UW News

June 25, 2009

Have your say — University Week now taking comments

Want to have your say about University Week stories and photos? Beginning with this issue, you’ll be able to. Below most stories, and the photos in the Community Photos section, you’ll find a comments field in which you’ll be able to respond in writing to what you’ve read and seen.


You must be a UW faculty or staff member in order to comment. And you’ll have to register, as you do to post a classified ad or information about an organization. But that only takes a few minutes, and one registration covers all of our participatory features. Your name will appear with your comment.


Why comment on a story? Maybe because you’ve enjoyed it and want to express your appreciation. Maybe you have something to add to the subject. Or maybe you disagree with something in the story and want to put forth a counter argument. Whatever your motives, we’re interested in hearing what you have to say. We expect you to be civil if you disagree, of course. In fact, there’s a policy outlining our expectations for the comments that we’ll ask you to read before you post. But since this is a university, we have every belief that people know how to engage in reasoned discussion and will do so.


As for the photos, the contest last month showed us that we have a great many talented  amateur photographers on campus who are eager to show off their work. I am sure those photographers would welcome some feedback about their pictures; in fact, some have already asked for this feature.


University Week editors will be reading all comments submitted because it’s important to us to know what our readers think. We will, however, remove any comments that in our judgment violate our written policy. And readers who repeatedly post inappropriate comments will have their commenting privileges revoked.


We don’t really expect that to happen. What we expect is that there will be some lively discussions as readers get to have their say. We’re looking forward to the conversation.