Edited, removed, or prohibited...

When should comments be edited, removed, or prohibited on news sites?

Prohibited or Deleted

As a general rule, I think it’s always justifiable to delete comments that are crude, profane or bigoted. Comments that are intended to harm or offend should always be prohibited.

Spam can sometimes be blatant, and other times it can be cleverly constructed to seem like it’s relevant. Either way, if a comment is provably spam then I think it’s correct to delete it.  

Edited (sometimes)

It’s less clear-cut when a comment is on-topic but excessively argumentative or when a comment is on-topic but troll-y. In those cases, I think whether the comment should be edited depends on its severity.

Example: I was reading an article about a Salvadoran refugee who was being deported from Canada (after having lived here for many years with his family) because of his past connections with the FMLN, a revolutionary paramilitary group in El Salvador that fought government forces during the civil war, but has since become a legitimate and leading political party in the country. The comments section in the article was filled with hateful comments directed at refugees in general—about how refugees shouldn’t be allowed into Canada, and how refugees are taking jobs away from Canadians and crippling our economy. 

I was irritated after reading the comments. That kind of hateful thinking doesn’t make sense to me. But I would never advocate censoring them. Why? Because the comments were voicing an opinion and they weren’t derogatory or obscene. I don’t agree with that opinion, but that isn’t grounds enough for censorship.