Editor Delivers Comments Warning

Concerns about abusive user comments are a burning issue among local press editors – and one has decided to make his position clear.

Gerry Keighley at the South Wales Argus has taken the step of displaying a warning message to visitors at the site to make it clear that personal insults are not welcome.

The editor told holdthefrontpage.co.uk: “We’ve reached the point where we have to send a clear message to the minority who are disrupting our websites’ reader interaction facility.

“They feel they can post insults and disguised obscenities carte blanche under some sort of freedom of speech agenda.

“What they are actually doing is ruining the credibility of our websites and driving serious debaters away.”

He added: “Media commentators are describing some interactive sites as bear gardens and I don’t want ours to carry such a description.

“We usually remove unpleasant comments anyway but readers often see them before they’re taken off and wonder why we have allowed them.

“Now we have made it clear that such comments are not welcome and will not be tolerated.”

The message is posted on the South Wales Argus news page.