“And if you do moderate comments, then you become liable for what's in them – and if something slips through the cracks or someone posts a libel, the news organization is at risk for an indefensible lawsuit.”

This belief is widespread, but unfounded – Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act offers immunity for online publishers.

http://www.citmedialaw.org/section-230

At our site, we require commentors to register, but they can choose their usernames – a step that's halfway between anonymous and requiring a “true identity.”

I think anonymous comments on big news sites will be a thing of the past at some point. They suck up too much staff time, which is something we don't have the luxury of anymore.

We do the after-the-fact moderation Pluck was designed to maintain using abuse reports. We have a staff of editors, copyeditors, online producers and others who are assigned to look in on those abuse reports around the clock. Consistency is the real problem when it comes to doing this, but we try our best to make sure all moderators follow our discussion rules when it comes to removing comments.

I'd give my right arm for an ability to block by IP address, but so far we don't have that ability. We're looking into Facebook Connect for our site's interactions in the future – which I'd like to think would calm things down a bit.

Sure, there are people who are going to lie about their identity. But the absolute bottom feeders are less likely to go to all that trouble. And if they have to have a verifiable e-mail address to sign up, that's even one step further.

It's all very well and nice that the LA Times moderates all comments before they're posted but the fact is that most newspapers don't have the staff anymore to do that. And if you do moderate comments, then you become liable for what's in them – and if something slips through the cracks or someone posts a libel, the news organization is at risk for an indefensible lawsuit. I also wonder, are those comments moderated overnight, or does anyone posting a comment overnight have to wait until the morning to see it go up? Just curious.

Anonymity allows people to be venal as they ever imagined.

Beyond that, the main issue lies on the side of the news organizations.

If you're going to allow comments on stories, which at this point you simply must, then you need to have the resources to deal with complaints about them. You have to have at least a couple of people around the clock who can delete comments, block users, etc.

And the reporters and editors simply MUST understand that they have to get involved, too. If someone's being attacked, they need to bring that to the attention of the appropriate editor, rather than just complaining about it. And if a reader is seeking help understanding something, and the reporter/editor knows the answer, freakin' answer it. But politely.

The truth is that people see us as a giant megaphone that they get to take hold of. So they abuse that.

See also: Twitter and Skittles