Monday, July 28, 2008

Comments Now Require Registration

Registration is easy. If you have a google or OpenID account of any kind, you're already registered. Otherwise, you can sign up for a Google account here.

Our comment policy is four words long: Don't. Be. An. Asshole.

214 comments

Nate said...

test

counsellorben said...

Nate,

Thank you.

The site was becoming a victim of its own success.  Perhaps the comments will once again rise to the level of the content and analysis you put into it.

John said...

Yes! Good idea, Nate. Thank you!

Diane said...

Great idea and great policy. The work that goes into this is amazing, and some of the comments detracted.

sniperct said...

Thank you so much. I don't comment much but I read lots, and it was getting atrocious.

junebugamy said...

Thanks! Look forward to some civil discussion

Russell said...

I really appreciate this measure. Trying to sift through the noise in the comments to get any signal is tough, but it's helpful as there are some incredibly insightful and well-informed readers here.

And Karl Rove.

Tybalt said...

I can't thank you enough, for the registration and the comments policy, which is perfect.

Oldnovice said...

Thanks.

Matt said...

About time. Good move Nate!

lkatrell said...

Thanks, Nate. I'm a lurker and have become disheartened recently by the nutty commenters/trollers that the increased popularity of your site has attracted.

McFloat said...

bravo

though this in no way guarantees a return to civil discussion

sugerfunk said...

Good idea. I understand why you resisted for so long in the interest of free speech at any cost, but the trolls (on both sides of the partisan divide, mind you) were really coming out to play.

Kristan said...

Great call! I'm always in favor of accountability on the Internet.

P.S. I love your statistical approach. Definitely interesting distributions. Math Geeks UNITE!

Dan said...

Thank you thank you thank you thank you!

Robby said...

This is the best thing to happen to 538 since...well, since 538 started.

HLB1886 said...

Also a test

MATT J. H. said...

Although this will by no means stop the trolling and disappointing posts, it is a step in the right direction.

unertl said...

test.

Thanks for requiring registration, Nate. You should still consider having moderators though.

JRoyale said...

I love "Don't. Be. An. Asshole." policies. Sadly, they are ripe for abuse. Hopefully, tho' it will delay the inevitable slide to DailyKos moderation type system.

And as a 538 newbie, damn fine job all.

joshua said...

nice idea.

musicman said...

Brilliant! Thanks Nate.

Brad said...

Thanks! I will miss arguing with Karl Rove though...

SarahLawrenceScott said...

VOTE FOR MY CANDIDATE!

YOUR GUY SUCKS!

YOU'RE ALL JERKS!

Just kidding. I figured I'd better get it out of my system now, while there was an appropriate thread. :)

Seriously, aside from discouraging some low-information posts, this will also make it easier to address each other in comments--no more anon@5:32!

ajbeecroft said...

That being the case, I'll switch to my Google ID, which is pretty close to the ID I've been using here (ajb).

Troll dynamics would make an interesting field of study, I think.

jakam said...

It won't stop the trolling, but it will remove all of the "Anon @ 7:15"..."Anon @ 7:43" ... "Anon @ 8:02" quoting confusion.

It's good if only for that!

sdf said...

I agree with the comments above, it had gotten ugly indeed here.

I will miss, however, trying to determine which Anonymous is which.

-- Stu