This comment from Paul Krugman, Nobel prize winner, hugely popular New York Times columnist, and important media star, says more about the state of the economy and newspapers than anything else I have seen to date:
Comments here are moderated; the Times doesn’t have anyone to moderate them on weekends, and I can only do so much myself.
Postdocs aren’t THAT expensive, are they?
Is this a Not Invented Here problem? Several make-the-users-do-it comment moderation systems seem to work, with the Slashdot system being the most famous:
http://slashdot.org/faq/com-mod.shtml
Of course they can afford to. There are 5000 college students who would do it for free (or pay for it a la the huffington Post) just to get email-time with Krugman or the NYTimes on their CV in any capacity.
Joseph’s comment makes me think that as much as I frequently find Krugman annoying, I love the idea of his megalomania reaching the point where he leaves the NYT and has an army of fanatical college kids running http://www.krugmanisright.com.
Kinda like a cyberspace combination of “Fight Club” and “Apocalypse Now”.
If I were the NYT I might be more worried about moderating Krugman’s columns than his posts.
With the national debates going to extremes , there is nowadays a scarcity of moderation.
Glad Alex is posting more!
JackTrade made me laugh.
DanC, very interesting idea. I wrote a comment to Krugman’s blog, asking him a question. I’m not sure why, in hindsight. It’s like urinating in a pool of urine, unless you happen to have one of the lucky few comments that make it to the first page of comments.
Krugman is a professor. Why doesn’t he just have grad students moderate.
Master Krugman sneezed today!
Marginal Revolution seems to do an excellent job with moderating, or perhaps it doesn’t need to moderate at all.
This suggests two possibilities. If the first scenario is correct, then perhaps Krugman should be humble enough to ask to be taught the GMU method. If the second scenario is correct, perhaps the problem is when the blogger himself engages in ad hominem attacks, which in turn invite unruly behavior in his blog. Perhaps if Krugman would just stick with debating the merits of opposing economic ideas instead of trying to tear down the messengers who presented those ideas, then he might find himself with radically fewer comments that need moderating.
The two notions aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive.
Anyway, I agree with those who suggest “unpaid interns” for comment moderation. It seems likely that there is a surplus of them at the price, so a good and moral economist ought to be willing to help out society by increasing the demand for them. Or at least if it is economical for him to do so, and at a price of zero it seems like it ought to be.
This has far more to do with the NYT’s penny wisdom and pound foolishness than anything else. A single decision is an event. It isn’t a pattern by itself.
So, yeah, it has a lot to do with the current state of media affairs, but at one remove — it’s another example of newspapers being dumb and failing to anticipate and serve their customers’ needs.
For the first time in six tries, one of my comments passed moderation on Krugman’s blog.
HT to mickslam above.
What’s most interesting is that Krugman clearly feels he has a comparative advantage in policing comments, suggesting either that he feels his productivity in this area as tremendously high and/or that his current research isn’t that interesting.
On WashingtonPost.com I have (bookmarked to load at once in Opera) a dozen commenters whose comments I read daily to see if there’s anything worthwhile to be read. Check each comment’s date. If today, read the comment.
Frugal Gifts For The Housekeeper
A frugal gift is measured first by it’s usefulness. With that in mind, the frugal mind that is, the gift actually serves two practical purposes; it is useful and saves money. Most frugal women will Below I will explore a couple of ideas for thoughtful, practical-and yes, frugal-gifts. Fill a sturdy laundry basket with one or two boxes each: Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, 20 Mule Team Borax and a few bars of Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar Soap. Mix up one batch of the following recipe and put in a tightly sealed container. You can make a decorative container yourself from a quart mason jar and some decorative fabric banded over the top or any kind of sealed glass container. Tie with pretty ribbon. And include the following recipe. Place with the laundry detergent ingredients. Powdered Laundry Detergent Mix Together: 1 Cup Grated Fels Naptha Soap 1/2 Cup Washing Soda 1/2 Cup Borax Use one Tablespoon per load, or for heavily soiled clothes, use 2 tablespoons.
dazzling and outstanding; every girl will be happier
If Krugman was a free market advocate, he might charge posters, per word, in exchange for the promise that he would read the comments. I wonder what the market clearing price would be?
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