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Why we’ve switched off comments under articles

The Local Germany
The Local Germany - [email protected]
Why we’ve switched off comments under articles
Photo: DPA

Our community means a lot us, and we have plenty of other options for anyone who wants to comment on stories (see below), but for a couple of main reasons we have decided to switch off comments under articles.

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First off, we are a small team and we get a lot of comments on our stories. 

When our articles are widely shared we sometimes have hundreds or even thousands of comments pending in the system. These range from perfectly reasonable comments to unadulterated hate speech. 

And unfortunately we just don’t have time to moderate them all.

Also, comments that qualify as hate speech in Germany often are not hidden from view, which raises legal issues for us. 

With these considerations is mind, we encourage readers who wish to continue commenting to instead join the discussion on our very active Facebook page, where we regularly post stories and have more moderation capacity. 

We’re also active on Twitter

And if Facebook and Twitter aren’t your thing, our Toytown Germany discussion forum offers another option. 

We hope you continue to enjoy reading The Local Germany!

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Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

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