Update to the comments policy
by Carmen Van Kerckhove and Latoya Peterson
We really hate having to do this, but we are adding yet more rules to the comment policy.
10. If all of your comments are variations on the same theme, we reserve the right to ban you. If every time you post a comment it is a variation of “that’s because white people hate black people” or “you need to stop generalizing white people,” it is generally not conducive to our discussion and only serves to stir up animosity.
11. Any comments using the phrase “the United States of Amerikkka” or “Amerikkka” will be deleted. It is not very original or entertaining at this point, especially not the 400th time someone has to read it. Ditto for comments trying to “explain” that that there really are differences in the behaviors of races. Ditto for comments complaining about the comments - if you take offense to an assumption in a comment, address the speaker directly and respectfully.
If your comment is deleted, please do not post a comment complaining that someone else just said the exact same thing and they got through. Someone putting together a well reasoned comment about how the legacy of slavery has influenced the perceptions of minorities in America is not the same as saying “white people suck.”
12. Any ridiculously off-topic comments will also be deleted. If we are talking about the sexualized images of the Asian American female, there is no need to bring up the best places to get Chinese food in your area.
And a final reminder - we receive an insane amount of comment spam, sometimes more than two hundred messages in an hour. If your comment is in bounds with the current comment policy, please email team@racialicious.com and we will try to find it.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Shamerica wrote:
It wasn’t meant to be original or entertaining it was meant to agree with the notion.
I never said white people suck I said they are socialized in racism and that a minority try to break free. I belive good people are a minority in all races.
I agree the other guy made his point better but that’s no reason to lie about what I said.
You are being nasty to make yourselves feel good at my expense. That says more about you than about me.
“All cruelty springs from weakness”.
Mod Note - Shamerica, why did you assume you were the only person to complain about a comment not getting through while someone else’s did? Do you know how many people comment on this blog? Most of the examples - excluding the one about Chinese food - were generalizations.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 7:37 am ¶
atlasien wrote:
It’s typical innate behavior of multiracial Asians to institute strict comment policies about Chinese-Amerikkkan food. And I’ll take offense to this comment if you let through. Or if you don’t :-p
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 8:29 am ¶
Carmen Van Kerckhove wrote:
LOL!
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 8:30 am ¶
Persia wrote:
Two hundred messages in an hour? Yikes. Thanks for keeping up with the comments as quickly as you do!
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 8:46 am ¶
The Cruel Secretary wrote:
@atlasien–You’re baaaad. LOL
@Persia–agreed.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 9:04 am ¶
Eccentric1 wrote:
I love this blog!
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 10:06 am ¶
Aaron wrote:
I’m wondering what your thoughts are on (free) registration, or at least keeping a list of email addresses for comments to be greenlighted. I’m sure the thought has probably at least crossed your minds, but it could save you some effort, and I think also could benefit the discussions here a lot.
For the registration model, just give people the option of registering. If they do, their comments could be posted automatically until they post something violating the guidelines, in which case their account is banned. Or perhaps, comments could be greenlighted only after a certain number, to prevent people just registering over and over to ensure their comments being published.
By keeping a “nice list” of emails, I mean after someone, who has provided their email address, shows a record of posting valuable comments, their email could just be added to a filter that automatically lets their comments through. And of course different filter settings could be used to help keep out spam and problem posters.
I think either of these would really help discussion by eliminating the lag between submission and publication of a comment. That way commenters will be able to read others’ comments in real time, and respond more quickly, more and deeper discussions.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 10:47 am ¶
Aaron wrote:
Errr. And that’s supposed to say “enabling more and deeper discussions” at the very end there.
And that was quick! But you can’t always be ready to approve new comments immediately, right?
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 10:50 am ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:
Hi Aaron -
Carmen and I both moderate at different times. I try to structure my days so that I’m checking every few minutes while I am at a computer - helps me to wade through spam easier.
Here are my issues with registration (and Carmen, feel free to jump in)
1. It’s a pain in the ass. It’s one of the reasons I don’t comment on Jezebel or Feministing - I rarely comment on all the feeds I read anyway, and that seems like way too much work to do just to drop a comment and roll.
2. When talking about sensitive issues like race, even our regular commenters can sometimes be out of line - see the Fat Acceptance Post or any post on Muslims to see what I mean. We generally let things through, but there are a few times I can remember having to delete a comment from someone who is here all the time. So, they still need to be checked, unfortunately.
A nice list would be worth looking into though…
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 10:57 am ¶
Aaron wrote:
Latoya,
As far as registration, what I had in mind was that you would have the option of registering, in which case posts could be posted immediately, or at least faster, or not registering, and still being able to comment, but having to wait for your comment to be approved.
And yeah, we’re all humans, and we’re all stupid sometimes, even when we’re normally very respectful. But I think if either registration or a “nice list” were used, it would still help take care of unthoughtful comments from regular users. There are several ways I see this happening.
1) They would be the exception, and not the rule. When a commentor who has registered, or who is on the “nice list” posts something offensive, it could still be deleted.
2) If offensive posts became the rule, and not the exception for one person, they could be banned from automatic approval. Everyone would know this, and presumably try to avoid this.
3) I think it could help draw more comments, and regular users. Because discussion could go deeper, and because there would be new incentive for informed and thoughtful discussion, my hope is the community here would strengthen and grow. Because of this, if a regular poster does post something offensive, ignorant, uninformed, or whatever, it may not even be necessary for you and Carmen to take action. With a strong enough community, other regular users would post informed responses, calling out that user for their behavior, and explaining why. So my hope is that a system like the one I propose could help encourage respectful, informed debate, without too many derails, straight-up offensiveness, and other comments with little value.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 11:17 am ¶
Mireille wrote:
Two hundred spam messages in an hour? Wow! I really applaud you guys on keeping out the hate and ignorance and including the quality for a meaningful discourse on top of your full time jobs! I hope you all know how much it means to so many of us, and thanks for keeping up the great work!
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 2:08 pm ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:
i agree with latoya. i help moderate comments as well and i def. see “nice folks” making comments that are not quite nice or that show their ignorance on a subject they normally don’t discuss.
while i understand your reasoning, i find certain discussions to be more volatile than others and often those are the ones that result in comments that make us say “wtf???”
it may end up with moderators doing more work than necessary in some cases b/c we’d be busy double checking…
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 2:15 pm ¶
Celeste wrote:
I didn’t know you get that much spam. Thanks for taking one for the team.
I’d like to second the point about respectful addressing of others. We all get angry at what other people say but we should try to keep from flying off the handle at/insulting someone without first trying to respectfully point out a flaw in their arguement.
@ Aaron: I think interacting in real time would help the discussions as well and might decrease the amount of misunderstandings.
I wish that I could suggest something to help but I don’t know squat about running a blog. Maybe there could be a thread for suggestions as to how to make that possible.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 2:33 pm ¶
Elle wrote:
I think this may be the first time I’ve felt grateful for more rules. Rule 12 makes me especially happy. (Can we have more, please?! Hehe.) Seriously though, reading comments about Chinese food when the issue at hand was the sexual objectification of Asian/Asian-American women was maddening and somehow disturbing.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 7:01 pm ¶
Vandia wrote:
It is strange to remember that just a year or two ago there were no comment policies. I have not been visiting this blog as much I used to ( I am busy with school), but I have noticed how much the level of discourse sometimes deteriorates too quickly.That old saying (that i don’t really like) is sometimes true- every country deserves the government it has. If you think the comment policies are being too restrictive or unfair, maybe you have a hand in this. Just be thoughtful about what you will post next time.
Posted 02 Apr 2008 at 10:25 pm ¶
sarah whiteface wrote:
Great blog; great rules which I copied to adapt if I ever get a blog.
And ‘Shamerica,’ re: “I belive[sic] good people are a minority in all races.” You might have better experiences if you believed good people are a majority in all races. It is amazing how your outlook can change your actions and then the reactions of people to you. I am assuming you believe you are “good people;” thus you are projecting an elitist attitude to say the least.
Any way, super blog. I have a suggestion — please don’t take offense although I am a new comer. Why don’t one (or more) of you start a blog on Obama’s website to call attention to Dunbar Village in particular and violence against womenen in general. It would get a lot of attention and would do some needed educating of people who might never come see the topic otherwise.
And Obama sorely needs some educating in this area. In fact, on his issues page on civil rights where it invites comment and ideas a well written post — and there is some great writing here, might even bring this issue to the fore.
I am not well enough steeped in this area nor am I a good enough writer to do it justice. I am working on a couple of things now and I’m glacially slow. So I am asking you to stand up and (maybe) make a change.
I am working on an article/post/whatever on the ongoing war in America. So far it includes:
“There is a war going on in America. War, right now, right here.
And as with every war ever, women and children are most often the victims.
Sometimes here, as elsewhere, children are pressed into service.
The reasons given are never true, whether for the war as a whole or for small actions within it.”
I think there is a commonality between the rapes of women in the Congo and in Florida, in Iraq and in the USA.
sam
Posted 03 Apr 2008 at 5:00 am ¶