Mumbrella to reintroduce comments on a 6 month trial
Mumbrella will turn on comments again from Wednesday 17 November, allowing readers to provide their opinions on its range of content.
Comments were switched off on 18 September 2020 for a number of reasons, not least the amount of problematic comments being submitted and a lack of staff hours to moderate them properly.
Mumbrella has now reinstated a full complement of editorial staff, today announcing former News Corp Australia journalist Andrew Banks as deputy editor, to become acting editor in 2022, and Kalila Welch as editorial assistant.
They join Olivia Kruimel as managing editor – news & analysis, who will soon go on maternity leave, Emma Shepherd as senior journalist, Darren Wells as senior content manager, Calum Jaspan as reporter and Mumbrellacast producer and Anna Macdonald as reporter.
The commenting system has been upgraded to allow readers to sign-in using a Mumbrella account or LinkedIn. Anonymous comments will still be allowed but will be marked as ‘unverified’ if they are published.
A new feature will also allow users to add their weight to a comment by voting it up, with comments garnering the most votes being placed at the top of the comment pile.
“There isn’t a week that goes by where comments on Mumbrella are not part of discussions myself and the team have with the industry,” Mumbrella’s head of content, Damian Francis said. “After I flagged in Best of the Week on 7 August that Mumbrella was considering the return of comments, there seemed to be a clear thirst for their return. There was also a not insignificant group of people who did not want them back.
“There were always good reasons both to have them and not have them, and that remains true today. But we now have a better commenting system and a full complement of staff to help moderate them confidently and responsibly, so we feel now is the right time to turn them back on and see if comments on Mumbrella can work. We are committing to a six month trial and will make a call on whether to maintain comments towards the end of that period.”
All comments will be moderated by Mumbrella’s editorial team and Mumbrella maintains the right not to publish comments.The commenting guidelines remain the same as before but will be policed in a heavier manner than they were previously.
