KI-Media Survey Results

Dear KI-Media,

We sincerely appreciate the time all of you took to let us know your opinion regarding the issue of posting comments to articles on KI-Media.

To be honest, within our small group of 4 members, we also had a healthy debate among ourselves on what to do with the comments. In fact, within our team members, the result was exactly 50% in favor of moderating comments (led by Luc Sâr), and 50% in favor of allowing free comments (led by Heng Soy), i.e. a split decision.

The reason we presented you with the three choices (no comment allowed, comments allowed after a moderator review, and free comments) is because they are the only choices we have with our host, Blogger. Requiring someone to register to post comment is not a viable long term solution as there are ways to circumvent this restriction. One reader suggested a very attractive solution in which readers will be allowed to vote on the comments themselves, and for those losing the readers’ vote would disappear by themselves. Unfortunately, we do not have the technical mean to implement such option under Blogger.

Furthermore, KI-Media (he is the technical leader of our group) questioned us on how we would proceed to allow or deny a comment, and who among us will have the time to sift through all the comments posted, in addition to our regular work which brings us rice and soy sauce (instead of bread and butter). Heng Soy, on his part was adamant about maintaining the current status quo (allowing free comments). His supporting argument, which corroborates with those of many of you, is the fact that our Compatriots are limited in their freedom of speech in Cambodia already, why would we impose such horrendous condition on them. As for Luc Sâr, he was mainly flabbergasted by the cursing some readers are hurling at each other. Living in Phnom Penh, Socheata said that she cannot agree more with Heng Soy. KI-Media said that he tends to agree with Luc Sâr instead even though hurdles await us. That was why we decided to bring this issue to you, our respected readers, to help us make the final decision.

Based on the results of the survey, out of 681 readers who voted, 35 (5%) are for banning comments, 287 (42%) are for moderation of comments, and 359 (53%) are for the current status quo, Heng Soy, our resident statistician assured us that with a 95% confidence, the margin of error of the survey is approximately 4%, thus scientifically (as Heng Soy claimed) taking into account this margin of error, the majority still remains with those of you who voted for maintaining free comments as it is right now.

In keeping with democracy (vox populi, vox dei), we have decided to continue allowing free comments as they are right now. However, we are pleading with all of you to please use moderation when it comes to cursing other readers or posting profanities. We can assure you that cursing and profanities can only turn off your message rather than promoting your ideals.

Again, our team members deeply thank You for your comments, encouragements, denigrations, and constructive criticisms. We really appreciate the time you put in letting us know your passionate message. We understand that promoting democracy and human rights in Cambodia may be against the agenda of some readers, however, please understand that we are all working to better Cambodia for Cambodian people. We may have diverging views on how to approach the same problem, but our ultimate goal is still aimed at improving the living and working conditions in our beloved Cambodia for our beloved Cambodian Compatriots.

With our deepest respect and sincere thanks,

Socheata, Heng Soy, Luc Sâr, and KI-Media