Welcome to the Blogosphere, Gov. Markell
Today, Governor Markell launched his new blog. His first post is titled Dedicated to You: Amazing and Awe-Inspiring and it details some of the heroics of state workers during the storm. Right on cue, a commenter identifying themselves as “Employee” made this comment:
It’s so nice to hear about how hard my fellow employees work. However, you forget to mention the money we have lost, and the benefits that some of us don’t have. I have been working for the state for over two years with no raise, a pay cut, and no benefits. The tasks required to do our jobs sometimes require extra time, because as we all know these things need to be done in a timely mannor. So thank you for telling us how much we are appreciated, however, some of us would be like to be compensated for the dedication, hard work, and long hours we have had to endure.
It was promptly deleted and comments appear to be off now. Nice.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Governor’s blog accepted comments, it sucks that the first comment had to ruin it for everyone. I hope this doesn’t mean comments will be off for every post, this was a good opportunity for some intelligent give and take with the Administration.
What they need is a moderator. I also think this is a great idea.
Stupidly, the person that identified themselves at “employee” can likely be tracked to their very PC if they commented from work. So they may need to find another nickname. At least “anon” is portable to unemployed status. 🙂
Comments turned off now.
Generally, that is configurable on a post-by-post basis, so there is hope that comments will be re-enabled.
Well, there’s our open dialog. First amendment rocking and rolling, lol.
From the language of the commenter, it seems that this person is a casual-seasonal employee. They get no benefits and usually work 27 1/2 hours (although there are exceptions). So while it’s possible that this person commented on their own time, if they commented at work and someone tracks it to them, they probably be unemployed 🙂
So, here an interesting point, I think. I didn’t see where anything in the comment was inflammatory, off-topic, or unreasonable/untrue. 🙂 Although a comment of this nature might not have been the smartest thing to do, it is an accurate picture of the way some (not saying I agree) State employees feel.
True, Mark. And there doesn’t seem to be any documentation of the rules of the road on the page (I still have a browser window up with the deleted comment). So, no rules could have been violated. State employee rules probably do not apply if the person commented from home, and certainly, I am not bound by any terms-of-use conditions…
I don’t think that the Government should be picking and choosing who or what opinions that it allows to be posted in a comment section on a taxpayer-funded public blog any more than it should be censoring or moderating what people say in the public square. Therefore, either unmoderated comments on for everybody or off for everybody.
As a general rule, I think it would be tough to have open comments on a Governor’s blog — too many people would take the opportunity to just sound off instead of communicating.
I think Pandora is right about a moderator, though that might be something of a large job. And the blog would need to post very clear guidelines about commenting.
I agree. It is a bummer that they started their first day by censoring the comments, though.
Is it a blog if there are no comments? I certainly wouldn’t want to have it devolve to the News Journal comments section (and it would), but with clear guidelines, I think moderated comments might work. But there is a tendency to not free comments that are within guidelines, but unflattering. I know that firsthand.
It’s tricky. And I do think there is a place for blogs that don’t have comments. Mine rarely does (rueful grin).
In this case, another information-out venue for the Governor is a good thing. Information-in is also a good thing, but can be very complicated for elected officials.
the person that identified themselves at “employee” can likely be tracked to their very PC if they commented from work.
Five bucks says it was Matt Denn.
I hate moderating comments. That said, there are certain comments that cross the line. I anxiously await A1’s blog, because moderating comments isn’t an easy decision – but sometimes it’s a necessary one.
Public blogs paid for with taxpayers’ money shouldn’t be selectively censoring the taxpayers who paid for it. Private blogs can do whatever they want.
I’m with A1 on this, but I will say that I certainly understand the other side. It’s interesting, I’ve been to various Social Media presentations for the State and it’s pointed out that “rule of the road” should be spelled out if the blog accepts comments. If there are no rules of the road, then publish all or none. If there are rules, publish the rules and moderate. Maybe the Gov’s IT guy missed the briefings 🙂
I think the classy thing for Markell to do would be a follow-up post talking about why some employees don’t have benefits, how many of them there are, what they do, and describe the path to full-time employment. And throw in some examples of some who have gone on to full time employment (unless there aren’t any – oops).
And yeah, a Governor really can’t allow blog comments. If they are unmoderated it would get out of control. And if they were moderated it would be be open to accusations of unfairness (probably accurately). So comments off.
Better for the Gov to take questions by email, interview style, and then answer them all in one big post.
That kind of interview works well when politicians do guest interviews on other blogs that do allow comments (Daily Kos, for example). But not their own blogs.
I wonder if the Governor doesn’t need a separate blog or venue to just be able to talk to employees.
But I did a pin through a few Governor blogs (CA, KY, MI, WA) and it seems that comments are open on most, but there are no comments at all. Which I suspect means that comments are moderated and none get posted.
Matt Denn’s blog has never allowed comments I don’t think.
For the record, Scott Brown did a blog post on his cloture vote tonight and left the comments up. Some are quite harsh.
http://brownbrigade.ning.com/profiles/blogs/jobs-bill-1
Face it–if he allows comments, it soon becomes the Delaware Online vitriol, repeated ad nauseam. It’s alot to scroll through.
If this is just another venue for the Governor’s press releases, mark it as such. If it’s a campaign site, pay for it as such. If the Governor wanted to write the News journal congratulating state employees, I’m pretty sure they’d find a place to print it.
The post was pretty darn moderate, as criticisms go. I’d have replied to it, saying, “I know that many state employees, like employees in the private sector, have suffered during the economic downturn. I promise you, job creation, job security, and the good of Delaware workers is our top priority, and I hope that when you respond next year you’ll have better news to report. However, keep me up to date, that’s what this blog is for.”
This was communication (and Constitution) #fail.
Most of the Gov blogs I looked at were largely press release machines. One interesting exception was one state that treated the Gov’s blog as a group blog, where various departments posted up items of interest. A unique approach, not so sure how illuminating or interesting it is, tho.
Explain to me why a government blog should not have comments from government employees? Was it not official business? The comment does not deserves criticism. It should be welcomed. The governor already has a press release site on Delaware.gov so if he doesn’t take comments, what is the point.
I thought the blog looked nice. It will be interesing to see how it is used to foster communication.
Anyone ever heard of Google SideWiki?
http://bit.ly/bRuK45
kthanksbye!