Commenters weigh in on Colby incident

As I put together this morning's web traffic report, I was curious about how many comments the Colby student arrests stories have received since we first broke the news on Sunday. As of 10 a.m., the stories have nearly 500 comments. The initial story -- "3 Colby students arrested" by Morning Sentinel reporter Colin Hickey -- has drawn the most comments -- 183.Visitors to the sites have had the ability to comment on stories for a couple of years now. Commenting has proven popular, and the reader comment forums are among the most heavily trafficked parts of kjonline.com and onlinesentinel.com. The story about the arrests of the Colby students, which took place early Easter Sunday morning has stoked emotional fires both on Mayflower Hill and within the surrounding community. The commenting forum has allowed the debate on whether or not the Colby security force and local police used excessive force in restraining the students to blossom online. As one who monitors these forums, I feel somewhat qualified to say that the level of discourse on Colby stories has been good (or at least better than it usually is). There have been relatively few personal attacks and not as many comments have been reported as abusive (to our commenting guidelines) as I expected as I watched the comments pour in. Keep them coming...