Dean poined to the fact that Clayton Wilcox, the blogging superintendent at Pinellas County in Florida, has shut down his blog because of the acrimonious debate that took place among the commentors. It’s unfortunate, I think, not just because this will be seen as another indictment against the transparency and openness of blogs, but because I think he had an opportunity to find higher ground with it. In instances like this, I would have no problem with someone vetting the comments and not approving those that made no meaningful contribution to the conversation or were mean-spirited. I know there is a bit of a “slippery slope” there in terms of the potential for steering the community in one direction or the other. But in this instance where the blogger is high profile and where the intent is to start a dialogue, I’m sure a third party reviewer could have been put in place so that the debate could have remained respectful and prductive. In addition, some clear acceptable use guidelines would make that work even easier.
We need to be more imaginative in the way we deal with these issues, because I think Wilcox’s willingness to engage in a more open way was modeling something very important, not just to the people in his disctrict, but to educators and school leaders in general. As Dean points out, pulling the plug on these technologies when people in the community behave egregiously is not an answer for our superintendents or our students. Wilcox had a teachable moment here, and he failed to teach. Too bad.
yes i aggree
i dnt agree
lol
1 more hehe
I’ve been consistently surprised that allowing comments on the blogs of public figures, especially controversial ones, works at all, or that anyone thinks they would.
While I am not high profile, I shut my theatre blog down for the same reason: the daily hammering from fellow bloggers who had fallen into a very aggressive debate mode of commentary just plain wore me out. While I think critical thinking is necessary and stimulating, there are also times when we might want to build on what is being said rather than focusing on finding faults to attack. I can understand this man’s decision. That said, if he is like me, he’ll be back — I will probably return to my blog within the month.
Scott, while I’m not sure that shutting down a blog is the best case scenario here, even temporarily. I am a novice blogger myself and would think that if I were getting “hammered” with comments that I would, as Will writes turn to “vetting” those comments. I would also, as owner of the blog, post a post an article about what was happening and lay some ground rules for comments. If and when things subside, I would open up the comments again so the free flowing conversations can occur. Tact and professionalism are a must when blogging.
I have to agree with Will that this superintendent missed a grand opporunity to teach .