Housekeeping: Commenting Behavior/TTAC Content Creators

Simply put, it’s getting nasty down there. Again. Corey and I moderate as much as we can — we even have moderation tools — but we can’t catch everything. I also tend to err, when moderating, on the side of NOT squashing your speech.

With that in mind, I am seeing a lot of insults, trolling, general meanness, and other violations of the rules. It needs to stop.

I am also working with our CMS host on ways to close certain loopholes that have been used to avoid the banhammer — we’re aware of the issue.

I will, once again, point you in the direction of the six rules for commenting on TTAC that one of my predecessors laid down. They haven’t changed.

We aim to foster strong debate. It’s fine to disagree. It’s fine to have unpopular opinions. It’s fine to call out incorrect facts if someone you’re arguing with makes a false claim. It’s fine to call us out for factual errors or typos or editing errors. You can criticize us for our opinions, if you do so respectfully.

What you cannot do is insult one another or us. It’s right there in the rules. Please start acting like adults and play nice. I don’t want to ban people. I don’t like to. But I will — insults and trolling drive people away and suppress discussion. We went lively, fun discussion, not a bunch of insults.

Please do better, and we’ll work on our end to find ways to better moderate the trolls and those who don’t listen/follow the rules.

OK, that said — the other issue I need to address is the TTAC Content Creators series. I read the comments. I know that some of you are upset that at least one of the folks we platform as part of the series works for an automaker but also reviews cars. You are upset because that is something very un-TTAC like.

You have to remember that with this series, these folks aren’t working on behalf of TTAC. We are republishing, with permission, their content, often a long time after the fact (in some cases, we have to wait because of other publisher’s rules). These folks are NOT doing this work on behalf of TTAC.

To be clear, we would normally not allow a freelancer to review cars for us if they also worked for an automaker, with one exception — we would permit someone to freelance for us if they also freelanced for a publication that was owned by an OEM. You know the ones — those branded-content magazines you see in service-department waiting rooms. That’s because freelancing is a bit different than being a full-time employee.

The way I see these content-creator pieces is that the process is like a newspaper republishing another outlet’s work.

If TTAC commissions a piece — i.e. if I accept a pitch — that freelancer is expected to abide by our style guide and to produce necessary disclosures. I’ll never say never, but I can’t see any scenario in which I’d allow an OEM employee to review a car for us, and if I did, there would be a lot of disclosures and/or it would be a unique scenario.

But when we republish someone else’s work, work that has been already been done, they’re not representing us. They are doing the work under their own parameters, and we’re just republishing with minor edits for formatting and perhaps typos/grammar. We republish this content because we feel these voices are worth platforming, especially when they cover topics we don’t.

I hope that clarifies the difference.

We run the Content Creator series to expose you to some different voices. I hope you folks, the readers, understand that this content is falling under a different umbrella than our original content. If you didn’t understand that before, I hope I’ve cleared it up.

With that in mind, please play nice in the comments — and never hesitate to email me with questions or concerns.

Thanks for reading.

[Image: Tero Vesalainen/Shutterstock.com]

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