SoylentNews

I think we should add a field for a ('submitters' comment' / 'first comment' / 'first post') feature to the story submission process below the 'The Scoop' field. Submitters would then be able to use this new comment field for their personal comment to accompany the story (if desired, or leave blank), potentially helping to keep excessive opinion/comments out of what theoretically should be the news story section but still tied to the submission so that when/if it goes live, their comment is automatically posted as the first comment. (Or, perhaps a specially flagged 'Submitters' Comment' but I really think it should just come up as the first regular post.) Not all of us can sit around hitting refresh waiting to see if our latest story submission has been published to try to add our view/comment near the beginning of the discussion which is, i'm sure, partly why comments/editorializing so often end up in the story part which is not really the Right Thing for several reasons, obviously...

This way, extra editorial/comment included in the 'story' part could easily be moved verbatim to the 'comments' section by the editor prepping the story so the submitter's views/comments/etc aren't being changed/reworded/munged in any way while cleaning up the actual story. I think this would solve many problems/annoyances with story submissions both from those who submit them and those who read the story summaries and hate the blatent editorializing, etc. It also means that the submitter gets 'First Post' automatically if they choose to put a comment in there, which I have no problem with.

I'm not saying to go all crazy, always moving every bit that's not story fact out to the comments, etc. (indeed, some story submissions are by their very nature a comment/question/editorial in whole or in part) but I think it could potentially help to clean things up and make the process smoother for many people, in many situations.

I can't imagine this being too difficult to implement and seems like a win-win-win-win.. all around to me.

Comments?

Once in a long while, I post something that is beyond the ken of mere mortals. Unfortunately, mere mortals take this as a disagreement of opinion. But in fact, it is not. I am right, and they are wrong. You may think I am being conceited in this, but I assure you, I have grounds for my position.

So I am wondering why, in the grande scale of things, I am disturbed when some ill-advised comment of mine is appropriately modded down. Yes, I probably had it coming. Yes, it is probably justified. And if I had just waited half a day, this would not have happened. But can't you see that I have gone from a karma rating of 50 to just a paltry 49!! Oh, really, not a big deal. We are all after the same thing here (except for those libertarian free market fucks that are trying to pump the site for all it's worth and then sell us out down the river to some corporation niced.).

Yes, I mod down posts, especially if they are ethanol fueled and full of racism, misogyny, and ignorance of too many categories to be categorized. Or Republican. We need to stand up for reason, science, evidencem and logical thinking. Any religious stuff is right out, and any libertarian/Republican economic ideology is on the same level. No bias, no prejudice, just that bullshit needs to be called bullshit, and not allowed to pass as polite conversation.

We are the last best place on the internet. We are People, we are soylent. We have to act like people, people who can think, reason, argue according to the rules of logic. That is all I ask. I hope it is not too much.