Blocking the abusers: New comment moderation policy on Australian Indymedia

A steady and swelling inflow of racist and otherwise abusive comment to this site has prompted us to take protective action. We had to choose between keeping the site open and quickly responsive, at the risk of being overwhelmed by the abusers, or putting up some barriers that might slightly inconvenience the visitors who do the right thing.

We, the editorial collective, the small group of people who run this site, have opted to put in some restrictions.Just as we do with articles, we now look at comments before we allow them to appear or bin them.

Previously, while most offensive comments were eventually removed, due to the workload on our small collective, some stayed up on the site for some time before we could delete them. That could have caused some visitors to think we were complicit with what was being expressed. Premoderation prevents this.

The editorial policy of the collective can be read here. If you would like any articles or comments you make to bypass the moderation process you can apply to become Trusted User. Becoming a Trusted User and contributing stories is a good first step for those who may wish to become involved in Australian Indymedia Editorial Collective.

We try to promote all comments in line with our editorial policy as quickly as possible.The editorial collective can be contacted via our Contact us page.