18 thoughts on “New Rules for Commenting on Election Stories and Candidates

  1. Great move Charlie. If you are going to comment on the election, then let your neighbors know who is making the statement. If you can’t, maybe the statement shouldn’t be made.

  2. Happy to see this new policy, and sign my name.
    We all have different opinions. I believe in always being respectful.
    A good book to read is “Getting to Yes” by Roger Fisher & William Ury.

  3. Excellent! The entire internet should apply the same policies and our civic discourse would be much more civil and productive.

    Can you tell us how you confirm that the names are real? What prevents someone from making up a name or pretending to be someone else?

    However you manage this situation these policies are a step in the right direction. Thank you!

  4. Yes.

    A real name and address also puts a target on someone. We have all seen it. Say something that the laft disagrees with and lose your job, lose your home.

    Remember. What goes around comes around….and nothing lasts forever.

  5. I have mixed feelings about this policy. I can see the logic to a point, but as Watertown has increasingly become a much more far liberal town, conservative people and their views seem to get pounced upon more aggressively. If full names are listed, I fear that some people could get targeted. There are and always have been differing points of view on key topics, but there is a growing problem of tech companies and mainstream media deleting or not covering both sides of issues. A great example of that is what happened to Larry Elder, who is a black Republican candidate for Governor in CA. A white woman dressed in a gorilla costume through eggs at him yesterday and that was not covered on any mainstream media last night. They are not going to look for or prosecute this woman for hate crimes. If the candidate was a Democrat, all hell would have broken out. We need to guarantee protections and freedom of speech for everyone. If a point of view is written and is a thoughtful, legitimate idea, I feel it should be able to be listed without a full name. Charlie, you always review comments before publishing them and I feel you do a good job of screening and feel that should be enough.

    • I understand your point of view, and I know people on the other side of the spectrum who feel the same way (or vice versa).

      I will say that the people who have asked for people to sign their names come from all across the political spectrum. All have lived in town for many years, and many are lifelong residents.

  6. Has it ever actually occurred that someone has suffered any material consequence based on disagreeing with the left in the comments of Watertown News? Is there any indication from anyone in the town that they would impose such a consequence? I understand that people are worried about being “cancelled,” but from where I sit the ratio of fear of this occurring to its actual occurrence is way out of whack.

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