colour cartoon / toon / illustration / illo / artwork By Simon Letch Cabcharge director Sharon Doyle, typing, computer, keyboard, angry, hate, furious CBD Sydney .jpg (NO CAPTION INFORMATION PROVIDED) Credit:Simon Letch It's a balancing act, and walking that tightrope is part of my job. In a way, the job is simple. I publish or reject every comment I see. It's either in or out: no middle ground, as we do not edit readers' comments. I also forward story tip-offs and corrections to journalists and editors. Rejecting comments gives me no joy but it's part of my job. If I'm in doubt about a comment, particularly if it verges on the defamatory, I leave it out. These are the guidelines I follow. I must mention one of the guidelines' points because it causes the downfall of many an aspiring commenter: “The general rule here is that comments should play the ball, not the man; i.e. not attack someone personally but be about the issue at hand.”

In other words, it's OK to say – even though it could be expressed more politely – that John or Jane's comment is stupid. But when John or Jane is accused of being stupid, my hovering finger will, sometimes reluctantly, press “reject”. Occasionally, someone will submit a comment saying how surprised they are at the nastiness of the comments for a particular article. At these times I always think, “You should have seen the ones I threw out!” It's largely because of these personal attacks that I reject a higher percentage of comments that are replies to other comments, compared with comments that are not replies. Take some of these, for example (of course these are not in the same league as the worst ones, such as wishing for the death of other people, which thankfully are incredibly rare): “I don't know how to class you 1. as an idiot … or 2 that you are just another Coalition supporter , who like so many of your kind will tell any lie that you have been fed.”

“I don't want handouts. I don't need support from the Government. What I do need is for the Government to stop sending handout checks to morons like you so that you can pay for broadband and buy a computer to write stupid comments online.” Believe it or not, despite occasional evidence to the contrary, I do imagine commenters sitting at their keyboards putting thought and effort into their comments before pressing “Post comment”. (I know some of you are dying to say, “Effort? Often no effort at all is put into spelling words correctly.”) You may think I digress with that last observation, but it leads to an important principle. Regardless of whether people are erudite or otherwise, everybody has the right to submit a comment and have a chance to engage. To do anything else would be discrimination.

Occasionally, someone will submit a comment saying how surprised they are at the nastiness of the comments for a particular article. At these times I always think, “You should have seen the ones I threw out!” I deal with a wide variety of articles, which, for a media nerd, is enjoyable. I moderate comments for almost every section. Some days I work, with many others of course, on more than 50 articles. It's refreshing to move from a big breaking news story, whatever it is, to something entirely different. I moderate everything from Canberra's Summernats to Clive Palmer's latest venture, Melbourne's myki to WA's public transport election campaign promises, and Bondi boot camps at dawn to the drinking culture of Kings Cross at night. If I need local knowledge to clarify an issue, I ask my colleagues around the country. For every comment I read, more than 1000 every day, I need to think: “How do I justify publishing/rejecting this comment?” The online editors and others sometimes ask me to explain my decisions. In short, I have to be as consistent as possible and always impartial. Commenters trust me to judge their comments on their merits; I can't let them down. My aim is to be firm, fair and fast – with an emphasis on the fair. Another ever-present thought is, “will the level of venom in this comment thread deter some readers from joining the discussion because they run the risk of being attacked/flamed?”

It's easy to reject the worst comments: the spear tackles. But many comments are borderline. I have to judge, as best I can, where to draw that line. Rob Ashton is employed as a full-time comment moderator for Fairfax Media's five metropolitan news websites. He is not in charge of moderating this article.