Opinion: Another peek inside The Times’ Opinion Manufacturing Division
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Regular readers will notice that we no longer require people to sign in to TypePad, Facebook, Twitter or the like in order to post comments on the blog. I had added the requirement late last month for a couple of reasons. First, it was a prerequisite to enabling readers to reply to one another’s comments and to display comments as threaded conversations, which is a much better experience for readers (IMHO), and second, because authentication seems to promote more thoughtful comments. I also hoped that people would actually welcome the ability to use an existing sign-in, such as their Facebook or Twitter ID, rather than having to remember one unique to the L.A. Times.
From the look of things, I was spectacularly wrong. The changes appear to have been a massive obstacle to commenting. If there was any doubt about that, the fact that no one had commented on either Patt Morrison’s LAX post or our reconciliation poll was proof enough. So we’re going back to the old system
If you have ideas for how we might improve the comment system on the blog, fire away! We’re limited to some extent by TypePad’s software, which is what The Times uses for its blogs. But there are some tweaks we haven’t tried. The goals are to promote thought-provoking but civil commentary in ways that put as few hurdles as possible in the path of would-be participants (without enabling spam or advertising). There are, of course, dozens of other rules in our terms of service, but you get the point.
Oh, and before it comes up yet again: ‘Opinion Manufacturing Division’ was coined by a former Opinion department leader, Michael Kinsley. I believe he was making fun of us by comparing what we do to Industrial Age factory workers. In other words, don’t read anything Orwellian into it -- Michael isn’t that kind of guy. And neither am I.
(A hat tip to reader Andy Nelson for being the first to point out the problem.)
-- Jon Healey
