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While they make some editors want to pull out their hair, online story comments are still an important piece of our websites. In some places, commenting forums have become close communities that have built unique bonds and offer our websites different perspectives and wonderful conversations.
And of course there are others who are abusive and cross the line in story comments.
Getting the conversation headed in a civil direction can happen with a little direction from the newsroom.
An example of that can be found with what the State Journal Register did with a letter to the editor.
A letter in today's paper took to task anyone who would be so silly to spend time watching the Royal Wedding. Instead of just burying the letter in the opinion section of the website, the paper put the letter on their homepage and asked readers if they agree or disagree and to talk about it in their comments section.
As of this afternoon there are around 20 comments on the letter. Not a ton, but this isn't a letter that's likely to get that kind of participation if not for the encouragement of the newspaper and the promotion.
This treatment from Springfield shows that a consistent practice for asking readers to respond on a specific letter in comments could be a good practice and a nice way of creating participation. If your newspaper has started asking readers to respond on your Facebook page to a question, you could easily transition that question to a story on your website in a way that Springfield did, today.
Check out story ideas, interesting ways to use Web tools and any way journalists are reaching out to readers.
