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Who trashed my comment?

Who trashed my comment?

While some commenters behave like trolls, others give good feedback.

Faria Syed February 05, 2012

Earlier this week we asked our readers what they wanted to know about policy, coverage and reporting at The Express Tribune. A lot of you wanted to know why certain reader comments never make it online.

On our Facebook page Rabia Kashan wrote:

"U publish comments which only support ur argument or not condradictory with themn thats very much TRUE"

Ahsan Ullah wrote:

"I never saw my comments on any post. Why is that?"

Nur Momand asked:

"The policy of comments moderation is murky. Sometimes very harsh comments get published but many a time even relatively milder critique gets censored. Is it because of the the person who moderates the comments in a particular time of the day?"

In this video two of our comment moderators Misbah and Narjis talk about trolls, timings and answer the ultimate question - why wasn't my comment approved?

While some commenters behave like trolls and their posts are deleted due to their offensive nature, others give good feedback on the stories, and sometimes add background or point out errors. This is a good way for the writer or a reporter to gauge how well (or badly) the piece was received.

Learn more about our comment moderation policy here or let us know know how you think the process can be improved in the comments section below.

WRITTEN BY:
Faria Syed

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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COMMENTS (44)

Sumaiya Hasan | 12 years ago | Reply I agree with the people above. Also the blog words should be more than 800, atleast till 1200 words. What can you express in an 800 word blog. I therefore prefer to write on my own blog than posting my blog here on tribune.

anonymous | 12 years ago | Reply when you see this box in which you write all your comments see on right what is written.. "The Express Tribune does not bear any responsibility for user comments" and yet they are not brave enough to publish my comments? is that called freedom of speech?

VIEW MORE COMMENTS

Miss "Not Happy With Express" | 12 years ago | Reply this problem is not just with the comments.Even it goes for the blogs you post..They love to publish stupid and useless blogs about sex and humsafar but they did not publish 5 of my blogs which I sent.Fine that 4 out of 5 of them were not that good but one had some awakening and patriotic content for my country.Even that was not published.What a shame that they disagree to publish blogs about our motherland and instead publish disturbing sexual blogs which should even not be kept open for people under 20 years of age since some of them I read had so much disturbing content and at many places Islam was brought in between the discussion for no reason.

Syed A. Zafar USA | 12 years ago | Reply I posted my comments around 4:00 am on February 12, 2012. The topic was Difa-e-Pakistan. I strongly believe my comments were not abusive, offensive or had any agenda. But still it is not posted. I fully agreed with the writer's point of view but I suggested the writer not to use the word "Islamists because it hurts the entire Muslim world. I also believe my comments were positive and related to the topic. But still my comments were not posted. I request the ET moderators to review it or publish it as it is and let the readers decide about it. I wonder why the writers have all the rights to write whatever they want but the commentators who should have the right of their opinion except being abusive, vulgar or agenda driven are censored in the name of moderation. Is it to protect the writer, or the moderators are at the mercy of writers?

Zeta | 12 years ago | Reply @Colonel: 100% agreed. Filth against Pakistan is tolerated and infact promoted yet when you respond in even moderate way, Your comments isn't published

Colonel | 12 years ago | Reply u write against India it will be never published but when u write against pakistan even in abusive manner ur comments gets posted, what was the wrong in my comment "True face of India"(News was: lilit moodi accepts pakistani player were kept out of IPL because of BCCI pressure) which was not published???? i didnt abused anyone or even i used a harsh word, ET is itself having some agenda and i strongly believe it, u think this type of lame attitude will not effect ur viewer-ship??? then u r wrong

Cynical | 12 years ago | Reply You are doing fine.Keep it up.

ashok sai | 12 years ago | Reply ET should consider using user id (may be email id) for posting comments, so that duping and posting in the other's name can be prevented, I have also suffered few times because of this :(. Apart from this, I have no issues and it has been a fantastic read here in ET, kudos.

just kiddin | 12 years ago | Reply no doubt u r doing a gr8 job with the comment thing ! ...Wht i want to add is tht sometimes u delete the comments which are relevant and thought provoking ... pls reconsider twice or thrice while deleting or erasing a comment

chaudhry | 12 years ago | Reply Dear Moderators Do you know that your own ethnic, religious, cultural and economic background is also moderating the moderators.

Farhan | 12 years ago | Reply @Stewie Griffin: Perfectly said!

Hmmm | 12 years ago | Reply I still think at times the comment moderation is tilted towards bias - let's see how they treat this one

Farhan Gilgiti | 12 years ago | Reply "Abusive, off-topic . Misleading argument in obvious, agenda-driven purpose", is one disqualification clause for any comment submitted on ET. How do you suggest us to respond to blogs/reports/articles that are "agenda driven"?

Farhan Gilgiti | 12 years ago | Reply I think ET needs to define the term "troll".

Syed.Ishaq.Zaidi | 12 years ago | Reply *Thanks moderater for adding my comments..'' :D I agree there is some abusive comments, not worth to be added..!!

Ali Tanoli | 12 years ago | Reply E,T most of the time published anti pakistan and anti mejority view only i dont know why...

Abhi | 12 years ago | Reply @Dr. Ali Ahmed: and a cute one ;)

faraz | 12 years ago | Reply The one who moderates comments on Sundays is the most lenient. Even the most caustic remarks get posted.

R S JOHAR | 12 years ago | Reply I have been posting my comments on ET regularly for more than one year but lately for the past three months I felt that there has been a major change in moderation/ censuring policy and some non-offensive or routine/clarifications comments posted by me were censured and not published. On the contrary some offensive comments posted against me were published by ET but no cognance was given to my objections/clarifications. Therefore I decided not to post anymore comments on ET for the past three weeks which might continue if such biased attitude is not stopped. Some of my Pakistani friends would be quite happy that one Indian troll has left for good. However, my very best wishes to ET who might have followed this latest policy due to certain constraints and pressures from certain organisations which are quite common in Pakistan.

Vigilant | 12 years ago | Reply What is the policy for deciding that some-one is trolling or comment is relevent or irrelevent???........ Once i posted comments about a slide-show related to some European fashion....they girls with see through fabric made my day... :)....& they were wearing see-through dresses....that comment was removed............can i ask why???...if ET is publishing pics with fashion models wearing see-through shirts then ET should have balls to publish that type of comments........

Kashmiri | 12 years ago | Reply It appears that whenever there is any news/article about kashmir on ET, indian trolls come here in hundreds and start bashing Pakistan.. They mix so many irrelevent issues (like baloch issue) with kashmir & poke fun of internal matters of Pakistan... I think ET should only allow those comments which pertain to the topic of thread,,,. Also they should moderate all abusive & hatefull speeches.......

Dr. Ali Ahmed | 12 years ago | Reply The Awkward Moment when Misbah Malik is actually a female :)

naive | 12 years ago | Reply I really pity these girls. They have to read all types of (trash) comments all day. ET should add a Torture allowance to their pay.

SAJ | 12 years ago | Reply Thumbs Up!! if you keep coming back to the article, just to check whether your comment was approved or not.

Faria Syed | 12 years ago | Reply

@Aswad: Thanks for your comment. While Narjis and Misbah do handle a LOT of comments they are not the only ones in charge of moderation. A team of about 10 members helps with moderation and tricky comments as well.

SAJ | 12 years ago | Reply Well, yes sometimes i'm kinda disappointed and feel like i just wasted my time commenting..but some times it appears.! so its just like hide and seek for me! THE SUSPENSE is always present whether my comment is approved or not. Let me see if my comment gets approved... lolxx!!

M.Aswad Mehatb | 12 years ago | Reply This is so unfair , all the debate in the hands of Girls , there should be a male and female if it is a team of only 2 people, because both will have different perception and will balance out the things, and these girls have to handle some seriously messed up trolls ..not fair again :) Thumbs Up to both of you for the later part !

Lord J | 12 years ago | Reply Trolls own the internet space. Your argument is invalid.

Haris Javed | 12 years ago | Reply i'm feeling lucky, my comment never got trashed! =)

Loneliberal PK | 12 years ago | Reply My comments sometimes get rejected, which is disappointing since I never curse, troll or resort to ad hominem attacks of any kind (my comments are often pretty direct, but never really abusive). On the other hand, it does prove that ET doesn't screen its comments based on how conservative or liberal there are, as the team is often accused of doing. They do an excellent job, but I would appreciate slightly looser moderation.

User | 12 years ago | Reply If u bash Pakistani establishment or Pakistan as a country, u r hero, even word like PAKI is acceptable which Even a For a can't utter in UK. sometimes, I think, ET blogs are designed to safeguard Indian interests. Don't know, if this comment will endure censorship and make It's way..

Justice | 12 years ago | Reply They press delete without having an idea about the process of debate!

Stewie Griffin | 12 years ago | Reply There shouldn't be any moderation before a comment is posted, if someone is offended by a comment they should report it for abuse and then it could be deleted.

Ali | 12 years ago | Reply You allow negative comments against Pakistan while edit out/delete most of the replies to those comments. Either go free for all and become fair or better introduce a new comments board. Also please add report abuse button

enu | 12 years ago | Reply Now where's my comment?

Mir Agha | 12 years ago | Reply ET lets leftist/secularist trolls troll away but anything outside their worldview is censored. Trolls appear all the time, and there can be no way of discerning who's who in the age of anonomity. Best way is for a log-in process or displaying the isp location/country of the commentator.

A well wisher | 12 years ago | Reply ET moderators do often fail to publish comments that are civilized, thoughtful and critical. They seem to subconsciously omit some comments that are deemed anti-Pakistani even hough they are factual. I think as long as the comments are civilized, thought provoking, on the subject, they should not be consored even when they are too critical.

enu | 12 years ago | Reply I've found your moderation extremely inconsistent and unfair

Rehan | 12 years ago | Reply You're not Columbia College or even SEAS. Hence, your comment ought to be 'trashed'. :p Regards, Rehan

Haseeb Khan | 12 years ago | Reply The scrutiny policy is fine, but this video has a poor sound quality. PS: I hope this comment doesn't get axed. Misbah and Narjis; please let it pass through :P

YeaRight | 12 years ago | Reply I write hard hitting comments every now and then especially if I feel the author has written something really stupid, I try to be civil but if I am overly sarcastic sometimes my comment doesnt make it. But I still understand, its not easy job moderating and even though alot of people would rather do away with moderation entirely if the TOI website is any guide, people in absence of moderation just resort to vile abusive personal language if they have no substance to add to the argument. I still wish ET would let me add my more sarcastic trolly comments :)

Mj | 12 years ago | Reply I would really, really like to thank ET and the moderators for allowing lively debates to take place by not censoring dissenting opinions and controversial positions. I understand the time constraints moderators face but It'd be great if comments are posted within an hour of submission. Also imo the current limit on comments per user is a bit on the lower side.

Parvez | 12 years ago | Reply You two girls do this awesome job of policing , I am amazed.

Fahad Raza | 12 years ago | Reply I think ET policy is fit n fine. Yea sometimes my comments are not shown but Its your web page your rules I understand. I wish comment scrutiny process fasten up though.

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