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New Mandala has always taken a democratic approach to reader comments, in the belief that the opinions of readers are as valuable as those of authors. We’re appreciative when readers take the time to write up thoughtful responses to posts, and we thank all those who’ve done so over the years. You’re part of what makes New Mandala such a valuable part of discussion and debate on Southeast Asia.
It’s no secret, though, that too often these constructive contributions are drowned out by argumentative, irrelevant, and downright inane comments. Our editors have long faced dilemmas in comment moderation: we never like to prevent someone from having their say, even when it’s meant cutting people a lot of slack when it comes to tone and content.
From now on, we’re taking a harder line. In a spirit of transparency, we’d like to refresh everybody’s understanding of our comments policy and flag that it is going to be enforced more rigorously.
Our comments policy is as follows:
Comments that are published are:
Brief. Make your point in as few words as possible.
Relevant. Address the article and the ideas and arguments in it.
Respectful. Don’t attack an author, our editorial team, other commenters or the website. This means using courteous, civil language, and playing the ball and not the player.
Rigorous. Correct inaccuracies, errors and misjudgments, but make sure that you hold your comments to the same standard.
Comments will be deleted if:
- They are spam.
- Off topic or irrelevant.
- Libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, offensive, clearly false, sexist, misogynist, racist, homophobic or are considered to bring down the standard of debate and community at New Mandala.
The New Mandala editorial team reserves the right to delete comments submitted to the website at any time without notice – this includes if a comment is approved in error. We will not enter into discussion about any decisions or actions taken in regard to comments.
Starting immediately, we will not be approving comments that don’t strictly adhere to the policy. This means comments that:
- Contain ad hominem in any amount.
- Are not directly relevant to the content of posts.
- Are gratuitously strident or sarcastic.
This is not about censoring critical comments about the opinions New Mandala publishes. If you think a particular author’s argument is wrong, then great! Our readers should hear why. You just have to make your point in a smart, mature, and respectful way. Our contributors take the time to put their opinions out there without compensation. Out of respect to them, their work should be engaged with intelligently. Likewise, it’s out of respect to readers, who come to New Mandala to inform themselves about Southeast Asia, that we want to ensure that the comments section is a place for enlightening discussion.
So, when drafting your next comment, keep the above rules in mind. Our editors will not entertain complaints from commenters who can’t conform to them.
Cheers and happy commenting,
Liam Gammon
Editor, New Mandala
Delighted to see the change in policy. I think it will bring back a lot of commentators who drifted away from the site as the comments section deteriorated over recent years. Best wishes.
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Hard pressed to see how this NM response will encourage comments from T’land. There, even the truth may be judged ‘defamatory’ by the courts. And with facebook now cowering down before the dictator/king expect cringing from all corners.
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I agree entirely with your policy and the reasoning you set out.
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Spam (1) and off-topic (2) are clear. But when it comes to the 3rd, beauty is in the eyes of beholder. Sometimes, the posts themselves may not meet the criteria. For example, calling for military actions against a particular country, using arguments which are “clearly false” to many people. Such posts incite heated comments. Even in that case, a better way is to attach a conciliatory response at the first instance, reserving outright removal for 2nd or 3rd instances. Like,
Dear XXX,
We understand the issue YYY is controversial. We suggest you to keep a cool head when commenting. Best, NM
Everyone has biases. In a truly democratic sense, whether a comment adds to the discussion or not should be judged by the community, and not by an editor or two.
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A long overdue change of policy. I have not been reading here as much as usual in the last few months, not wanting to see the lengthy schoolboy rants and arguments that have started recently. and commenters writing articles, not comments.
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