$\"Jim$ <\/a>

Jim Kirk<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThere are so many people accessing content through social media that I\u2019d like to feel that it\u2019s an adequate solution until we do get a regular commenting platform,\u201d Kirk said. \u201cWe want a commenting system that allows people to engage intelligently and professionally, and that from our standpoint, requires the least amount of moderation. You don\u2019t want to have to spend a lot of money having to constantly moderate a commenting section. I think we will get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Sun-Times received some negative reaction (including here<\/a>) when the comments were first shut off, Kirk said, he\u2019s heard no complaints lately and he\u2019s seen no drop-off in online traffic. \u201cSome sites that cover media gave us kudos for it. So it was kind of a mixed bag,\u201d he recalled. \u201cThe way we had our commenting set up allowed for trolls to overtake it. That was a big turnoff for readers who did want to engage.\u201d<\/p>\n

In announcing the ban<\/a>\u00a0on April 12, managing editor Craig Newman told readers: \u201cThe world of Internet commenting offers a marvelous opportunity for discussion and the exchange of ideas. But as anyone who has ever ventured into a comment thread can attest, these forums too often turn into a morass of negativity, racism, hate speech and general\u00a0trollish behaviors\u00a0that detract from the content.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo that end, we are working on development of a new commenting system we hope will not only allow for free discussion, but encourage increased quality of the commentary and help us better police the worst elements of these threads. We\u2019ll have more in the weeks to come on this development,\" Newman wrote.<\/p>\n

\"Again, we are not doing away with comments. But we do want to take some time and work on the qualitative aspect of how they are handled and how we can foster a productive discussion rather than an embarrassing mishmash of fringe ranting and ill-informed, shrill bomb-throwing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"