Naughty children

It seems some people on both sides of the debate are incapable of conducting a discussion without resorting to spurious, unnecessary and, frankly, utterly childish comments regarding people's appearance, supposed pecadillos, and so forth. Though having said that, the worst and most sustained ofenders seem to be amongst those who support the Mayor and seem to think that the way to win hearts and minds is to abuse all who disagree.

There are those amongst the Watchers who would shut down comments altogether, offering only occasional posts with no chance of discussion, disagreement, and feedback - and, of course, no chance of people leaving anonymous tips about what may (or may not) really be happening. Other Watchers fear this would play right into the hands of a Mayor who's obsessed with his own self-image, with spin, and is perhaps more skilled than anyone we know at propaganda in its most literal form - misinformation, disinformation, distraction and, when all else fails, intimidation.

Just as the we were about to end up occupying opposite sides of the LawsWatch cave, hurling WMDs (Wasteful McDonalds' Detritus) at one another, Blogger.com has come to the rescue with a new feature - comments moderation.

So, from now on, all comments will be moderated.

What does this mean?

1. As before, all comments, whether agreeing with what we've said or taking issue with a post will be welcome.
2. Also as before, commenters may disagree with one another.
3. Instead of waiting for a comment to appear which offers little or nothing beyond gratuitous personal insult, then deleting it (after it's been read by numerous people and perhaps caused distress to the person so abused) we'll catch these before they appear.
4. Comments will no longer be readable the minute they're written. In fact, depending on how busy we are, it make take several hours for them to appear, and they're likely to appear in "clumps" rather than one every few minutes as at present.

Not being able to read, and immediately react to, the comments of other people will, to some extent, stifle debate. It's with considerable regret we've had to take this step. It's with even greater regret that we realise Wanganui is a community which contains some individuals who want to reduce debate to unkind comments on the appearance of various people - on one infamous occasion, a child - rather than the issues.

We hope you'll continue visiting, and commenting. If you see this as some sinister attempt to stifle pro-diVision/Laws comment, we invite you to give it a try for the next few days - you'll see as much comment as ever disagreeing with our opinions and disputing the facts.

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