I love the idea of comments to my posts. I love that you can criticize me, disagree with me, and ask questions. I love that some of you have insights to offer each other, too.
And I’ve always been loathe to moderate comments. I’ve really only removed extreme misogyny, graphic sexuality, and non-public information about individuals (like the full name and address of another commenter who uses a pseudonym).
Part of it is that I don’t think I’ve especially sagacious as a moderator. If I start moderating ‘hostile’ or ‘off-topic’ comments, it’s a pretty thin line to start seeing comments critical of me as either hostile or off-topic. Wouldn’t the comments be much nicer without their invective? Wouldn’t it be nicer without the commenter who says I’ve got no idea what I’m talking about?
My general approach is that ‘it’s the internet’ and that what someone writes reflects more on their own character than on anyone else. And I grew up online in the pre-internet era, I’m still a little bit naively optimistic from those times (even though I saw the cesspool that usenet became).
I’ve never once gotten an email from a member that I can recall thanking me for having such a light touch in the comments. I’ve gotten many emails questioning the value of the comments section that flows from such a light moderating touch.
And the truth is I don’t love reading my own comments section. When I wake up in the morning, after several hours off-line, there’s a lot to go through. It’s not the first thing I usually want to do. The truth is I do want people to be able to disagree, to offer their opinions, and most of all to offer comments that are useful and constructive.
So I’m going to be a bit more aggressive in trying to ‘clean up’ the comments section, as an experiment.
- Expect to see more trolls banned. There are people who come to the comments to try to rile up other commenters. They do it under several names, sometimes to make it look like their controversial (often racist) opinion is widespread. And they do it under pretty thinly-veiled pseudonyms if you stop and think about it. In the past I might have blocked their IP address, so they’d use another. There are other tools at my disposal and I will use them.
- More comments will need pre-approval before going live. This won’t be most comments! But if your response to a post about a points transfer bonus is to point out that award travel has gotten more expensive under the (Biden/Trump) administration, expect that to go into a queue for my review. And don’t expect to see it approved, either. There are plenty of things in travel that are inherently political, and it’s fine to react to those things. But an off-topic rant that has nothing to do with the post, and off-topic politics and racism? Nah, not so much.
That said, I do get emails from time to time saying “I can’t believe you support X, because I saw it in the comments!” It’s a funny sort of reaction. Just because a comment was posted to the site 30 minutes ago doesn’t mean I’ve seen it. I have meetings! I have dinner with my family! I do sleep (sometimes).
And this site is just me. I write the content. I manage links. I look over the comments. There are no employees. Sometimes I miss things. But you’re always welcome to email me if you have questions or concerns.
I, like many others who have posted, appreciate the time you put into your blog, Gary. As a libertarian-type, my personal orientation is towards unedited comments. That said, as a libertarian, my personal orientation is also towards letting bloggers adopt whatever policy they want. Gary is not the government, so “free speech” doesn’t seem a particularly relevant basis for deciding here.
Ideally, people would just be mature and not go into the ENDLESS cycles of nasty and sometimes vulgar attacks on each other. But they do, so here we are….
One request. Please don’t block the posts that dump on various service providers (e.g., “Bonvoyed!”). Seriously, I think this can be cathartic for some people who have had to deal with headaches caused by these businesses. Trashing Marriott or Frontier is different from trashing you, me, or Billy-Bob Commenter….
Happy Holidays Gary and All,
Thing 1
Fully supportive – about half the time I dip into the comments I get depressed about society.
How about giving viewers the opportunity to ‘up-vote/down-vote’ comments? And then have them sort using that? Maybe needs a technology change.
Also, Gary, if you put a star on comments that you find interesting (whether you agree with them or not) and have those rise to the top, that would also be helpful.
Just my 2c.
Perfect, thank you Gary.
Thank you, Gary!
Thing 1 reads the article then tells us his political views in the second sentence of his comment.
Libertarians are included in political opinions we don’t care about.
Long overdue, thank you.
Gary I read a personal attack on you in the comments in the last week that was over the top. I can fully understand why you’re doing this. It’s unfortunate but fully understood.
Long overdue, thank you. We don’t need a comment that just goes into a political rant. All those should be banned.
Amen sir, appreciate your approach here.
Good plan. Some of the old comments did reflect badly on you via association.
My personal moderation opinion is “no assholes”. It brings the vibe down and discourages regular people from commenting. You can be entirely politically neutral while still removing any comments that cross a line, be it “you wouldnt talk that way in front of my grandmother” or whatever other standard you use
Thank you Gary. Please clean up the comments. I’m supportive of disagreements on whatever the blog posts discusses, but the amount of trolling and off-topic harassment has made the comments extremely toxic and unproductive. “I disagree with xxxx” or “I agree with xxxx” is vastly different than “Trump sucks/Biden sucks” non sequiturs that inevitably infect any mature discussion.
Thank you Gary. This is long overdue. Comments are very helpful (which is why I no longer read TPG–when they turned off comments I was through), but some of the comments recently having absolutely nothing to do with the articles on your blog are over the top and should be moderated. Great move from a loyal fan who reads your blog twice a day. The racist stuff, the Brandon stuff, the Trump stuff and lately the fat stuff don’t belong here and just slow me down when I am trying to quickly get the information I desire. And, by the way, if you weren’t an “expert”, people wouldn’t be reading your blog (including the ones who are shocked . . . shocked . . . that you call yourself one).
I think part of the issue is that some of the stuff you are interested in like policy and politics draws the crazies.
I’m glad you are giving this a try, Gary. I hope it works. I’m skeptical. Five years ago, I thought the comments were a strength of this blog. Now I avoid them, and, frankly, visit the site less because of them. Nothing you’ve done, specifically. Jut kind of the way it is. I hope this cleans things up a bit.
Thanks @Johnny ! I think you just made my point.
Mazl Tov! And Happy Hanukkah.
I’m honesty surprised nobody actually appreciated your old style approach to moderation, with no bs censorship masked as “community standards”. Thank you.
As for the moderation, the only thing that missing in current moderation are allowed ad hominem attacks. Remove them and they will be fun to read again
Thank you, Gary. I’ve been reading your blog for a long time, but I agree that lately reading the comments lately have been less than helpful. So, I appreciate this step you are taking.
Happy Holidays to you and your family!
I think this is great Gary. I’ll have to moderate my own propensity for sarcasm a little. 😉 Thanks for an enjoyable site, and happy holidays.
Thank you! Comments can add a lot of value to a post, but VFTW has been attracting some awful people for years. I won’t miss angry political takes on posts that have little to do with politics.
Kudos… thank you!
Very nice! Time to silence some of the unnecessary noise in the background.
Great idea.
I appreciate the sincerity of this post. I left VFTW for a few years because of the unrestrained, naked racism in the comments. It was never my feeling that you *should* remove them, or that you necessarily endorsed them. But, you gets to make your choice to let them exist, and I get to make mine to leave.
I don’t really buy the “it’s the internet” idea because, when you host a site, it’s *your* corner of the internet, just as if you own a bar in a city and are bartending every night and it’s filled with racist assholes, you may not be a racist asshole yourself, but your tacit acceptance of those patrons is going to reflect on you; you can’t just shrug and say “it’s the city, it’s got good and bad people, everyone can look out for themselves.” I mean, you can, but then decent people don’t want to be there and you’re left with a racist asshole bar.
I also think you can own which posts might require closer attention, which was my original objection when I left. I mean, a lot of people give you shit for it, but I *like* that VFTW posts edgy, salacious, exploitative stories. I find them entertaining. But it’s these stories that invite the trolls to be at their worst. If a story involves a non-white person, there’s a very high chance that someone’s going to write something really nasty about that race’s people as a whole, and so that story is going to require more vigilance, than, say, a change to a partner route or a mileage sale.
I think you’re asking the right questions, Gary; it sucks and is a tricky business having to content moderate, as any social media operator will agree, but when you open the door to your place, you’ve gotta be prepared to throw out the jerks if you don’t want it to be a hellhole. Thanks.
Gary, keep up the good work. I definitely appreciate all you do. Your site is the only one i read consistently.
We need a lot more “good” in this world! Thank you, Gary for advising us on great things we may not know about in the travel world. And thanks to all the commentators who share other info in your replies. I’m a corporate travel agent and you help make my job easier. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year to everyone here.
@Gary, I just noticed the “Like” button at the bottom of the post (arrived by e-mail). It looks like there’s now a possibility to “like” someone else’s post…is that new?
Thanks for all of the hard work you put into the column. I’ve been a moderator and it can really suck up time and energy. I’m all for your changes.
Sounds good Gary. Enjoy your column.
Thank you. I had just about decided to let this blog go because of the blatant sexism and racism in the comments. I’m glad to see this won’t continue and I’ll be able to focus on the interesting, travel related content.
This news is clearly hitting a very positive note but let me remind people that they need to comment on the stories that Gary posts.
I too fully support these new rules. Light touch is fine, but nobody needs trolls. Least of all you, Gary. Keep up the good work.
Hip-hip! Good choice
@ Gary — You have to admit that you’ve been kinda encouraging the bad dehavior, especially the last few weeks. I thought you had decided to go all-in Jerry Springer. I was personally considering stopping all commenting since it had turned so sour. Mark me very glad to see this change. I wont miss the racists.
There are simply thousands of other places on the Internet where people who like political pissing matches can get their kicks. Sure some topics are inherently political, but even those can and should be discussed thoughtfully. I appreciate the new policy immensely. I love informative comments that help me understand travel, points and miles. That’s what should be encouraged.
Disagreement, as long as it is civil, is a good thing. Good luck with the new format.
I am OK with this. I think it’s really frustrating to see how many sites have turned off comments– to me, it suggests a sort of editorial infallibility that isn’t open to critique. VFTW is my main source for travel-related news, in part because I appreciate the fundamentally sound economics-based approach to so many articles (that’s arguably lacking among many other pointsbloggers) and the relatively minimal shilling of garbage products with high commissions (that’s unquestionably lacking among many other pointsbloggers– I get it, you want to monetize the site).
So while I’ve generally appreciated the open forum and diverse commentariat that comprises the VFTW community, I have found myself pausing and wondering why so many comment threads devolve into weird Trump/Biden non sequitur flame wars. I tell myself it’s valuable to get a perspective that is otherwise missing in my life, but while I have a light libertarian kneejerk reaction to this, I’m probably not going to miss it. So fair enough, Gary. Well reasoned, as usual. Thank you for having a light touch to the comments section, and for seeking a via media to keep it open while hopefully filtering the weird political/personal spam.
Good, thanks!
I am in total agreement with you Gary. I enjoy your comments and your point of view and your permissiveness in allowing the goofballs to have their say but some people just go a bit too far.
Fully support this approach. I find your articles often of interest, from which the comments very often detract.
I went back and read a follow up comment (to my comment) on the Orlando Airport post….and clearly it didn’t help. I think the world of you Gary, regardless of your political leanings, because you consistently deliver worthy news about the topics I want to follow. I just think you deserve more respect. I don’t do what you do…but I’m glad you work hard at something I can respect. Just saying thank you…that’s all. I’ll continue to read…and respect!
Gary, Your posts are ones I always read. Thank you for providing interesting and/ or entertaining information. The comments…your call. By now, I recognize the a lot of the agitator names & scroll by them. If their opinions matter to them so much, then their actual name should accompany the nasty comments, and not a pseudonym. For the most part, I enjoy reading the comments section
Thanks!
This is wonderful. Thank you! I can’t imagine you do enjoy plowing through them either. I enjoy seeing the genuine reactions from others who enjoy travel and reading these stories. It’s hard when everything has to be political (or personal toward you or another poster). I hated when TPG got rid of comments because as annoying as they are, the comments made reading more personal, but I also hate the constant trolling happening. This is the best move. Smart choice and I hope it works out well.
Glad you’re keeping the comments. Lotta extra work for you, but they add a lot overall even if not every single comment does.
Gary I trust your judgement more than any other blogger
You have had the thickest skin of anyone out there as well as the patience
Even when some have gone on the attack
Social media has become a more hostile space than we all started decades ago
Its a changed world and more are unhappy out there.
Hope you can find that balance and let truth ,honesty and positive discussions prevail without the anger and venom we sometimes see.
Your blogs discussions are some of the most relevant.Thank you for all your dedicated efforts
Happy Holiday season
I hope the moderation doesn’t add too much to the time your blog costs you.
And comments can be useful. I dropped TPG to the bottom of my to read list when he scrapped comments. Which means that most of the time it doesn’t get read at all.
Good luck!
Gotta give you props for the change.
Thanks Gary
Jim Lovejoy,
I agree with you that I don’t read aviation sites that don’t allow comments – even if I don’t participate in comments on that site.
News will be found by any site. Comments are unique.
They just need to be kept from going too far off the rails.
Posts that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic or users that repeatedly turn topics into political or other inflammatory discussions should be banned