Keeping it civil as the tension mounts

The only thing that’s cool in Greater Sudbury these days is the weather.

A couple of weeks ago NorthernLife.ca launched the latest version of its website, which is home to plenty of discussion among our readers across Greater Sudbury. To say the topics of conversation have been hot is an understatement.

Our community is in the midst of a strike, reeling from lay-offs, dealing with nonsensical political rhetoric (really, Sudbury is not the Valley of Death, a quote Industry Minister Tony Clement now calls “boneheaded”) and coping with the after-effects of weird and wild weather. Your local Tim Hortons outlet is abuzz with local commentary, and so is NorthernLife.ca.

One of the most challenging parts of managing any media website is dealing with the steady flow of information and comments that pour forth from our readers. As Northern Life’s newest online offering to the community continues to evolve, we have become acutely aware of how much people rely on our website as a source of immediate information. Within minutes of posting a story about the latest strike news or weather event, people are offering up their feedback. What a wonderful source of community interactivity.

We want to encourage and facilitate these community conversations as much as possible. There are always bugs that need to be worked out of any new website, and so we are working hard at making NorthernLife.ca as relevant and useful as we can. We recognize what we do is a work in progress. The rise of positive feedback so far about our website is exciting. It’s a thrill to be able to ride the wave of real-time news and publish it immediately online for our readers.

The comments our readers post on our website are a continual source of interest, amusement and shock.

NorthernLife.ca now uses a semi-moderated system through which our readers (or “posters,” as we sometimes call them) are encouraged to click on a “report abuse” button if they see an inappropriate reader response. Most posters keep the conversation civil, sticking to debating the issues at hand. But others use the forum as a means to proffer personal attacks or publish unverified information. Posts like these are not encouraged and will often be deleted by website administrators.

If you visit our website and you find reader feedback that is not in keeping with the editor’s note (which can be read under every story), you have the option to let us know. Is it obscene, abusive, threatening, unlawful, harassing, defamatory, profane or racially offensive? Any of the above reasons can justify a post being removed.

So far, we like what we see in terms of reader feedback and we are pleased so many Sudburians are posting on NorthernLife.ca and extending the community conversation.

All we ask is that, when the issues heat up and the debate goes into overdrive, people keep it civil.

The well-known “golden rule” applies perfectly in this case: posters need to treat others the way they would like to be treated. Even a bonehead can figure that one out.

Wendy Bird is managing editor of Northern Life.