Online comment section reopened to posting

The Pahrump Valley Times has reopened its comment section of the online version of the newspaper. It can be found under every article posted at pvtimes.com.

The staff asks that people wanting to comment on the stories refrain from using foul language, posting third-party videos and making threats to anyone or the newspaper. Such behavior will cause the posting to be removed, and could lead to the comments section being closed permanently.

We have tried to increase security so it will be harder to post anonymously. The comments section is a public forum, but it is also important to remember that comments posted are from readers and in no way do they represent the view of Stephens Media or the Pahrump Valley Times.

Many newspapers around the country have reader comment sections, but others, such as the Chicago Sun-Times, also temporarily closed theirs due to hate speech, racism and negativity of posters. The Sun-Times worked, just we have, to improve the way people are allowed to post, hopefully doing away with so many anonymous posters.

Sun-Times managing editor Craig Newman wrote in April that the “tone and quality” of the comments sections often results in “an embarrassing mishmash of fringe ranting and ill-informed, shrill bomb-throwing.”

He continued that, “The world of Internet commenting offers a marvelous opportunity for discussion and the exchange of ideas. But as anyone who has ever ventured into a comment thread can attest, these forums too often turn into a morass of negativity, racism, hate speech and general trollish behaviors that detract from the content.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Arnold M. Knightly

Editor, Pahrump Valley Times