Commentary by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — As some of you might have noticed, we have been experimenting with the Sumner Newscow comment section.

I am implementing a new policy requiring a surname — preferably a first and middle name — with a registered e-mail address.  Comments without a valid e-mail address will be automatically deleted. The e-mail address will not be publicly displayed, but will allow me to communicate with you if I have an issue or a way to improve your content.

Some will see this as a step toward me becoming more of a p.c. cop. Others will say it still does not go far enough. I have found with the comment section of this site, there is really no room for compromise or a way to make anyone happy.

My goal: to bring as much accountability to the community forum without hampering the free flow of expression. If I could ever obtain that goal, I’d be a happy man.

This will be my last attempt before I decide to either pull the comment section all together or start a registration system with required signatures like through Facebook.

Ultimately, I would prefer you to sign your name in its entirety. There is great power that comes with a signature. People like David Kuchar, Wes Smith and Charlie Jeffries always bring it to this site when they sign their name and state their views. I don’t always agree with what they have to say, and I’m sure they don’t always agree with me, but they have my respect. Besides a lot of you people don’t seem to have any problem bringing it to Facebook or Twitter. Why not do it here?

Let’s just say, I have been making a nuisance of myself off and on for almost 25 years here in Wellington with many irritating inane myopic opinions, and I have yet to be shot. Being hated is overrated.

Why bother?

The comment section of this site has become a bit of a albatross for me. I don’t understand why people get so wound up over it, and it most certainly is not novel. For years, there are comment sections on other news sites, Facebook and college sports message boards. Radio for decades has had its version of comment sections. Those are called talk shows.

It is an opportunity for the Average Joe to speak out. I have always enjoyed that kind of banter. Some like to fish. Some like to run for miles. I like to read Internet banter and listen to talk shows.

But it has created animosity between myself and many people I truly respect, some who have a deep seeded love for this community. That bothers me greatly. And internally, I am constantly torn whether a community forum is good for a public discussion and holding our elected officials accountable for their actions, or if it is contributing to the malcontent of citizens that permeates social media and filters into anger in society.

The comment section, contrary to belief, does not drive the site. It will drive a specific story. But Sumner Newscow averages more than 40 stories a week. In the overall scheme of things it is a bit irrelevant as far as overall hit count is concerned.

So you might be asking, “why bother?” I ask myself that question everyday.

One reason is if I do pull that trigger and get rid of comments, everything changes. This site is less accessible to my readers.

When I started this site four years ago, my goal was to supply the most in depth timely news in the county. I wanted to supply credible, legitimate copy that is well written and informative. I also wanted it to be a site for which you the reader could participate.

Before starting the site more than four years ago, my friends and I had two huge debates. 1) Naming the site. 2) Whether or not to have an Internet comment section.

The community was burned before with the Wellington Daily News. Being typical of the corporate owned business that is our printed paper, the powers to be managed to screw it up by colossal proportions. Years ago, they left the comment section go unmoderated with anonymity. It got out of control, and then when the comments became so absurd and demeaning, the owners’ solution was just to eliminate it in its entirety and act as if they were the heroes of the town for doing so.

I wanted a moderated comment section in which I would diligently administer the flow of content while allowing people a chance to participate in a community discussion. The decision to allow anonymity was to give those people a chance to express their views without the threat of retribution of family members or bosses punishing them for stating those views.

Since that point, the comment section has evolved. We have clamped down significantly on the amount of comments that are allowed on the site. I disable comments much more quickly than I did in the past when I sense the discussion is deteriorating into something more mean and cynical. While we never have allowed comments on police notes or obituaries, we now no longer allow comments on crime stories, unless there is a significant public interest.

This week, I debated hard about allowing comments on the South Haven Police Chief who is accused of misusing funds donated to the police department. It did involve public funds so allowing public commenting was justified. But in the end I could not allow the man’s crucification on this site, especially since we may not know the full story. Those comments can be found on Facebook and Twitter – where opinions are severely more mean spirited and personal, then anything you will view here.

There are other reasons I keep the comment section. This might sound silly to you, but you readers are my copy editors. When I screw up with a misspelling, or utter something grammatically wrong, or have a factual error in a story, you the readers are always good at pointing that out. Please don’t hesitate to continue this practice. I’ll delete your comment before it sees the light of day.

I also crave reader feedback. Usually I can gauge the mood of the public based on the amount of comments I received. This week’s electric rate story, despite my attempt in requiring an e-mail, was barraged with comments. The rate increase appears to be as popular with our readers as a contagious skin rash.

Plus, a community forum makes this site multi-dimensional. It is less about me and more about us.

And without a comment section, I don’t get to read comments like this which was a response to the story involving a scuffle between Wellington and Circle at the end of a football game:

There are some good comments, if you so choose to pay attention.

The last attempt

So this is my last attempt at trying to provide a comment section for the people.

But I need your help.

If you want to continue to have a community forum on this site:

1) Please read the comment policy I’ve outlined here.

2) Please provide either your full name, or a surname – preferably a first or middle name and a legitimate e-mail address.

3) State your opinion in a adult-like mannerly fashion. You never need to be an insufferable jerk to get your opinion across.

4) And don’t play games with me. Your comment privileges will be suspended in a heart beat and I won’t blink an eye to publicly embarrass you.   

In the meantime, I’ll continue to moderate the comment section with the goal of finding some middle ground  – allowing a legitimate public discussion of today’s issues without it turning into some kind of Jerry Springer Facebook shouting match.

And for those of you, who are so easily offended by someone else’s opinion or the comment section in general, perhaps it is time you read something else.  There is a lot of other things to read on this site.

That’s the great thing about this site. There are so many things you can choose to read. Life is too short to get ticked off about opinions that may have no bearing on your life.

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