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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

The Times is now turning off comments on all 'gender' articles

135 replies

MiladyBerserko · 13/03/2022 10:13

The Times continue to cover this issue but now turn off comments on all 'gender' related articles. They do not turn off reader comments on any other topic, except where there is an open legal issue.

I am beyond frustrated with this. The Guardian nailed their colours to the 'Transwomen are women' mast a long time ago and disallow comments.

Now The Times seemingly cannot / will not allow reader feedback.

What is it about this issue that makes organisations run scared?

OP posts:
DisgustedofManchester · 14/03/2022 14:05

Anonymous armchair GCs upset they cannot post anti-trans rhetoric anonymously on a newspaper's pages. So 2022

MidCenturyClegs · 14/03/2022 14:00

@Ereshkigalangcleg

I can't see the comments, no.
I think comments have been made invisible now for all non-subscribers for all articles, not just for sex/gender ones.
happydappy2 · 14/03/2022 13:36

I don't understand how on some articles my comment will be printed immediately & on others can be pending for hours...

Gastonia · 14/03/2022 12:44

I'd love to know what happened behind the scenes regarding OpenWeb. The editor clearly values freedom of speech.

butnobodytoldme · 14/03/2022 12:43

@lightand

Never underestimate the power of advertisers.
But without G.C. published comments, they won't know that anyone objects to bearded rapists in women's wards and refuges, any more than the policy makers of every political party do. (Apart from Tories, and I suspect it's idleness, not ideology, that stopped them)

There again, the sole aim of advertisers is to spend the client's money... apparently for years every detergent advertiser believed women think like men: Therefore, what else could motivate them, if not competition? Therefore, every advertiser used a patronising male voice to instruct women to use this, or that, soap powder, for the purpose of having whiter washing than neighbours, (who would slink away ashamed, defeated, and humiliated).

After twenty or so years, someone tried the peculiar idea of asking women what they like about soap adverts. Women said they hated the lot of them, hated a man telling them how to do laundry, hated the nastiness of the competetive angle. What they valued were things like not fading (the harsh whiteners ruined colours), and having things next to theirs, and their children's skin, which were not harsh, washing-wrecked, allergenic-rash producing..... After decades, and with women virtually the sole purchasers of the product, this was the first time anyone (men) asked.

I noticed a current campaign to get children eating vegetables..... 100% male steered, obviously. The basis is that vegetables are evil, intent on destroying the world, so we must defeat them by consuming them. Pow! Pow!. Wierdly, they chose a girl actor to menace a couple of peas on a fork, aggressively threatening them "You're going down", and grimacing at the camera as she eats them

Someone has been paid to create a tv advert with the message "Vegetables are nasty" "Vegetables want to harm you" "Vegetables are the enemy of the human race" "Put evil vegetables in your mouth"

MrsOvertonsWindow · 14/03/2022 12:40

I see they've opened the comments on recent articles - the Sarah Ditum one for example.

AlisonDonut · 14/03/2022 12:38

I can't see any comments either.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/03/2022 12:17

I can't see the comments, no.

MidCenturyClegs · 14/03/2022 12:15

@Ereshkigalangcleg

You used to be able to read them.
I wonder if it's just articles on women's rights that non Subs can't see. Can you see these? Oscar winner William Hurt dies aged 71

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/41659d74-a31a-11ec-b670-edca588c9993?shareToken=4dac1adbac870a2f1f667fabd33e3dbf

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/03/2022 11:35

You used to be able to read them.

MidCenturyClegs · 14/03/2022 11:31

@Ereshkigalangcleg

I can't see any comments sections on share token versions. You used to be able to. Is it just me?
I thought until recently that only subscribers could post comments but someone upthread I think said they could if they were 'registered'. Confusing
Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/03/2022 11:30

I can't either. I'm on a phone, don't know if that's relevant.

Same here.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/03/2022 11:29

How does it move a comment to the top of the heap? The reader has an option to sort the comments, on recommended (based on number of recommendations from fellow subscribers), newest and oldest.

That's a good question, something I was thinking about too. Perhaps when that doesn't work and they can't bury them the auto moderation is more heavy handed?

IsadoraQuagmire · 14/03/2022 11:22

@Ereshkigalangcleg

I can't see any comments sections on share token versions. You used to be able to. Is it just me?
I can't either. I'm on a phone, don't know if that's relevant.
Gastonia · 14/03/2022 11:13

it moves Comment B to the top of the heap

How does it move a comment to the top of the heap? The reader has an option to sort the comments, on recommended (based on number of recommendations from fellow subscribers), newest and oldest.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/03/2022 11:02

Open Web

So how does OpenWeb spare publishers the headache of content moderation?
To illustrate, let’s follow two very different comments on their journey to getting posted.
Comment A is, let’s say, inflammatory - the kind of comment that can derail a conversation. OpenWeb’s AL/machine learning-enhanced filters - which can scan a comment for incivility, white supremacy, abuse, and more - instantly pick up on this: that’s strike one against the comment.
As it turns out, Comment A’s author has something of a history of posting inflammatory comments: OpenWeb’s software may already know this, because it tracks behavior at the user level, building Civility Profiles for commenters. So Comment A is already at a disadvantage, for the simple reason that its author has demonstrated an inability to play by the rules of civil discourse.
Accordingly - through our Best Sorting tool, and after an AI-powered analysis of the comment’s content and context - Comment A, if deemed unsafe, will be deemphasized in the comments section. And if it offends the readers who still manage to find it, they’ll have the ability to flag it. If it’s flagged enough times, it’ll be sent over to our staff of human moderators, who work to keep our partners safe 24/7, 365 days a year.
Now let’s examine another comment - Comment B. Comment B - posted at the exact same second as Comment A - is everything a comment should be: thoughtful, illuminating, relevant. It furthers the dialogue started by your article, and provides an opening for other users to contribute their own opinions. Better yet, its author has a history of similar comments: our system has flagged them as the kind of user that gets healthy conversation flowing. And so our system takes action - it moves Comment B to the top of the heap.
So in the span of just a few seconds - without any intervention on the part of the publisher’s team - a disruptive contribution is minimized and a generative one is highlighted. The conversation flows unimpeded, as your team works to keep the content flowing.

www.openweb.com

Rainbowshit · 14/03/2022 10:58

I also emailed and said I had only taken out my subscription because of their policy of allowing comments, unlike other papers, and would be cancelling if comments continued to be switched off.

Ereshkigalangcleg · 14/03/2022 10:51

I can't see any comments sections
on share token versions. You used to be able to. Is it just me?

Cailin66 · 14/03/2022 10:45

@MrsOvertonsWindow

It's quite confusing Cailin66 This morning comments were open on the JKR piece and the Libby Purves piece . Then the JKR comments were all switched off and now they're back on with hundreds of comments. I suspect there's a battle going on behind the scenes.

Having been reading the Times for a number of years since abandoning the grim Guardian, their moderation has been problematic since they outsourced it to OpenWeb. You would see highly rated comments up for hours until the USA mods woke up and then the deletions would start. Women with legal, insightful views are always heavily targeted.

All I know is my comment is up and has stayed up and got a load of likes so I'm very happy the Times is allowing us to comment again. Great paper and they have been excellent in highlighting this issue in a fair manner and now that they've actually listened to us about comments I think they are great.

I don't know anything about Open web but I love reading the comments on this topic.

Chrysanthemum5 · 14/03/2022 10:43

@ResisterRex I don't mind sanitary products in mens toilets - it at least acknowledges transmen exist and makes it easier for women to use the mens loos. Let's see how much men enjoy having women in there

ResisterRex · 14/03/2022 09:40

In the most recent Eye

The Times is now turning off comments on all 'gender' articles
Cuck00soup · 14/03/2022 09:29

I could perhaps believe that it was about over-moderating if any comments were offensive or libellous. But they aren't.
It's people mainly posting "I agree with JKR"

So why is the discussion being prevented?
And who benefits?

MrsOvertonsWindow · 14/03/2022 09:11

It's quite confusing Cailin66 This morning comments were open on the JKR piece and the Libby Purves piece . Then the JKR comments were all switched off and now they're back on with hundreds of comments. I suspect there's a battle going on behind the scenes.

Having been reading the Times for a number of years since abandoning the grim Guardian, their moderation has been problematic since they outsourced it to OpenWeb. You would see highly rated comments up for hours until the USA mods woke up and then the deletions would start. Women with legal, insightful views are always heavily targeted.

happydappy2 · 14/03/2022 09:06

The Times have re run the story of the married male banker transitioning (from magazine on Saturday, now in Times2) No comments allowed on that article though

Cailin66 · 14/03/2022 09:01

Just spotted this comment on the Times link:

Diane Blackwell 8 HOURS AGO Good news!! I have just had a reply to my email to John Witherow, the editor, and they are reinstating the comments! Hooray, we succeeded!!

I forgot to add earlier that I too had written an email to the Times complaining about them stopping us commentating.