I do feel confident that we are trying to provide a service to both progressive and radical readers by providing a place to publish alternative local news and comment on that news.

       One way that we could address the question of "what do we want" vs. "what do our readers want" is to come up with a list of our concerns, our hopes and our future plans for the site. I remember doing something along these lines in 2003 where the IMC collective had a proposal for the new website and posted a proposal to the newswire asking for our readers to comment on what features they liked, what they didn't, what they would like to see that we didn't have and other general comments. Rob probably remembers this better than I do since he was working on the design elements that folks were critiquing. Perhaps this topic of "are we a conservative vs. a progressive website" and "what types of conservative posts/frequency of conservative posts should be hidden" or "should any conservative posts be hidden" is exactly the type of topic that we could bring to our readers while we are also discussing it internally. 

       Just a thought as I finish my lunch. I seem to remember that we were concerned about trolls on the last survey we did so I think we talked about discounting comments that are left by people who do not leave a legitimate e-mail address for us to follow up on. That's one way that we could try to sort through the "real" opinions vs. the spammed troll opinions. 

       What do people think?

       S.

Sofia JarrinT <sofiajt at yahoo.com> wrote:
    I'm ok w/unhiding the post pointing people to the hidden article.

Also, we might want to talk about anonimity in the Editorial collective. I'm not necessarily in with having anonymous editors, but then again, I don't know the reasoning behind it.  I mean, I understand wanting to stay anonymous to our readers, but amongst us there should be clarity of who's doing what so we can engage on healthy discussion about Ed. policy.

Just a thought.
cheers,
Sofia

"visnusdream at juno.com" <visnusdream at juno.com> wrote:    OK Sunday at 6. If you can set it up thats great. It would be great if Sally could come, since she is perhaps our most controversial editor. I won;t really feel that we are able to get to the real issues if she doesn't attend. We need to talk about this stuff at some point. 
  I would also like to bring up "The Apology comments" that have been hidden from this article: http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/46558/index.php
  I don't have any real problem with hiding these comments but I don;t think they are racist. Its  bullshit and doesn't deserve to be on our front page, but there is nothing racist in saying the Koran calls for the murder of non-believers. It does, and it does it a lot. However, I think we ought to perhaps leave up the post pointing people to the hidden article.
  Also, I would like us to discuss our specific interpretations of the word "Radical," as in "radical accurate tellings of the truth;" I've seen this word used in comments to hidden posts that don;t seem in the spirit or free speech. 
  I am starting to think that we should be more clear with ourselves and our readers. Hiding an article is not true censorship. We are just saying that hidden things are not worthy of being on our front page. Anyone can access them. Perhaps, we can reach a compromise between more stringent editing, in the mood of Sally, but more liberality in referring people to the hidden section and the links to those articles and comments, if people want to read them. Any thoughts?
  Love,
  Jamie 

-- Sofia JarrinT <sofiajt at yahoo.com> wrote:

  oh, I forgot... I have to give all editors passwords...

Lucy Parson's? at 6:00? Let me know so I can call to reserve space.

cheers,
Sofia

"visnusdream at juno.com" <visnusdream at juno.com> wrote:     Please add, Generating more content to the agenda.
  Where are we going to meet?
  Thanks,
  Jamie
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