Interact & Engage: Managing Readers Comments

Investigative journalism can shed light on a problem, but where do we go from there? We hope that the people who read our investigations have an inherent desire to solve problems—to be the whistleblowers, the people on the front lines, the idea makers. And, we feel a responsibility to provide our readers with the tools to do so.

So, we've rebuilt MotherJones.com to be more than a news site: we want it to be a place for conversation, a forum for thinking about and debating solutions to the problems we cover. We want to actively include readers in the journalism we produce,and we want our readers to be able to interact with and inspire each other. That is why we chose Drupal as our community platform.

Whether users prefer to eavesdrop or jump right into the fray, here are four of the ways Mother Jones Comments Central allows staff and readers to find out which discussions are going on:

* Most Active: This section showcases the most commented-on articles from the last 7 days
* Most Recommended: See the stories that have generated the highest number of recommended comments in the last 7 days;
* MoJo Forums: These are curated Big Think panels in which one or more experts discuss a controversial topic with readers–and with each other. They generally last at least a week.
* Editors' Picks: These must-reads are the staff's latest favorites, and often the stories we email to our friends.

Additionally, readers who want to propose an action or solution to a problem addressed in the conversation, can tag their comment "Proposed Solution" or "Documented Result" by checking the appropriate box, at the time they submit a comment.

Why is this important? Readers are able to suggest a course of action to other readers. We hope that this forum will eventually become a vibrant place for people to hash out policy, to suggest stories for our journalists to investigate, and to organize around issues that are important to them.

Why was Drupal our platform of choice? For many reasons. For more information, please refer to the case study: http://drupal.org/node/466056. We will be providing additional information shortly.