The Lirneasia blog,which I believe you must have helped set up, has the only implementation of the IP to Nation plugin that I’ve seen on a local blog, and on occasion, has confused some people by displaying an erroneous flag. As for online conversations being outside the normal social environs we are used to, I wonder whether with the increasing use of chatrooms, IM’s, email, blogs, new media et al (including games such as Second Life), we’ll soon encounter a time where the difference between “real” and “virtual” interactions becomes rather blurred. As a researcher, I’m interested in the spill over effects of real world problems into virtual worlds (say in the creation of negotiations support systems and One Text processes, both of which I’ve helped engineer in Sri Lanka and Nepal) and vice versa, such as with the murder of gamers because of in-game disputes over artifacts such as a swords or magic portion.

The identity cost you bring out is, if I understand you correctly, linked to the frequency and qualitative nature of comments on a blogs. Groundviews for instance gets noticeably less comments than Moju did. I don’t have the stats for Moju, but what Groundviews does have is around 40 return visitors (and around 300+ unique visitors) who visit the site daily, which frankly, 2 months after its launch, better than I expected. I also get most of my traffic from outside Kottu – from http://www.infolanka.com/org/srilanka/news.html.

The point I also want to stress is that flamers can, in the rare occasion, change for the better. In the case of a notable and particularly vicious troll on Moju, subsequent to Moju’s closure and some interactions with him over email, we now have a entente cordiale where I’ve recognised and appreciated his ability to write, when he put his mind to it, in a manner that engaged with the topic /post as opposed to diatribes against the author. He now comments rather regularly to Groundviews, and I’m surprised that though his views remain extreme and at times ill-informed, the manner in which he presents them is so markedly different to his tone, language and approach to Moju.

As for Sittingnut, I left a comment on his blog today (http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=13644607&postID=117166429307925673) after reading a few weeks of Groundviews, Sanjana, CPA, InfoShare bashing that captures my thoughts on the matters he raises. Clearly, since this is a voice most of us know from the erstwhile Moju’s heyday, while engagement is often futile, hope springs eternal.

Thanks for the great post.

Sanjana

Just a thought related to your comment moderation needs.

Perhaps you should consider asking people to register a username before commenting here. I know it may seem excessive for a personal blog, but I am sure it’ll go some way in weeding out the idiots. I’d consider using that in tandem with the IP To Nation plugin, and any other tool that will help ‘attach identity’ to some of your readers.

Also, just out of curiosity, do you have a ‘Report Comment’ feature? It’ll encourage some of the more sensible members of your readership to take the responsibility and report posts that cross the line.