• Jim Romenesko, Thursday, August 23, 2012 7:30 AM

"I am posting to those of you who feel the need to slam us on our own page. Yes, you will be deleted," wrote the executive editor of The Sentinel, in Hanford, Calif., on the newspaper's Facebook page. Jim Romenesko posted this on his site, triggering many thoughtful comments about the issue of monitoring public comments. "It is a fine line," as one commenter put it, since announcements of comment-deleting often bring up accusations of "censorship" and being "thin-skinned."

We especially liked this response: "A recent post to our newspaper's Facebook wall called us a 'bunch of retarts pulling stories from our ASSES.' In the persona of the paper, I replied to that comment, asking politely if there was a specific story they could point to that they took issue with, and asking them to, in the future, refrain from profanity or insensitive slurs.

They deleted their own comment, I presume from shame.

I recommend that strategy."

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