Having Meaningful Conversations On The Ghanaweb Portal

The Ghanaweb portal is the preeminent site catering to Ghanaians everywhere,something easily proven by looking at site traffic statistics at www.alexa.com. The articles and opinions posted on the site attract a high number of comments. Unfortunately though, the character of a significant portion of this commentary is having a corrosive effect of what is means to be Ghanaian.

Let me very clear about what I mean when I talk of "corrosive commentary". I am not referring to opinion pieces or articles by various authors. One may not agree with some of the sentiments/positions expressed in these articles but as a free speech lover myself that is OK. Free speech is a wonderful thing and it is stimulating and sometimes educational to read such a broad range of views from Ghanaians and those interested in Ghanaian matters.

The "corrosive commentary" I am referring to applies to the comments left by people on news articles and opinion articles, especially those articles relating to political culture. The majority of the comments left by visitors to ghanaweb tend to involve language that is crude, abusive, hateful and frankly childish. Words such "aboa", "fools", "bastard", "idiots" (not an exhaustive list) are thrown about all too easily. Ethnic insults are hurled with reckless abandon. Such behavior is not surprising on the web given the anonymity this medium offers. The danger though is that it (corrosive commentary) cheapens the conversation(s) on the site and drives away civil well-thought out commentary that could enhance the ties that bind us all as Ghanaians.

What could be done about this? I offer a few suggestions based on my experience working in web and digital media. Any one or more of these options will "clean-up" the neighborhood and allow the silent majority to emerge and participate in conversations on Ghanaweb.

The first thing that needs to be done is for Ghanaweb to draft and publish prominently its Terms of Use which should include a section on expected behavior for those posting comments. For an example of this, see: http://www.cnn.com/interactive_legal.html.

Once this is in place, Ghanaweb can choose any one of the options below which are commonly used by web properties.

1. Moderated comments. All comments will be reviewed by a human editor as per the published code of conduct. Comments that run afoul of this code will not be published. This is usually the most expensive option but is also the one that yields the best results.

2. Flagging comments. Provide an option on each comment for readers to flag and bring to Ghanaweb's attention, those comments they find objectionable. This can engage the power of your readership but it is also an option that can be "gamed".

3. My anecdotal look at the comments found on Ghanaweb indicate that the is a high correlation between those who post the most and the poor quality of the comments they post. Ghanaweb can regularly scan the top 20 or 50 people posting comments, screen for abuse of the Terms of Use and warn/banish violators as need be.

Ghanaweb's reason for being is Ghana. It has a responsibility to ensure that the behavior seen on its site does not have detrimental effects on Ghanaian society and the way we see each other. It also makes good business sense for Ghanaweb to boost the quality of discourse on its site. This will attract an audience with more attractive demographics for advertisers.

Ghana Patriot

ghanapatriot69@inbox.com