Slugger is one of the very few places where you can have civilised chats about contentious topics. It is essential to give people a voice; to share their opinions without being shouted down.
We have noticed an increase in toxicity in the comments of late. I know with the pandemic tempers are frayed. But there is no excuse for some of the behaviour: it is just bad manners. There’s an agreement that in these stressful times we all need to be more courteous towards each other
We will be having a crackdown on comments for the next while to restore civility. In particular, we will be looking out for the following:
- Not engaging with the topic of the post
- Whataboutery
- Being dismissive of other people’s views
- Going off topic
- Ganging up on/shouting down people with minority viewpoints
- Contributing nothing useful to the conversation
At times for contentious topics, we may even switch to pre moderating comments. If this happens, it might take awhile for your comment to show. Also we apologise in advance if your comment does not get published or is deleted. We expect a certain amount of collateral damage during the process.
You might also notice a reduction in the comment count for some posts. But we are taking the view that it is better to have 50 constructive comments than 500 comments that are all over the place.
Slugger is a place where all are welcome to have a chat and a bit of craic. But just like a real bar, we will not tolerate the drunk who starts slabbering all round them and winding people up.
Remember the golden rules: play the ball, not the man or woman; and don’t say anything you would not say to someone’s face.
It is also useful to familiarise yourself with our comments policy and frequently asked questions.
Can I ask that you stop and think before making a comment. Are you making a comment just to show how clever you are? To demean or make the other person feel stupid? To show that your side is right and their side is wrong? To steer the discussion away from the topic to the usual tedious arguments? If you have something constructive to add to the debate then great, if not then take a deep breath and resist the temptation.
If it fine to have robust debate and to challenge people. But you must always remember to do it in a civil manner. All of us need to learn to be more open to ideas and have our viewpoints challenged. It is essential that we listen and acknowledge other viewpoints or else we just end up in a self-serving echo chamber.
To sum it all up, be kind.
Photo by Lisa Fotios is licensed under CC0
I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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