Mail Online: deadline for comments is midnight tonight
Tuesday, June 5, 2012 at 11:04 Further to my previous post, I sent an email to the Mail Online this morning:
Dear Sirs,
On Saturday you lifted a particularly tendentious report from the Guardian and published it here.
For more than 48 hours you published not a single comment. Yesterday afternoon, possibly in response to an email I sent you, you published a handful of comments (23) before closing the article to any further comments.
I know other comments were submitted so why were they not published either when other reports on the Mail Online have well over a thousand comments?
I would welcome a response.
To be fair I received a prompt reply:
Many thanks for your email.
I am sorry that your comment has not been published. We have pushed through all appropriate comments but I cannot see your comments in the queue. Moreover, I cannot see that your email address is registered with our system. Did you use a different email address with which to post comments? If so, would you kindly supply me with that email and I will investigate what has happened to your post.
If not, I think there may have been a problem with the registration process. If you could ensure that you have completed the registration process through to its conclusion (you need to click on the automated validation email that you should have received from us) I will be able to temporarily reopen comments on that article and allow you to post.
I’m sorry for the frustration this must have caused - the comments on this story were unfortunately overlooked at the weekend. I will endeavour to ensure there is no repeat in the future.
Not entirely satisfied with that I replied as follows:
Thanks for your response. I registered on Saturday, received an email and clicked on the link. I appreciate it is a bank holiday weekend and some reports may have been overlooked but this report made some serious allegations without giving anyone the opportunity to respond and the comments were the only place that people could rebut them or offer a different viewpoint.
I know of several other people who tried to post comments and none of them have been published. I am sure there must be others. In the light of this I don't understand why you are no longer accepting comments on this story.
Again, the reply was quick and to the point:
I have reopened comments on this story. They are going to be moderated so there may be a delay in publication but I’ll keep an eye on it and push through all the comments we receive. The comments will be turned off automatically at midnight tonight.
If you don’t see your comment within a reasonable time, let me know and I’ll have a closer look.
I can assure you there are currently no comments waiting to be published on this story.
So, you have until midnight tonight to comment on the story that "Pro-tobacco activists accused of harassing and abusing anti-smoking campaigners as government considers banning branding on cigarette packets".
Over to you.
PS. I have re-posted my comment. Important, I think, that as many people as possible do so - but keep them sane and reasonable!!
Update: My comment has now been published.
Update 21:20: I know quite a few of you have tried to post a comment without success. I have just sent a further email to the Mail Online that reads:
You said that the article would be re-opened for comments and would remain open until midnight tonight.
There was a short burst of activity this morning during which nine comments were posted. Since 12:56 not a single comment has appeared, despite the fact that several people have been in touch with us to say that they tried to post a comment this afternoon.
I wouldn't make such an issue of this if it wasn't for the one-sided nature of the article which simply repeated a report from the Guardian with no attempt to check the facts – many of which were taken out of context – that lay behind it.
Frankly, we can't do any more without making ourselves look idiotic but thanks to everyone who posted – or tried to post – a comment.
Update 22:23: My latest email appears to have had some effect. Published comments have risen from 32 to 54. It is regrettable though that more people haven't taken the trouble to have their say. If we are to win this battle it is essential that we engage with the mainstream media.
This was an opportunity for a significant number of people to make their views known. Preaching exclusively to the converted is not going to win us any battles long-term and what bothers me, reading one or two "pro-smoking" blogs this weekend, is the number of self-congratulatory comments written by people who seem to believe that all publicity is good publicity.
It's not. This was a chance to set the record straight in relation to the allegations that were made. I'm sorry that relatively few people bothered to do so.
Reader Comments (22)
At the moment, the article is displaying
"We're sorry but reader comments are currently unavailable."
When I go to the article, it says reader comments are unavailable. What's going on over there at the Daily Fail?
You will have to be patient but please persist. If the problem continues I will raise it with them again.
"We're sorry but reader comments are currently unavailable"
Looks like another e-mail is in order Simon.
It seems very odd that those responsible for initiating the massive state sponsored harrassment of smokers over the past few years can have the bare-faced cheek to turn around and say they're the victims now. It's a cheap and childish trick that an actual child would rightly be grounded for.
Andy, good comment - post it on the Mail Online!
Lot of traffic there Simon - you had 15 green ticks in less than 30 mins. V good comment btw
Simon, just out of curiosity, what was the atmosphere like at the plain packs debate with Stephen Williams MP? Was there extra security or any security for that matter? Did anyone harass Williams or Scully, or even you and Christopher? Did Williams look nervous, as though someone might attack him? Because, from all the reports I have read about the debate, I didn't see anything like that at all. Surely, we had supporters there. Yes?
@Jay
I was at the debate too Jay and there was no extra security and no unpleasant confrontations. I introduced myself to Stephen Williams and a few minutes later he came out and we had a chat for about 5 minutes and was surprised that not many were smoking! He was running a blog on famous sports people from the UK since the 2nd World War and I suggested Mary Peters who one the Gold medal at the 1972 Olympics in the Pentathlon to represent Northern Ireland.
I also spoke to Professor Gabriel Scully afterwards pointing out that Stephen Williams himself had said adult smoking rates would be unaffected by plain packets.
In conclusion there was no conflict other than intellectual and the general atmosphere was congenial.
There are now 32 comments, nearly all supporting choice regarding smoking. One line in the article about revealing Ash UK's London address caught my eye. Isn't this on their own website? If not it will be on the Charity Commission website.
The Mail have been very clever.
By not showing comments for 24 hours they have essentially deprived us of the right to reply, because, hey, who reads yesterday's news? So the vast majority of Mail readers will not see the comments.
Not only that, but by showing the "comments are open" box, but with zero comments, they have been reinforcing the article by sending the subliminal message to their readers: "Look, the normally vociferous smokers have nothing to say to this article, and their silence implies guilt."
At the same time, having now released the comments, they avoid any accusations of partisanship. "Hey guys, comments are up, you can go see them. See how even-handed we are? We had a little technical problem there for a while, but it's all sorted now..."
It's a win-win situation for them. (And TC.)
Yes, the site obviously is having problems coping with the volume of comments but keep registering them please.
"We're sorry but reader comments are currently unavailable."
Withdrawn again as at 16.33
I submitted comment this afternoon and it is still not up - indeed i notice that there are still only 32 comments showing - the same number as at 2pm?
I believe that I was one of the first posters there. Which never happened. I posted about the Stephen Williams post "The secret salesman". I refered to the fact that, on that blog post the vast majority of comments were extremely polite. The only contentious comments were from the anti smoking fraternity. As far as I can recall there was not one homophobic comment.
One thing I have long noticed when reading various papers online is that the moderation of the comments sections seems quite random, and varies from paper to paper and sometimes even day to day. I have found that overall, the DT has the most open moderation and commenting policy. As long as one does not make threats or use really abusive language, it gets published. I read their finance articles and columnists like Ambrose Evans-Pritchard quite often, and I can tell you the abuse heaped on the limited number of pro-Euro/pro-EU types can get quite vociferous at time. To my pleasant surprise, however, this all seems to get published, and the debates and snarky commentary is all readyy good fun and frequently better then the articles themselves.
alternative investments
It is now 2.15 am 6th June. I have just submitted a comment on the Dail Mail article and, on the face of it, it has been accepted.
What has surprised me has been the sheer lack of ASH Zealot contributions. Have they realised what a complete cock-up they have made? Bloggers WILL NOT BE SILENCED. Sure, some will get carried away (and I do not include Frank Davis and Dick Puddlecote in their number), but people are becoming angrier and angrier. What we have been seeing is the propagandists appearing on TV programmes and radio programmes and seeming to be ever so sweet and caring when the fact is that they are cold-hearted, vicious persecutors. They knew what they were doing - everything was carefully planned. It was always a deliberate intention to turn The People against one another - and, to some extent, they succeeded, ably abetted by Government stooges and taxpayers funds.
The sooner we see the back of them, the better for the nation.
When I submitted a comment the number showing was still 32. I've just checked and all readers' comments are unavailable.
What is going on?
Joyce, it does seem to be a bit erratic but your comment has been published, as has Junican's. Credit the Mail for allowing comments, unlike the Guardian.
There is another similar article here today ( Wednesday)
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/story-16292386-detail/story.html?
with comments
I commented. It appeared and was there yesterday. It has now disappeared. I have no idea why.
It's still there Pat, next to mine :)