Never post angry: If you are unsure whether to post something, take some time out to think it over or run it by others. John Killen says, “Don’t get nasty, no matter how nasty the comments are. Stay above it and set an example for how comments should be written.”
Be careful: The Plain Dealer came up with the Three P’s of online behavior: Professional, Public, Permanent.
Be mindful of tone: “Don’t patronize,” says Killen. “…it never pays to try to show anyone up.”
Don’t get personal: Directing criticism at specific users (or anyone, for that matter) puts them in a defensive position. A general “Less bickering, please” is preferable to “Don’t be so argumentative, Mr. X.”
Be strategic: Responding to comments should not take much of anyone’s day. Spending time responding to insightful comments on highly visible stories in their early moments is a more effective means of communicating the expected level of discourse than responding to an ignorant comment on an obscure story.
Be judicious: The bulk of the conversation in comments should be contributions from users. Over-responding can draw discussion away from the central theme and over-zealous responding takes the spotlight off of the users’ comments. Dialogue between users is much more meaningful than input from perceived authority figures.
Know when not to bother: Not every comment requires or deserves a response. If it violates the guidelines, remove it and move on.
Know when to seek support: Big stories or sensitive stories might require the combined attentions of the newsroom, the website, the moderation team and Advance Internet. It’s easier to keep a train wreck from occurring than to try to pick up the pieces afterward. To start the ball rolling contact the online team.
Restricting comments: We can shut down comments if readers are unable to behave. But we don’t do it lightly. The decision should be made only after conversation with Jerry Casey or Susan Gage.
Home page management
Big picture: Any story with a horizontal photo (no longer has to be large, but should not be a mug) that flows to Oregon Local News can show in the big pic. The Oregon Local News blog featured entry is the one that feeds it.
Editors’ picks: To send a story to the home page editors picks list use this tag: @hp-editorspicks-olive. To pick the featured pick, go to this blog and use the More Actions dropdown to pick the featured post: HP Editor’s Picks
Sports module: To send a story to the home page sports module use this tag: @hp-sports-olive. To pick the featured pick go to this blog and use the More Actions dropdown to pick the featured post: HP Sports
Business module: To send a story to the home page business module add this tag to any story: @hp-business-olive. To choose the featured pick (horizontal photo recommended) go to this blog and use the More Actions dropdown to pick the featured post: HP Business
Entertainment module: In the “Oregon Entertainment” impact blog, select “Entries” under the “Manage” dropdown. Select the blog post you want to feature, then go to the More Actions dropdown and select “featured entries.”
Living module: In the “Oregon Living” impact blog, select “Entries” under the “Manage” dropdown. Select the blog post you want to feature, then go to the More Actions dropdown and select “featured entries.”
Photo module: To feed a photo to the home page photo module add this tag: @potd-olive
Big page photo module: To feed a photo to the business home page photo module, use this tag on a story with a photo: @biz-photo