KCRG's Comments

Weather Water Cooler : Weather Radio Programming

Fri, 13 May 2011 13:58:37 +0000

Yeah, I'm pretty awesome.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 18:22:32 +0000

If you missed the chat, here is a link to the replay: http://bit.ly/hu6Dyw

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 17:48:38 +0000

The chat is taking place at www.kcrg.com/livechat

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:36:24 +0000

Take part in our chat from 11:30 to 1 and I'll gladly answer your questions and tell you about the debate process that took place when deciding to make this change.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 06:29:10 +0000

We considered do the chat at a later time, but previous chats we've held during the same time period have been very successful - and during the midday hours is one of the heavier traffic times for our site. And the change in commenting systems will be made during that time as well.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 06:22:44 +0000

No there will still be certain topics where we will disable comments. (Amber Alerts, Operation Quickfinds, etc.)

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 06:20:09 +0000

Those are two great points. As I said in another post, our site is constantly evolving - so this may change in the months to come.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 05:02:27 +0000

That's an interesting theory. Again, there's no hidden agenda. Just want to improve the content of the commenting that takes place on KCRG.com.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:59:30 +0000

Contrary to what might believe, we have no hidden agenda - no goals to censor different views... we simply are switching to a new platform to allow a conversation to take place with our users. We are being very transparent in this process - if you have any questions, feel free to take part in our chat tomorrow, we will answer every single question you have. You can email us as well at online@kcrg.com. If you have any questions about our guidelines, here they are: http://www.kcrg.com/contactus/11091936.html

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:51:57 +0000

The decision to switch to this system was not to become "heavy handed" in our commenting. We're doing it to encourage constructive comments and debate among our users.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:49:52 +0000

You would need to sign up for a Facebook account. Once you are logged in and visit our site, you will be able to comment. If you are concerned about privacy, there are some things you can do to limit who can see your information. If you need any help, feel free to email me at aaron.hepker@kcrg.com.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:48:11 +0000

Unfortunately, the Intense Debate comments will not carry over.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:01:27 +0000

You make several good points. We hope this new system will reduce the sort of comments you are referring to. As part of this change, our team will become much more active in taking part in conversations and monitoring comments.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:46:42 +0000

That's a fair question. We have several areas we need to improve on - editing, following-up, etc. We are working on processes to improve the quality of our work, while still providing the large quantity of content our users have come to expect from us. There will be typos/grammatical errors in the future - we are human, mistakes happen. But, we are working on initiatives to minimize these to improve the quality of our site. One of the steps we are taking to improve the quality is changing our commenting system. And, criticism is fair when we make mistakes. We will be engaging in conversation with our audience as well - if there is something you think we need to change or improve upon, we want to know about it. As far as filtering goes, our new platform will be better with allowing appropriate words to be posted. If you have any other questions or comments, feel free to leave them here, take part in our chat tomorrow, or email me (aaron.hepker@kcrg.com) and the rest of our team (online@kcrg.com).

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:37:42 +0000

I might be incorrect in saying this, but I believe there might be the functionality that would allow users to comment - but maintain privacy in only allowing their ID's to be seen by myself and the rest of our moderation team. I will double check that.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:35:09 +0000

We have a team in place to accomplish this.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:34:33 +0000

We will NOT delete criticism of our work - however, we will remove comments that are personal attacks, vulgar, and off topic.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:28:19 +0000

Are you talking about us, or other users? If you are talking about us - trust me when I say this, your IP address is something we won't use. Other users will not be able to see any sort of IP information.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:26:55 +0000

Facebook itself is not full of virus. It's the applications that users choose to use that have the problems.

KCRG : KCRG.com Commenting System Change | KCRG-TV9 | Cedar Rapids, Iowa News, Sports, and Weather | Local

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 02:25:31 +0000

Our goal is to encourage healthy debate on our site. You can change the privacy settings on your Facebook profile so that only your friends will see your information. If you need assistance in doing so, feel free to email me at aaron.hepker@kcrg.com.